The file explorer works like a file manager on your computer: select, drag, right-click, preview. This page walks through every surface and menu in detail.
Page layout
The page has three zones: the sidebar on the left, the file area in the middle and the dockable details panel on the right. There is no classic folder tree: you navigate via the sidebar areas, the breadcrumbs at the top and by double-clicking into folders.
Every view has its own address and can be linked directly: /files (Start), /files/recent (Recent), /files/favorites (Favourites), /files/trash (Trash) and /files/f/<id> for a specific folder or a file with its preview open.
Sidebar
- Start, Recent (Zuletzt) and Favourites (Favoriten) for quick access.
- The Areas (Bereiche) group with Tools, Properties (Objekte) and My files (Meine Dateien), see Folders and areas.
- The Trash (Papierkorb).
- A search button; faster still is Cmd/Ctrl + K, see Search.
- The storage tile with a gauge and "X of Y used". It is visible to owners and admins only and links to Settings > Files.
Views and sorting
- Grid or list, switchable in the toolbar. The choice is remembered per folder: your photo folder can stay a grid while the contracts folder stays a list.
- The list shows the columns Name, Size (Größe) and Modified (Geändert).
- Sorting through a menu where every entry states the outcome: "Name (A bis Z)", "Name (Z bis A)", "Zuletzt geändert zuerst", "Älteste zuerst", "Größte zuerst", "Kleinste zuerst" and "Nach Dateityp". The button shows what is currently applied. Folders always come before files.
Navigation and breadcrumbs
- Double click opens a folder; the breadcrumbs at the top lead back, every level is clickable.
- Alt + ↑ goes one level up.
- Typing a letter jumps to the next matching name.
Multi-select and the bulk bar
Selection follows the Finder semantics you know from your computer:
- Click selects an entry.
- Cmd/Ctrl + click adds or removes individual entries.
- Shift + click spans a range.
- Cmd/Ctrl + A selects everything, Esc clears the selection.
As soon as something is selected, the status bar appears with " selected" plus the total size and the bulk actions Download (Herunterladen), As ZIP (Als ZIP), Move to trash (In den Papierkorb) and Clear selection (Auswahl aufheben).
Context menu
Right-click (on the phone: long press) opens an entry's context menu:
- Open (Öffnen) for folders, Download (Herunterladen) for files
- Open with (Öffnen mit): shows tools that accept the file type. Images, for example, can be opened directly in AI-Homestaging.
- Rename (Umbenennen)
- Move to... (Verschieben nach...), or " entries" when multiple are selected
- Duplicate (Duplizieren)
- Mark as favourite (Als Favorit markieren) or Remove favourite (Favorit entfernen)
- Manage access... (Zugriff verwalten...), folders only, see Folder access
- Share... (Freigeben...), see Sharing externally
- Folder colour (Ordner-Farbe), folders only
- As ZIP (Als ZIP)
- Move to trash (In den Papierkorb)
Folder colours
Via the context menu you can give folders one of six accent colours: blue, violet, green, amber, rosé or slate blue; the default colour is gold. The colour is visible workspace-wide, so everyone sees the same marking. System folders such as Tools or Properties may carry a colour too.
Details panel
You dock the details panel via the toolbar. For the selected entry it shows:
- Preview, size, type and origin (uploaded, imported, tool result or system folder)
- for restricted folders the line Access: Restricted (Zugriff: Eingeschränkt)
- Created (Erstellt) and Modified (Geändert)
Below that come four sections:
Favourites
The star in the context menu marks files and folders as favourites. The sidebar area of the same name collects them all.
Preview
- Space or double click opens the quick preview; the arrow keys flip to the next entry.
- Images, PDFs, videos and audio are displayed or played directly.
- Markdown renders formatted, CSV as a table, code with line numbers.
Keyboard shortcuts
The ? key (or the help button at the bottom right) opens the keyboard shortcuts overlay:
- Navigation: ↑ ↓ ← → move the selection (in the grid too), Alt + ↑ goes one level up, Enter opens a folder or shows the file, typing jumps to a name.
- Selection: Cmd/Ctrl + A selects everything, Esc clears the selection.
- Actions: Space for the quick preview, F2 to rename, Del for the trash.
- Search and help: Cmd/Ctrl + K opens search, ? this help.
Live updates
If a tool stores a file while the page is open, it appears immediately in the file area and a notice reports: " stored a new file." No reload needed.
Empty states
The most important notices when nothing is there yet (original German wording in quotes):
- Empty root: "Dein Dateispeicher ist noch leer. Lade deine ersten Dateien hoch oder lege einen Ordner an. Tool-Ergebnisse und Objekt-Dateien landen automatisch hier." (Your file store is still empty; upload your first files or create a folder, tool results and property files land here automatically.)
- Empty folder: "Dieser Ordner ist leer. Zieh Dateien oder ganze Ordner hierher. Auch Einfügen aus der Zwischenablage funktioniert." (This folder is empty; drag files or whole folders here, pasting from the clipboard works too.)
- Empty trash: "Der Papierkorb ist leer." (The trash is empty.)
On the phone
On the phone a long press opens the context menu, and instead of dragging you use the Move to... dialog. Every function stays reachable.
Further reading
Continue with Uploads and versions or go back to the overview.