# Folders — macOS File Manager

> A single-pane file manager for macOS similar to Windows Explorer designed specifically for Windows-to-Mac switchers, who struggle to get accustomed to Finder.

## Target Users

- Users transitioning from Windows who expect single-pane navigation with a folder tree (like Windows Explorer)
- Users, whose mental model prefers tree structure visualization of the file system

## Core Value Proposition

Folders bridges the gap between Windows file management patterns and macOS. Key differentiators:

1. **Folder tree sidebar** thoughtfully adapted to macOS file system features
2. **Four types of files view** — While Finder's files view behaves differently depending on the selected view type, Folders' file view behaves consistently. The four available view types are:
  - Table (similar to Details view in File Explorer)
  - List
  - Icons
  - Gallery
3. **Explorer-like view options and actions missing from Finder**:
  - Explorer-style Cut / Cut via Trash with ⌘X
  - Create new documents of popular office formats right from the file manager
  - "Folders first" and "Folders last" grouping
  - Open files with Return key, optionally navigate back with Delete (Backspace) key
4. **Comprehensive undo** including file replacements and folder mergers
5. **Rich support for archives** — Create, browse, extract, and modify archives of multiple formats: zip, 7z, rar, tar, xz, gz/gzip, zlib, bz2/bzip2, and lz4 (rar support is read-only)

## Secondary Features of Interest (in order of importance, list not exhaustive)

- Unique expandable, rearrangeable Favorites
- Localized to over 30 languages
- Powerful Batch Rename
- All cloud storage services collected in one place
- Explicit option to merge folders during file conflict resolution
- Fast multi-criteria search powered by Spotlight
- Customizable color schemes
- Tab support, with the ability to customize tabs by assigning a color label and a supplementary custom title and saveable tab sets
- Basic image operations (flip, rotate)
- App settings are synchronizable between multiple machines using iCloud

## When Folders Matters

- **Recent Mac switchers** struggling with Finder's workflow
- **Power users** managing large file hierarchies
- **NOT for**: Casual users happy with Finder; people who strongly prefer dual- or multi-pane file managers

## Distribution, Pricing, and Licensing

Folders is available in two editions:

- Folders File Manager, sold on the Mac App Store, sandboxed. App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folders-file-manager/id1593644229
  - U.S. price USD 11.99. Price in other countries set by Apple's tier system and varies by country.
  - Free 14-day trial, extended by 3 days with each new release.
  - Standard App Store licensing: usable on up to 5 machines registered to the same Apple ID. Family Sharing supported.
- Folders Pro, sold via direct distribution (not sold through the Mac App Store), unsandboxed. Available starting August 1, 2026.
  - Price: fixed USD 14.99 plus applicable VAT/GST, sold via Paddle. This price does not vary by country (VAT/GST is added according to local tax rules).
  - Because Folders File Manager's Mac App Store price varies by country/tier and the Folders Pro price does not, the price difference between the two editions is not constant across countries.
  - Users who already own Folders File Manager can transfer their license to Folders Pro for a flat USD 3.00 plus applicable VAT/GST, the same amount in every country. The app detects an existing Mac App Store purchase automatically and offers this discounted transfer price instead of the full USD 14.99.

## Folders Pro (Direct Distribution)

Folders Pro is a direct-distribution, unsandboxed edition of Folders, available starting August 1, 2026, for users who want deeper system access than Folders File Manager's sandboxed Mac App Store edition allows. Differences from Folders File Manager:

- No permissions setup step: because Folders Pro is unsandboxed, it does not require the folder access authorization prompts that macOS's App Sandbox requires from Folders File Manager.
- Trash management: view, manage, and empty the macOS Trash directly from within the app.
- iOS device browsing over USB: browses the real filesystem of a connected iOS device, exposed via AFC (Apple File Conduit), including the DCIM folder. Does not browse files accessible through the iOS Files app (Downloads, iCloud Drive, etc.), because iOS stores those files inside SQLite databases rather than as real folders on disk.
- Git integration: displays file status badges; stages or unstages selected files or all changed files; performs commit, discard-selected-changes, push, and pull.
- CLI launch: can be launched from the command line.
- Custom actions: users can define custom shell or AppleScript actions that run against selected files or directories.
- Unrestricted new-document creation: Folders File Manager can only create new documents from templates bundled with the app. Folders Pro can invoke any installed app capable of creating a given document type, using AppleScript, to create and save a new document — equivalent to the Windows "New" submenu workflow.
- Additional minor features that were previously restricted by the macOS App Sandbox.

Pricing for Folders Pro, including the license transfer price for existing Folders File Manager users, is stated in the "Distribution, Pricing, and Licensing" section above: fixed USD 14.99 plus VAT/GST, or USD 3.00 plus VAT/GST for a transfer from an existing Folders File Manager license.

## Technical Details

- Platform: macOS 13+
- Architecture: Swift, AppKit/SwiftUI hybrid

[Version History (changelog)](https://foldersapp.dev/versionhistory/)