View Options¶
- Adaptive columns: As the window narrows, columns are automatically hidden in this order: Size, Type, Date Modified, Location — leaving ultimately only the file name for a resilient layout (in search results, the order is Size, Date Modified, Location, Name, keeping the Path column visible last).
- Folders first: Toggle between always showing folders above files or mixing them in name order.
- Per-folder view settings auto-restore: Automatically remembers sort order, view mode, and folders-first settings for each folder, and auto-applies them when revisiting. Can be toggled ON/OFF in settings.
- Dynamic column auto-hide: When the window is narrow, lower-priority columns (Type, Attributes, etc.) are automatically hidden while ensuring at least 250px for the Name column. Columns are automatically restored when the window is widened.
- Second search bar row: An option that moves the search bar onto the second row of the header, but only in a side-by-side dual-pane layout. Freed from sharing a row with the icons, the search field and its filters get much more horizontal space. Toggle it under Settings → Display ("Second search bar row"; off by default). With a single pane, or when panes are stacked vertically, the layout stays on one row regardless of the setting. Note that when a pane is too narrow for the search bar to survive on one row, it moves to the second row automatically, whatever the setting says — the history suggestions open at the width of the search box, so in a cramped bar the delete button at the right end of each row would be out of reach.
- Alternate row colors (zebra striping): Tints every other row in the list a very subtle color, making rows easier to track in wide listings or listings with many rows (Control Deck → 1. General → Display, off by default). Rather than a bold striped look, the shading stays subtle enough to never compete with hover/selection colors.
- File-type coloring: Colors file names by category — images, videos, audio, archives, executables, documents, and code (7 built-in categories) (Control Deck → 6-1. File Type Colors, off by default). A recommended set of extension/color pairings ships out of the box, but every rule's extensions, color, and enabled state are fully editable, and you can add or remove rules freely.
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Neither of these colors is a fixed value — both are computed automatically against the current theme's background color, so they always look natural whether you're on one of the 50 built-in themes, an AI-generated theme, or a theme downloaded from the Theme Store.
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Spotting what's new: Recently modified files and folders show their date in bold, and anything touched within the last 10 minutes gets a ✨ mark to the right of its name — the mark clears itself once the time passes. Pick the range under Control Deck → 1. Basic Settings → Display, in "Spotting what's new": off, today, 24 hours, 3 days or 7 days; the ✨ mark can be turned off on its own (defaults: 24 hours, mark on). It exists to stop an old file being sent in place of the current one.
- Network location marker: While a network folder is open, the tab and the address bar are tinted with the theme's accent and the tab icon becomes a globe. It recognises share paths such as
\server\shareas well as mapped drives likeZ:, so a shared server is never mistaken for your own machine (Control Deck → 1. Basic Settings → Display, "Network locations"; on by default). - Shortcut target on hover: Hovering a shortcut (
.lnk) shows its target's full path in a tooltip, and hovering an internet shortcut (.url) shows its URL, in both detail and icon view. A warning is shown if a shortcut's target can no longer be found. Since targets and URLs are read in the background after the list loads, they may appear a moment after the list itself shows up. A shortcut's (.lnk) target is also shown in the Properties view.
Effects Categories — Detailed 12-category table¶
In-app animations are classified into 12 categories and toggled individually via Control Deck → 7. Effects. You can disable categories for maximum performance. Settings properties are WindowSettings.Show*Effects, and the corresponding Duration values are referenced from the DynamicResource keys in AppResources.xaml.
| ID | Settings property | Name | Target UI / animation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ShowStartupEffects |
Startup & Global | Welcome animation, loading overlay |
| B | ShowGlowBar |
GlowBar | Progress bar fade, interpolation, glow |
| C | ShowScanBar |
Scan Bar | Scan bar during folder loading (limited to startup from v0.41.3, disabled after operations) |
| D | ShowTabEffects |
Tab Operations | Tab indicator slide, content fade, D&D markers |
| E | ShowPaneTransitions |
Pane Transitions | Pane fade, sidebar width animation |
| F | ShowThemeEffects |
Theme | Theme switch overlay, theme apply toast |
| G | ShowStatusBarEffects |
Status Bar | Status bar fade / color change |
| H | ShowPreviewEffects |
Preview | Quick preview open/close, hover preview |
| I | ShowListEffects |
File List | Hover effects, context menu animation, icon fade, selected-row highlight (eye guidance after delete / current-location cue in the tree) |
| J | ShowNavPaneEffects |
Nav Pane | View switch animation, sidebar width transition |
| K | ShowControlDeckEffects |
Control Deck | Category switch animation |
| L | ShowDragEffects |
Drag & Drop | Drag adorner, drop zone display |
Automatic reduction on slow environments: When Automatically reduce effects on slow systems (on by default) is enabled, the app detects remote desktop sessions (RDP/VDI), software rendering, and environments where screen transitions are measurably slow, and disables the six decorative categories (D Tab Operations / E Pane Transitions / F Theme / H Preview / I File List / L Drag & Drop) in one go. A toast notification is shown on detection. Progress indicators (B GlowBar / C Scan Bar) and A Startup & Global are not affected. The ON/OFF settings of each category are not modified, so turning this setting off makes effects play according to your settings as before.
Migration: Legacy settings from pre-v0.25.0 (EnableMicroAnimations / EnableListAnimations / ShowWelcomeAnimation) are automatically mapped to the 12 categories above; the instance properties remain but reads/writes go through the new properties.
Implementation pattern: XAML uses <Storyboard Duration="{DynamicResource ...Duration}"> form; OFF falls back to 0-second duration (effectively skipped). Code-behind uses if (WindowSettings.ShowXxxEffects) guards for conditional branching.