Release notes

A progress window you can cancel for long copies, Show in Enclosing Folder, Duplicate, and a Mac app that keeps running when you close its last window.

New

• Show in Enclosing Folder. In search results or a color tag's list, right-click an item › Show in Enclosing Folder (⌘R) on the Mac, or Open file location (Ctrl+Shift+R) on Windows and Linux. Its folder opens with the item selected, and Back takes you to the results again.
• Duplicate. On the Mac, right-click › Duplicate (⌘D) puts a copy next to the original ("report copy.txt"), selected and ready to use. Undo Duplicate (⌘Z) removes it.
• Progress window for long copies and moves. If pasting, dragging or duplicating files takes more than a couple of seconds, a small window opens. It shows what is going where, a progress bar and how long is left. On the Mac it reads like Finder's ("Copying 3 items to “Documents”", "1.2 GB of 4 GB — About 2 minutes"). On Windows and Linux it reads like Explorer's ("45% complete", "Time remaining: …").
• Cancel a copy or move. Click Cancel in the progress window to stop. The item that was only partly copied is removed. Items that had already finished stay where they are, and one Undo takes them all back. If you cancel a cut-and-paste, the items not yet moved stay on the clipboard so you can paste them later.

Improved

• ⌘R on the Mac. ⌘R now does what it does in Finder (Show in Enclosing Folder) and no longer refreshes. Folders refresh themselves, and F5 still refreshes when you need it.
• Closing a window doesn't stop its copy. Closing the folder window a copy or move started in no longer stops it; it finishes in the background.
• Closing the last window on the Mac. As in Finder, closing the last window (⌘W or the red button) no longer quits asExplorer: it stays in the Dock with its menu bar. To open a window on your Home folder again, click the Dock icon, choose New Window from the Dock icon's menu or press ⌘N. ⌘Q quits.
• Quitting reopens what you had open. On the Mac, the windows open when you quit are the ones that come back next time. If none were open, asExplorer starts with one window on your Home folder.

Known issues

• Cancelling a very large file. Cancel takes effect only after a single very large file (a disk image or video, for example) has finished copying. The copy is then removed, so nothing is left behind.

Redo what you just undid, and two fixes that keep your files safe.

New

• Redo. Do again what you just undid (⇧⌘Z on the Mac, Ctrl+Y on Windows and Linux): a copy, move, rename, new folder or file, delete, compress, or expand / extract. "Redo Rename" and the like appear beside Undo when you right-click the folder's empty space and in the command bar's … menu. Anything Undo had moved to the Trash or Recycle Bin is put back from there rather than made again, and Redo never overwrites a file that is now in its place; it tells you instead. As in Finder and Explorer, anything new you do clears Redo, and emptying the Trash or Recycle Bin removes the Redos that needed what was in it.

Improved

• Clearer message when a name is taken. When Undo or Redo can't move or rename an item back because something with that name is there now, asExplorer says 'An item named "name" is already there.'

Fixed

• Copying a folder into a link that leads back into it. Copying or moving a folder into a link that points back into that same folder (a symbolic link, or a junction on Windows) no longer copies the folder into itself again and again until the path is too long. asExplorer now says "Can't copy "name" into itself." (or "move"), just as it does when there is no link, and nothing is copied.
• Renaming to a name that differs only in capitals (Linux). If "A.txt" already existed and you renamed "a.txt" to "A.txt", the file could end up under a hidden temporary name. asExplorer now says the name is already taken and leaves both files as they were.

Copy the path of any file or folder, and faster search in subfolders on Windows.

New

• Copy as path. Put the full path of the selected files and folders on the clipboard as text, ready to paste into a terminal, a document or another app's Open dialog. Right-click › Copy as path, or the command bar's … menu, or Ctrl+Shift+C (Windows and Linux). On Windows each path is in quotes and on its own line, as in Explorer. On Linux each path is on its own line, without quotes. On the Mac it works as in Finder: hold ⌥ while the right-click menu is open (or ⌃⌥-click) to see Copy "name" as Pathname, or press ⌥⌘C, or use the … menu. Not offered for items in the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Linux Trash.

Improved

• Faster search in subfolders (Windows). Matches from the subfolders of a large folder, such as your Documents folder, now show up in a fraction of a second, because asExplorer asks Windows Search first, as Explorer does. It still searches the folders itself too, so files Windows Search hasn't indexed still turn up, and each file is listed once. On network drives, and on PCs where Windows Search is turned off, search works as before.

Known issues

• Copy as Pathname (Mac) may not appear in the right-click menu when you hold ⌥. Press ⌥⌘C instead, or use the command bar's … menu.
• Search on Windows may not show the faster results from Windows Search yet. Search still finds everything by looking through the folders itself, at the old speed.

Report a problem from inside asExplorer, menus closer to Finder and Explorer, and a much faster icon view in large folders.

New

• Report a problem. Tell us when something goes wrong, from Help › Report a Problem… on the Mac, or from the command bar's … menu › Report a problem… on Windows and Linux. The error window also has a Report… button. Describe what happened and you see the whole report before it goes anywhere: the app's version and your system, plus the last lines of the error log only if you tick the box, with your home folder written as ~. Continue on GitHub opens the public problem form already filled in, and nothing is sent until you create the issue there. If you'd rather not use GitHub, Email Instead… and Copy Report are there too.

Improved

• Menus closer to Finder and Explorer. Open With now comes right after Open, ending in "Other…" on the Mac and "Choose another app" on Windows. On the Mac the Sort menus follow Finder's order (Name, Kind, Date Modified, Size), Rename shows ↩, Undo names what it undoes ("Undo Move to Trash", "Undo Expand"), toolbar tooltips show Finder's shortcuts and the theme menu says "Use System Setting". The New menu has icons for Markdown and Rich Text Document.
• Only what works is offered. The Trash, Recycle Bin and tag lists no longer offer New, Open in Terminal, or Get Info / Properties. In the navigation pane, tags, the Trash and pinned folders that can't be found no longer offer Copy, Paste, Open in Terminal or Info.
• Faster icon view in large folders. Folders with thousands of files now open and scroll quickly in the icon view, and use much less memory. All tiles are the same size, with room for a two-line name and tag dots, as in Finder and Explorer's Large icons, so the grid no longer shifts while you scroll. The hover and selection highlight fills the whole tile.

Fixed

• Mixed text sizes in the command bar menus. The New, Sort, View and "See more" menus now use one text size throughout. In the Trash the delete button says "Delete Immediately…" (Mac), and on Windows "Empty Recycle Bin" no longer ends in "…".

Tell us what works and what doesn't, right from inside asExplorer.

New

• Send Feedback. Report a problem or suggest an idea from inside asExplorer: Help › Send Feedback… on macOS, or the command bar's … menu › Send feedback… on Windows and Linux. It opens asExplorer's public feedback page on GitHub, with forms for problems and ideas. If you have no GitHub account, use No GitHub Account? Email Us… (No GitHub account? Email us… on Windows and Linux): it starts a new e-mail to feedback@asexplorer.com with your asExplorer version and system already filled in. asExplorer itself sends nothing; you see everything before you send it. On Windows and Linux the same menu now also has About ASexplorer (F1).

Fixed

• About box. It now says asExplorer is for macOS, Windows and Linux. Before, it named only macOS and Windows.

If something goes wrong, asExplorer now tells you what happened instead of just closing, and quitting on the Mac no longer leaves helpers running.

New

• Error window instead of a sudden quit. If something goes wrong, asExplorer no longer just disappears. A window says what happened, with Copy Details for a problem report, Continue, and Quit asExplorer (Close asExplorer on Windows). If an error does close the app, it tells you the next time it starts. Reports are kept only on your computer, in a log file (macOS: ~/Library/Logs/ASexplorer, Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ASexplorer\Logs, Linux: ~/.local/state/ASexplorer), and nothing is sent anywhere.

Fixed

• Background helpers after quitting (Mac). Quitting while the icon view was still making thumbnails could leave a Quick Look helper running in the background, sometimes for weeks. Now the helpers stop when you quit, and thumbnails for a folder you have left stop at once.

Bring all your windows together in one, find files in subfolders much faster on the Mac, and a Windows download about 100 MB smaller.

New

• Merge All Windows. Right-click a tab and choose Merge All Windows (Mac) or Merge all windows (Windows, Linux) to bring the tabs of all your other asExplorer windows into this one. They go after this window's own tabs, the other windows close, and the tab you were on stays in front. Each tab keeps its folder, history and selection.
• Window menu (Mac). The menu bar now has a Window menu like Finder's, with Minimize (⌘M) and Merge All Windows.
• Open-source notices. Every download now includes the licences of the open-source components asExplorer uses. Click Acknowledgments (Mac) or Third-party notices (Windows, Linux) in the About box to read them.

Improved

• Faster search in subfolders (Mac). Matches from the subfolders of a large folder, such as your home folder, now show up in a fraction of a second, because asExplorer asks Spotlight first, as Finder does. It still searches the folders itself too, so hidden files, drives Spotlight doesn't index and folders left out of Spotlight still turn up. Each file is listed once.
• Smaller download (Windows). The Windows download is about 100 MB smaller: the preview pane now plays audio and video with the player built into Windows.
• Audio and video in the preview pane (Windows). It plays the files Windows itself plays, such as mp4, mov, wmv, mp3, wav and flac. Press Play to start, as in Explorer.

Known issues

• Some mkv, webm and ogg files don't play in the preview (Windows). Windows has no player for some of these files, so the preview pane shows their icon. They still open in any app you have installed for them.

Pin the folders you use most to the navigation pane, so they're always one click away.

New

• Favorites. Pin folders to the navigation pane so the ones you use most are one click away. On the Mac use Add to Sidebar (⌃⌘T); on Windows and Linux use Pin to Quick access (Ctrl+Shift+Q). It's in a folder's context menu and the command bar's ⋯ menu. You can also drop folders on the empty space in the navigation pane. Pinned folders appear below your own folders in every window and are still there the next time you start asExplorer. Drag one onto another to change the order. Remove from Sidebar (Mac) or Unpin from Quick access (Windows, Linux) takes a folder off the list; the folder itself is not touched.
• Favorites that can't be found. If a pinned folder was moved, renamed or deleted, or its disk isn't connected, it is greyed out until it's back, and pointing at it shows where it was. Clicking it or pressing Enter offers to remove it from the list. Nothing can be dropped or pasted into it while it's missing.

asExplorer now remembers where you were: your windows and tabs come back when you start it again.

New

• Windows and tabs come back. When you start asExplorer, the windows and tabs that were open when you last quit open again. Each tab keeps its folder and its view, and the same tab is in front. A folder that no longer exists opens Home. If you start asExplorer with a folder, only that folder opens. To turn this off, use View › Reopen Windows on Launch on the Mac, or View › Restore previous folder windows on Windows and Linux; turning it off also forgets the saved folders.
• A second asExplorer leaves the first one alone (Windows, Linux). A second copy started while the first is running opens on Home and doesn't reopen or change the first one's windows.

Tabs and Finder's color tags, on the Mac, Windows and Linux, and the app now tells you when a new version is out.

New

• Tabs, like Finder and Windows 11 Explorer: ⌘T / Ctrl+T or the + button, ⌘W / Ctrl+W to close, ⌃Tab or ⇧⌘[ and ⇧⌘] to switch. ⌘ / Ctrl + double-click opens a folder in a new tab, a middle-click opens it behind the current one, and Open in New Tab is in the right-click menus. Each tab keeps its own folder, history, selection and view.
• Tab menu (right-click a tab): Duplicate, Move to new window, Close, Close other tabs (⌥⌘W on the Mac), Close tabs to the right, Close all tabs. A middle-click closes a tab.
• Drag tabs along to reorder them, onto another window's tabs to move them there, or out of the window for a window of their own. Files dragged onto a tab go into its folder; hold them there a moment and the tab comes to the front.
• Color tags, Finder's seven colors: a row of dots in the right-click menu, ⌃⌘1–7 on the Mac and Ctrl+Alt+1–7 on Windows and Linux, dots after the names, and an optional Tags column (View › Show Tags Column). On the Mac they are Finder's own tags, shared with Finder and Spotlight; on Linux they are shared with KDE's Dolphin.
• Tags in the navigation pane: click a color to see every file and folder with it, wherever it is. Drop files on a color to tag them.
• Check for Updates in the app menu (Mac) and the About box, and a quiet check once a day at start-up, which you can turn off.

Improved

• Right-click beside a file's name in the details view to get the folder's menu: there is always an empty place to click, even in a full folder.
• Columns keep a readable width when the window is narrow or the preview pane is open.
• Copies made in asExplorer keep their tags.

Fixed

• ⇧⌘. (show hidden files), ⌥⌘N (new file) and other shortcuts with ⇧ or ⌥ now work on keyboard layouts where those keys type other characters, such as Croatian or German.
• ⌃Tab works on the Mac (macOS used to take it for itself).
• Typing ".." or a relative path in the address bar opens the right folder.

The first public release: the Windows Explorer layout on the Mac, with macOS conventions, and the same app on Windows and Linux. The Mac version is signed and notarized by Apple; Windows gets an installer and Linux an AppImage.

Browsing

• Navigation pane with your folders, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and other cloud folders (with their connection state, Connect and Disconnect), drives and volumes, and the Trash or Recycle Bin.
• Breadcrumb address bar you can click to type a path; back, forward and up; several windows.
• Details view and icon view with thumbnails. The Kind column and file icons come from your system, as in Finder and Explorer.
• Sorting like Explorer: remembered per folder, Downloads newest first, natural name order, folders together.
• Search in the open folder and its subfolders, ignoring case and accents, with * and ? patterns.
• The open folder refreshes by itself when files change.

Previews

• Preview pane for PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, Markdown, CSV, JSON (formatted), ZIP, text and code, audio and video. On the Mac, anything Quick Look can show.
• Quick Look window with Space: arrow keys turn pages or move to the next file.
• Edit text and Markdown files right in the preview pane or the Quick Look window.

Files

• Windows 11 style right-click menu and command bar: Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete, New folder and documents, Sort and View.
• Open with, with app icons; choose another app just once or always.
• Compress to ZIP and extract, like Archive Utility and Explorer.
• Move to Trash or Recycle Bin; put back, delete for good, empty.
• Undo for copy, move, rename, new items, zip and unzip, and delete.
• Copy and paste, drag and drop with Finder and Explorer.
• Get Info / Properties with folder sizes; Open in Terminal with your default terminal.

Mac

• Finder's shortcuts, Control-click menus, back and forward mouse buttons, selection rectangle and type to select.
• Apps and other packages open as files, with Show Package Contents; volumes can be ejected.
• Suggests Full Disk Access at first start, so macOS stops asking for each folder.

Known issues

• The Windows installer is not signed yet: SmartScreen may warn about an unknown app.
• Linux support is basic: no Open with list, and the app's own icons instead of the system's.
• The icon view is slower than the details view in folders with thousands of files.