Frequently asked questions

A dual-pane file manager for macOS and Windows. One window shows two folders side by side, and you move files between them with the F1–F10 keys: between your disk, network shares, FTP/SFTP servers and archives.

Yes. No ads, accounts, subscriptions or time limits.

• macOS 12 Monterey or later on Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 and later),

• Windows 10 (version 1809) or later, 64-bit.

No. The app is built only for Apple Silicon processors.

No. The app isn't built or tested on Linux.

No, but it uses open source libraries such as Avalonia, SSH.NET, FluentFTP and SharpCompress. The full list with versions and licenses is shown in Help → About, and also on the How it works page.

On first launch the app is in Polish, so the menus are in Polish too: choose Język → English (or Plik → Ustawienia… → Język). The change takes effect immediately.

• Two panels: you see the source and the destination at the same time, and copying takes one key.

• Full keyboard control.

• FTP, FTPS and SFTP servers and archives work like regular folders.

• Before copying, the app checks for conflicts and lets you choose: overwrite all, overwrite older, skip duplicates.

• Directory comparison, a search for changed files, folder tree statistics.

That's normal, and it happens once. The browser adds a quarantine flag to the downloaded disk image, so the first time you launch the app from the image, the system asks you to confirm. Click Open. The installed copy doesn't have that flag, so later launches don't ask anything.

That shouldn't happen. The app is signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple. Download the disk image again from the app's website. If the message comes back, contact us — don't work around the system's security.

In ~/Applications, the Applications folder in your account — not in the shared /Applications. When you open the disk image and launch FlyingFiles, the app offers to move itself there. The reason: in the shared folder, every update would ask for an administrator password. More.

• macOS: Help → Check for Updates.... The app checks for updates only when you choose this command.

• Windows: updates come through Microsoft Store.

The app is in the shared /Applications folder. Move it to Applications in your home folder (how to do it) — future updates won't ask for a password.

This copy of the app wasn't installed from the .dmg disk image. Download the image from the website, launch FlyingFiles from it, agree to install it in your Applications folder, and check for updates in the installed copy.

Because that's the only way Windows installs the app without warnings. The SmartScreen filter warns about installers that nobody has downloaded yet — even signed ones. Packages in Microsoft Store are signed by Microsoft itself, so there are no warnings, and updates arrive automatically.

It will keep updating, but we recommend switching to the Store version. Your settings will stay. How to do it.

Yes. Each computer has its own settings; you can move them by copying the settings file.

No. F8 deletes permanently, after confirmation (the default answer is No). To move an item to the Trash, use the context menu: Move to Trash (local disks only).

Copy the folder with F5 and choose Overwrite Older in the File Conflicts dialog. You can also find files you changed recently with the Search changes window, which copies them while keeping the folder structure.

Files that are already copied stay. A file interrupted mid-copy isn't left half-written on the disk, and an existing destination file stays untouched. A file that was half-uploaded to a server is deleted from the server.

Not currently. + selects everything, Shift with the arrow keys selects a range, and you can find files by name in the Search window.

No. Shift+F6 renames one item.

There's no such history. There's a list of recently typed paths (the arrow next to the path field) and favorite paths under F2.

The panel doesn't track changes made by other apps. Refresh it with Cmd+R / Ctrl+R.

Turn on View → Show Hidden Files.

Press them together with fn, or in System Settings → Keyboard turn on the option to use F1, F2, etc. as standard function keys.

Cmd+Space is usually taken by Spotlight, and Control+Space by switching the input source. Select with Space (it moves the cursor on to the next item) or by clicking with Cmd.

No. Compare Directories tells you that files differ (also by their MD5 checksum), but it doesn't show the differences in their content.

It opens and modifies ZIP, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, TAR.XZ and GZ. It opens 7z, RAR, .bz2 and .xz read-only. It creates ZIP, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, TAR.XZ and GZ. Details.

RAR archives may be created only by RARLAB software — that's what the format's license says. The app currently can't write 7z; it opens and extracts 7z archives.

No. The app has no dialog for entering an archive password, so it won't open such an archive.

No — they're saved when you leave the archive (through /.. in its top folder, by switching the panel somewhere else, or by closing the window). If saving fails, the app shows an error and keeps the archive open with your changes.

The app extracts the archive to a temporary folder, and it first downloads an archive from a server in full. A large archive on a server is faster to copy to your disk and open locally.

In the macOS Keychain or in Windows Credential Manager, under the name FlyingFiles FTP. The settings file never contains them.

Because the server password is kept in the system Keychain, not in a file of the app. Click Always Allow — the system won't ask again. For a single password read, macOS may show two prompts one after another; that's normal system behavior.

Yes, with SFTP. Choose the key file in the Private key (SFTP) field and enter the key's passphrase in the Password field. An SSH agent (e.g. ssh-agent or a password manager) isn't used — you need the key file.

No. The connection is encrypted, but the app won't detect an impostor server. Connect to servers you trust, and avoid public networks without a VPN. More about security.

No. FlyingFiles supports explicit FTPS (encryption turned on after connecting, usually on port 21).

Change the data connection mode: in FTP/SFTP → Manage Connections... → Edit, turn Passive mode (PASV) off (or on). More.

In Settings, increase FTP/SFTP transfer timeout and Retry count.

Possible causes:

• you answered Yes to the question about dates (current date);

• Fast FTP/SFTP mode is on, and it doesn't preserve dates;

• the FTP server doesn't allow setting dates;

• with FTP, the app sends the date in local time, but standards-compliant servers treat it as UTC, so the date shifts by the difference between your time zone and UTC (SFTP doesn't have this problem).

Yes: connect the left panel to one server and the right panel to the other, and press F5. The data goes through your computer.

No. If the service has an app that syncs files to a folder on your disk, you can work in that folder like in any other.

Connect it in the system (Finder: Go → Connect to Server; Windows: a network drive or a \\server\share path). It will appear in the drive bar. On macOS, a favorite path to a folder on the share connects the share by itself when it's disconnected.

Not in its own window. The video preview shows the resolution, the length and, on macOS, a frame from the video, and it opens the video in the system player or in an app you choose.

These formats currently aren't recognized as images and are shown as a hex dump. Open them in the system app with Enter.

Esc and Cancel close the editor without asking about unsaved changes. Save with Cmd+S / Ctrl+S, or save and close with F2.

The app recognizes the UTF-8, UTF-16, Windows-1250 and ISO-8859-1 encodings. A file in another encoding (e.g. ISO-8859-2) may show wrong characters, and there's currently no way to choose the encoding manually. Open such a file in a system text editor (Open With).

No. F4 always opens the built-in editor. To open a file in another app, press Enter or use Open With in the context menu.

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/FlyingFiles/

• Windows: %APPDATA%\FlyingFiles\

The settings.toml file has backups settings.toml.bak.1–.bak.5. More.

Quit the app and rename the settings.toml file. Note: this file also holds your saved connections and favorite paths. More.

Yes. Both use the %APPDATA%\FlyingFiles folder.

Instructions for macOS and for Windows.

No. Files go only where you copy them yourself — for example, to an FTP/SFTP server you have set up. Privacy policy.

No. There's no telemetry, analytics, accounts or ads.

Only to the FTP/FTPS/SFTP servers you add yourself, to network shares mounted in the system and — when you choose Help → Check for Updates... — to nci.pl. That command exists on macOS and in the old Windows beta from Setup.exe; the Store version updates through Microsoft Store.

Check that:

• no other operation is running — while copying, the panels and the key bar are locked;

• no dialog is open;

• the other panel shows files, not the server or terminal list — in that case the app shows a warning (new after 1.0.0);

• something is selected or the cursor is on an item, not on the /.. row.

In the logs/transfers.log file in the settings folder. Passwords in it are masked.

Write to kontakt@nci.pl. What to include is described on the support page.

We're considering some of them, but without dates. Write to kontakt@nci.pl and tell us what you miss most — it helps us decide the order.