Project Overview

At 43,301 stars on GitHub, Files has become something of a phenomenon in the Windows ecosystem — a testament to just how hungry the community has been for a modern alternative to the aging Windows File Explorer. Built primarily in C# with WinUI and XAML, the project is an ambitious reimagining of what a file manager can be on Windows 10 and 11, leveraging the Fluent Design language to create an experience that feels native yet distinctly more polished than Microsoft’s own offering. What’s particularly interesting about Files is its architectural bet on WinUI 3, Microsoft’s still-maturing native UI framework. This choice brings genuine benefits in visual consistency and performance, but it also means the project has had to navigate the growing pains of a framework that’s been in active development alongside the app itself. The result is a file manager that feels remarkably cohesive — tabbed browsing, dual-pane layouts, and column views that work exactly as you’d expect — but occasionally bumps into the limitations of its underlying platform. The community’s enthusiasm is well-earned, though: Files doesn’t just replicate Explorer’s functionality; it adds genuinely useful features like file tagging, a built-in terminal, and deep GitHub integration that make it feel like a tool designed for how developers actually work.

What It’s For

Files is for anyone who spends significant time managing files on Windows and has felt friction with the built-in Explorer. The primary audience skews toward developers and power users — the kind of people who miss features like tabs (which Explorer still doesn’t have natively), want keyboard-navigable dual-pane layouts, or need to jump between directories with the same muscle memory they’d use in a proper terminal. Where Files really differentiates itself from alternatives like Total Commander or Directory Opus is in its design philosophy: it aims to be a modern Windows app first, not a port of a legacy tool. This means touch-friendly gestures, smooth animations, and dark mode that actually works consistently — but it also means you’re trading some of the raw configurability of those older tools for a cleaner, more opinionated experience. The file tagging system is a standout feature that I haven’t seen done well in any other Windows file manager; you can tag files and folders with custom labels and filter by them, which changes how you organize projects compared to the traditional folder hierarchy. That said, if your workflow depends on extensive batch-renaming, custom scripts, or FTP/SFTP integration, you’ll still find Explorer or a dedicated tool like Total Commander more accommodating.

How to Use It

The core workflow revolves around the tabbed interface — something Windows users have been requesting since, well, forever. You can open new tabs with Ctrl+T, drag tabs out to create new windows, and pin frequently accessed folders. The dual-pane mode (View > Panes > Vertical/Horizontal) is particularly useful for moving files between directories, and it respects the same keyboard shortcuts you’d expect. Where Files gets clever is in the sidebar: the ‘Home’ section aggregates your frequent folders, recent files, and pinned locations in a way that adapts to your usage patterns. The file tagging system lives in the properties pane (Alt+Enter on any file) — you can create custom tags like ‘Review’, ‘Archive’, or ‘Design’ and then filter by them in any directory. For developers, the built-in terminal launcher (Ctrl+`) lets you open PowerShell, CMD, or WSL directly in the current directory path, which eliminates the tedious ‘navigate to folder, right-click, Open in Terminal’ dance. One workflow I’ve found genuinely useful: pin a GitHub repository folder, tag in-progress work with ‘WIP’, and use the dual-pane layout to stage files between your working directory and a release folder — all without leaving the keyboard.

Open a new tab in the current window

Ctrl + T

Open a terminal (PowerShell, CMD, or WSL) in the current directory

Ctrl + `

Open the properties pane for the selected file or folder, including tag management

Alt + Enter

Recent Updates

Latest Release: v4.0.38 (2024-12-11)

Latest stable release in the v4.0.x series, continuing refinements to the WinUI 3 interface and bug fixes across file operations

The v4.0.x cycle has been focused on stability and polish rather than major feature additions, which suggests the team is maturing the codebase after the significant architecture changes in earlier versions. Community activity on Discord and GitHub remains high, with regular contributions from both core maintainers and first-time contributors. The project’s trajectory seems to be shifting from ‘prove the concept’ to ‘make it rock-solid for daily use’.

Sources & Attributions

[1] 43,301 stars as of repository data — files-community/Files [2] Built with C#, WinUI, and XAML targeting Windows 10 and 11 — files-community/Files [3] Version 4.0.38 is the latest stable release — files-community/Files