File area

The middle of the window shows the files of the open folder. The area has a toolbar with a search box; in a folder with rated photos, it also has a rating filter, and in Gallery, a background picker.

• “Views and sorting”: Details, Tiles, Icons, Gallery; each folder remembers its view and sort order.
• “Search”: by name, type, shooting data and text inside files.
• “Thumbnails”: file contents instead of icons.
• “Gallery”: a view for photos, with ratings and review helpers.

Selection works as usual: click, Ctrl+click, Shift+click, dragging a rectangle across empty space, Ctrl+A; typing the first letters of a name jumps to the file. The right side of the status bar shows how many items are selected and how much space they take; folder sizes are calculated by the Preview pane.

The selected file doesn't leave the screen: when new files appear or the filter, sort order or window size changes, it stays in view.

What to show is set in “Settings” → “File list”:

• hidden files aren't shown by default, and when turned on, they're drawn paler; together with them, you can show protected operating system files such as desktop.ini;
• system folders and files at drive roots ($RECYCLE.BIN, System Volume Information, pagefile.sys) have their own checkbox: they stay hidden even when hidden and system files are shown. There's no reason to turn it on: you can't open these folders anyway, and they only clutter the list;
• a file and its companions can be shown as one item; learn more on the “Companion files” page;
• changes from other programs show up right away or only on F5.

Hidden and system files can also be turned on from the right-click menu on empty space in the Folders pane.