Frequently Asked Questions

General

This section contains frequently asked questions about how to use Fileside.

How do I navigate back to previously viewed folders?

The undo history includes navigation too, so to navigate back through recently visited folders, just undo the last action a few times. Redo moves forward again.

Windows-specific

How can I access an external drive?

Navigate to This PC () in Fileside, and it will show up in the list.

How can I access a network drive?

There are a couple of different ways of viewing network drives on Windows.

If the drive is mapped to a drive letter, just navigate to This PC () in Fileside, and it will show up in the list. Alternatively, type in the drive letter directly in the path field, like so: S:\.

If the drive does not have a drive letter, you can also access it by typing in a UNC path consisting of its IP address or hostname, followed by a shared folder name, like so: \\192.0.168.15\stuff

How do I copy my settings to a new computer?

First, make sure Fileside is not running on the new computer, or it might overwrite the settings you copy over to it.

Copy everything under C:\Users\[your_username]\AppData\Roaming\Fileside (or %APPDATA%\Fileside) to the same folder on the new computer. Start Fileside.

How can I modify contents of system directories like C:\Program Files?

Windows restricts write access to parts of the file system it thinks the average user shouldn’t meddle with. You can only modify and delete items in here from an administrator account.

To run Fileside as an administrator, right-click its icon in the Start Menu, choose More and Run as administrator.

Why are trashed files not moved to the Recycle Bin?

Microsoft has not made it easy for developers of third-party apps to support undo after sending files to the Recycle Bin. Since one of Fileside’s design goals is to support undo for everything, it uses a workaround here. When trashing an item, it gets moved to an application-specific folder instead, which defaults to %APPDATA%\Fileside\stash.

You can change the location of this stash, as well as clear it, from the Settings dialog under Trash directory.

Why did the Properties window not open?

After clicking Properties on the File or context menu, it can happen that Windows shows the properties dialog in the background, making it seem like it didn’t open. To find it, hover over the taskbar button for Fileside and check if the Properties window is nestling behind it.

Mac-specific

How can I access an external drive?

External mounted drives show up under /Volumes in Fileside.

How can I access a network drive?

To view a network drive, e.g. a NAS, it first has to be mounted. Mounting can’t be done from within Fileside (yet). You can do it in Finder by going to the Go > Connect to Server… menu entry. Once mounted, it will show up in Fileside under /Volumes.

How do I copy my settings to a new computer?

First, make sure Fileside is not running on the new computer, or it might overwrite the settings you copy over to it.

Copy everything under /Users/[your_username]/Library/Application Support/Fileside to the same folder on the new computer. Start Fileside.

How can I modify contents of system directories like /Library?

macOS restricts write access to parts of the file system it thinks the average user shouldn’t meddle with. You can only edit and delete items in here from an administrator account.

To run Fileside as an administrator, you need to first open the Terminal app. Then type:

sudo /Applications/Fileside.app/Contents/MacOS/Fileside

Note however, that this will run Fileside as the root user, and your normal settings and layouts won’t be applied.

Even when running as an administrator, there are some locations you still can’t edit because they are protected by Apple’s System Integrity Protection. These include /System, /bin, /sbin and /usr.

Why do I get a permissions error when trying to copy my entire home directory?

If you run into an error like the below when trying to copy or access certain subfolders of your home directory, it’s likely because Full Disk Access is disabled.

Apple’s Full Disk Access is a privacy mechanism added in MacOS 10.14, which prevents apps from accessing certain subfolders under ~/Library containing data related to personal contacts, calendars, emails, bookmarks etc.

To give Fileside permission to read and copy these folders, go to your Mac’s System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access and add Fileside to the list of applications. You will need to restart Fileside thereafter for the setting to take effect.

Why do file icons sometimes not update after changing their default app association?

This is a long-standing MacOS issue, which afflicts Finder too. These icons are cached, and will eventually get updated.

If you want to force them to refresh immediately, there is no quick and easy workaround, but this article outlines the process.

Where’s the iCloud Drive folder?

To view the files synced to your local Mac, go to ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs.

For other iCloud features, you will need to use Finder for now, which has a custom implementation for iCloud.

Can I run shell scripts on files?

Yes. Select one or multiple files, right-click and choose Open With > Other…. From here, navigate to the folder with your script (must end in .sh) and select it. It will now run with the selected files as input arguments. Thereafter, the script will be added to the standard Open With menu for later reuse.

Please note that the script must have the executable permission x set for this to work.

Licensing

This section contains frequently asked questions about the Fileside license.

Can I use one license on multiple computers?

Yes, the license is valid for all computers that you personally use, also across platforms.

For how long is the license valid?

A license is valid for all updates within the same major version range. Say you buy a license for version 1.2, you will then be eligible for all updates up until but not including version 2.0.

Major version upgrades are however expected to be very infrequent. The current plan is to make Fileside feature-complete within the 1.x version series. Version 2 is still a considerable way off, and will likely involve a considerable overhaul and optimisation of the internals and a redesign of some of the key features. A version 3 is not even on the cards.