Your new Files.com drive will show up in the Mac Finder or Windows File Explorer just like a local volume. You'll get a new Files.com icon that you can click to monitor your connections and status in the Mac menu bar / Windows system tray.

The optional Smart Sync feature will synchronize files to your local disk, allowing you to manage those files offline, with the app uploading changes back to Files.com once you go online.

Integrated File locking ensures that multiple users can operate simultaneously on the same office documents.

Installation Instructions

Windows 10 installation

Step 1

In your Downloads directory, double click the Files.com Installer file.

Step 2

Select the Install button to begin installation.

Step 3

Select "Yes" when the system's confirmation dialog appears.

Step 4

When installation is complete, select the restart button to restart your computer.

Step 5

After your computer has restarted, you will see the Files.com icon in your Windows system tray.

Mac installation

Step 1

In your Downloads directory, unzip (double click) the Files.com desktop application zip file.

Step 2

Drag and drop the Files.com desktop application to the Applications folder.

Step 3

Open the Files.com application and select "Open" when the system's confirmation dialog appears.

Step 4

Once the system's preferences dialog appears, proceed to enable the Files.com desktop app as a Finder extensions.

Step 5

When the installation is complete, the Files.com icon appears in the menu bar, alongside other status icons.

Signing In To Your Account

You can connect an unlimited number of Files.com users (even across multiple Files.com sites) to your Files.com desktop app. After signing in to a user account, that account will become bookmarked, and will remain authenticated until either the account is deleted from the desktop app or the credentials expire.

Sign in to Account

For each account you'd like to connect, perform the following steps:

Step 1

Click the Files.com pinwheel icon (in your Mac menu bar or Windows system tray) and select the "Sign In To Account" menu option.

Step 2

In the newly opened web browser window, enter the login details for the Files.com user account with which you would like to connect (just as you would when logging into the web app).

Step 3

After you've logged in, you'll see a success message in the browser, followed shortly thereafter by a desktop notification informing you that the volume is mounted.

Step 4

Close the browser window that was triggered by the desktop app and begin using the desktop app.

Troubleshooting Issues

First, make sure that your user has the proper permissions to use the Desktop app. This is enabled by default for most sites (though Site Administrators can turn this off).

If you're unable to log in, you may need to contact your Files.com site administrator, and request that they enable access through the web app's settings (Settings > Users > Edit > Privileges > Protocol access).

The Files.com desktop app exclusively uses port 443 (HTTPS) for outbound communication, and should operate behind most corporate firewalls.

Connect / Disconnect

Once you've signed in, an account will immediately connect, and will automatically connect again every time the app is restarted.

A successfully connected account will be designated by a green icon, and a failed connection will show a yellow indicator.

You can use an account's context menu to manually disconnect that account, after which it will no longer attempt to connect until you've manually connected using this same context menu.

A disconnected account will remain an authenticated bookmark that's ready to reconnect on command.

Delete Account

You can also delete an account from that account's context menu. This will completely remove the bookmarked account along with its credentials (that is, the account's associated desktop app API key).

Of course, you can always sign in to that account again and reconnect at anytime.

Show

You can select Show in Finder (Mac) / Show (Windows) from an account's context menu to quickly view that mounted volume in the Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows).

Expired Credentials

If an account has expired credentials, you will be required to sign in to that account (through the desktop app) again before reconnecting. Credentials may expire for a number of reasons, including:

• The Desktop session was manually revoked by you or a site administrator via the web app.

• The Desktop session lifetime that's set for your Files.com site has lapsed (defaults to 30 days, unless modified by a site admin).

• Your Files.com site has Desktop Session IP Pinning enabled, requiring you to sign in again if your IP address changes while already signed in to the desktop app.

Administrators can change the settings by referencing the screenshot above.

Setting Desktop App Preferences

There are 5 categories of preferences you can set for the Desktop App.

Click on the Files.com icon in the menu bar (Mac) / system tray (Windows), and select Preferences.

Here you'll find five tabbed categories, including:

• Sync
• Connection
• Bandwidth
• Update
• Language

Sync

Mode: There are two file sync modes available, as described below. Note that while this is a global setting, you can explicitly override it for specific folders and files by using the context menu, giving you more granular control as needed.

• Online: Do not synchronize any files to your local computer. Files are accessed on-demand from your Files.com site, and do not take up any local disk space. In "Online" mode, you can only access the mounted volume when your user account is actively connected. This is the default mode.
• Smart Synchronization: Files are synchronized to your local computer and made available for offline access. Any file modifications are first saved in a local cache and automatically uploaded in the background as soon as you're connected again. You'll want to select this mode if you have any plans to manage files while offline.

Index files: Enable this option if you'd like to ensure that new remote files are detected periodically in the background (reducing the need to manually reload).

Cache: Change the location of where cached files (required for offline access) are stored.

Connection

Proxies: Uses your system's proxy settings by default. We don't recommend changing this setting unless you're an expert user who's familiar with your network's proxy requirements.

Cache: Stores file contents in a temporary location. Enable this setting for faster file access. Note that this is required for offline access (in addition to the Smart Synchronization sync mode setting). If this setting is enabled in combination with Online sync mode, then the temporary cache location is deleted when quitting the application.

Locking: Enable this setting to prevent conflicting edits when accessing documents from a shared environment.

Mount Location: Change the location of where volumes are mounted.

Log: Enabling this setting will make it easier to troubleshoot any bugs that you might run into. Click the "Show" button to view the created log file, and remember to attach this debug log to your bug report.

Bandwidth

Limit the amount of bandwidth that can be used for downloading and uploading files. This setting may be useful if you find that other apps are suffering from reduced performance while transferring large files.

Update

From the dropdown, you can choose which build you'd like to update to. In general, we recommend that users stick to the default, "Release" build, for a more reliable experience. Although if there's a specific feature or bug fix that you're waiting for, it can be useful to temporarily update to an experimental build (with the knowledge that this build may or may not be stable).

After the correct build is selected, you can use the "Check for Update Now" button to manually check for — and download — the lastest version of that build.

With the "Automatically check for updates" option enabled, you'll automatically receive an alert when a new version is available for download.

Language

Use the dropdown to change the language that's used by the desktop app interface. By default, it will use the computer system's language preference.

File Management

You can manage your Files.com documents from the Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows), just as you would any other file or folder that is already on your local machine. Create, open, edit, delete, or move files and folders. You can even drag and drop them from your mounted volume to another folder on your local machine, and vice versa.

Whenever you make a change to your mounted volume, the Files.com desktop app will push those updates to Files.com, keeping your local volume in sync with the remote server.

The image below shows a demonstration.

On the left, you'll notice that your Files.com site stays in-sync on the web app, as you make changes in the desktop app, and vice versa.

On the right, you'll see the interaction between a mounted Files.com drive and a local directory (copying files across both folders on a Mac, via the Finder).

And finally, a file on the mounted Files.com drive is opened on the computer, as you'd expect.

The only difference you'll notice about your Files.com documents is that they'll have a sync-status icon and a context menu that are specific to the Files.com desktop app.

It's also important to be aware of what sync mode your global preferences are set to, as well as what sync mode you've set for individual documents from their context menu. These settings will affect whether or not your Files.com documents are available to manage offline.

Sync-Status Icons

Every file and folder in your mounted volume will have a status icon, indicating its sync status.

There are six different statuses, each with their own icon, described in the table below:

Icon	Description
	Up to Date. The file or the contents of a directory has been opened and downloaded to your computer and therefore currently synced with your Files.com site. The file takes disk space on your computer and can always be opened even when you have no connection to the Internet or are not logged into your Files.com site. New files in a directory in Files.com will appear as Online Only and are not downloaded automatically.
	In Sync. The file or directory is selected to be synced with Files.com to always keep offline. The file takes disk space on your computer and can always be opened even when no connection to cloud is available. New files in a directory on your Files.com site will be downloaded automatically when you have a connection and are logged in.
	Online Only. The file can only be opened when a connection to your Files.com site is active. The file does not take any disk space on your computer. The file is downloaded on demand when you open it.
	Sync in Progress. The file or directory is currently being synced with your Files.com site.
	Sync Error. There was an error updating the file after changes. You are missing permission to write to the file or another problem occurred. Please contact your site administrator for assistance, or contact our Customer Success team. To resolve the error, move the file to your local disk and reload the directory.
	Ignored. The file is only saved in a local temporary location and never synced to your Files.com site.

Context Menu

Every file and folder in your mounted volume will have a Files.com context menu, with desktop-app-specific actions that you can take. There are a few ways to access this context menu:

1. Right click or control-click on the file or folder that you'd like to take action on.
2. Right click or control-click on empty space that's inside the current directory view in the Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows).

3. On Mac, use the Finder's toolbar to take action on the current directory view.

The context menu includes a number of different actions, as described below:

Reload

If you're on a Mac, you can select "Reload" to manually pull down any unsynced changes that might have occurred on your Files.com site since the desktop app last synced.

On Windows, with the target directory focused in the File Explorer, you can press F5 on your keyboard to pull down updates.

Keep Offline on Local Disk

Sets the document (that is, the document that you're taking action on) to "Smart Synchronization" mode, overriding your global sync mode preference for this specific document.

When selected, the desktop app will immediately download the document from your Files.com site (if it doesn't already exist on your local disk), ensuring that you have a working, offline-ready copy.

Delete on Local Disk

Sets the document (that is, the document that you're taking action on) to "Online" mode, overriding your global sync mode preference for this specific document.

When selected, the desktop app will immediately push any unsynced changes you've made up to your Files.com site, and will then delete the copy from your local disk, giving you online-only access to this document.

Copy URL

Select this to conveniently copy the URL of the folder or file, which you could then paste into a browser to access that item from the web app (assuming you're logged in).

You can also hover over "Copy URL" to view the URL.

Open URL

Select this to conveniently open the URL of the folder or file in your default web browser (assuming you're logged in).

You can also hover over "Open URL" to view the URL.

Sync Progress

Click the Files.com icon in the menu bar (Mac) / system tray (Windows) to access the desktop app's status menu item.

The status shows a summary of in-progress file transfers. Hovering over this menu will display a submenu that has a more-detailed report, including how much data has already been transferred, total amount of data to transfer, transfer rate, and estimated time remaining until the transfers are complete.

Up to five in-progress entries will be displayed below the transfer report. Clicking on these items will reveal them in the Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows).

From this submenu, you also have the option of manually pausing and resuming background syncing.

History

Also included in the status submenu (mentioned in the sync progress section) is a "Recent Files" history view, showing the last twenty documents that the Files.com desktop app has had activity on. Clicking on these items will reveal those documents in the Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows), assuming they are documents that still exist (that is, the activity you're clicking on isn't a deletion).

Activity includes delete, create, upload, download, and sync errors. You'll notice that this activity is sometimes shown as coming from you, and at other times shown as coming from your Files.com site. Activity from you includes changes you've made to documents locally through the desktop app (which get pushed to your Files.com site). Activity from your Files.com site might include changes that another user has made, or even changes that you yourself have made through another protocol (such as the web app).

You can select "Clear Menu" (located beneath the "Recent Files" history view) to clear the history at anytime.

Notifications

When documents have been added or updated on your Files.com site (that is, changes that are not yet synced to your desktop app), you'll receive a desktop notification. You'll also receive notifications for any sync conflicts that might occur due to these changes.

You can click these notifications to reveal the associated document in the Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows).

Custom branding

Now you can have your logo on every one of your users' desktops! Our Premier plan includes the ability to give the Files.com desktop app your own custom look.

The entire app, including the installer, mounted disk, context menu, menu bar (Mac) / system tray (Windows), and app icon use your graphics, giving your users a fully-integrated, branded experience.

To get started, contact our Customer Success team by submitting a support request, attaching your graphics (described below) to the ticket.

Graphic requirements

Please download this photoshop template, which includes the background for the disk icon. Then prepare the following assets:

• banner.bmp - 493×58 bitmap; used for the header of the Windows installer. Please use a white background.

• welcome.bmp - 163×314 bitmap; used as the sidebar of the Windows installer's first step (not shown with banner.bmp). Please use a white background.

• application@2x.png - 1024x1024, 24-bit PNG; used for the Mac app icon. Supports transparency.

• statusbar@2x.png - 32x32, 24-bit PNG; used as the Mac menu bar icon. Please use white.

• ConnectionProfile-DiskIcon-128px.tif - 128x128 TIFF; used as the "disk" icon for mounted drives.

• ConnectionProfile-DiskIcon-64px.tif - 64x64 TIFF; also used as the "disk" icon for mounted drives.

Need help?

We're constantly working to improve our documentation as well as the app experience.

If you're having any difficulty using the Files.com desktop app, please contact our Customer Success team by phone at 1-800-286-8372, or submit a support request through the Files.com web app.