Mounted Drive Mode lets you access Files.com connections directly from Windows and macOS. When the Desktop App is launched, any configured connections set for mounting are automatically mounted. Multiple connections can be mounted at once, and new connections are set to auto-mount by default when created.

This mode gives you a native experience for browsing and editing Files.com content through File Explorer on Windows or Finder on macOS, similar to using a network drive. You can open and save files directly from applications including Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite.

You can enable or disable this behavior using the Mount as Volume option available under Manage Files.com Connections. If any mounting-related settings are changed in a connection's configuration, the volume is remounted automatically to apply the updates.

How Mounted Drive Mode Works Across Windows and macOS

On Windows, mounted connections appear as mapped drives in Windows Explorer under This PC. The highest available drive letter is used when mounting a volume, and if no drive letters are available, the mount fails. You can configure a specific drive letter for each connection, but if that letter is already in use, the mount fails. Mounted Drive Mode is available when installing the Desktop App using the EXE installer, and is not supported with the MSI installer.

On macOS, Files.com integrates with Finder and shows up under Locations, so its contents can be browsed there, with each connection shown as its own folder inside it. Files that have been downloaded to your Mac stay accessible even with no internet connection.

Mounted Drive Mode is available when installing the Desktop App using the PKG or DMG installers.

If you're using Workspaces, you can switch between them using the Desktop App.

Working with Files in Mounted Drive Mode

In Mounted Drive Mode, you browse folders, open files, edit content, and save changes directly through your native file browser. Files transfer in the background, letting you work with them as if they were stored locally. When you open a file, it downloads if not already cached. When you save changes, the file uploads back to Files.com automatically.

If you need specific folders mounted to specific drive letters on Windows, your Site Administrator or Workspace Administrator can set up Desktop Configuration Profiles to define and enforce these mappings automatically.

Local File Caching

The Desktop App keeps a local copy of files you've opened. Opening the file again checks whether a newer version exists on Files.com. If nothing has changed, it opens instantly from the local copy instead of downloading again. If a newer version exists, that version downloads first. Without this cache, every open of a file already on Files.com would repeat the same download, even for a file you closed a minute ago. This applies on both Windows and macOS. On macOS, you can also download a file or folder manually for offline access, using this same cache.

The Desktop App's Caching settings control how much this cache holds and for how long. Enable File Cache turns local caching on or off. Maximum Size caps how much disk space the cache can use. Maximum File Count caps how many files it can hold. Expiry removes a cached file automatically once it has gone unopened for that many hours, even if the cache isn't otherwise full.

The cache holds downloaded files from every connection you've accessed, not one folder at a time. When it hits one of the limits above, the files you opened longest ago are removed first, freeing up room for more recent ones. Removing a file from the cache only removes its local copy. It does not delete the file from Files.com. The file still appears in its folder, and opening it again downloads it fresh.

Empty Files

On Windows, the Desktop App does not upload empty files. Creating an empty file in a mounted folder, from the New menu in Windows Explorer for example, leaves it on your computer. Copying or moving an empty file into the folder does the same. Explorer keeps showing the file while the Desktop App is running, and it uploads the first time you save content into it.

On macOS, empty files upload like any other file.

File Locking Behavior in Mounted Drive Mode

Files.com uses file locks to protect business document files that are opened for editing. This locking behavior applies when editing these documents through the Desktop App Mounted Drive, the Files.com online editor, or Office for the web, and applies only to business document files including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

When a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document opens for editing from a Mounted Drive using the corresponding desktop application, the Files.com Desktop App requests a lock for the file. If no one else is editing the file, the lock is granted and the file opens for editing.

If another user or editing session already has the file open, the application opens the file in read-only mode. This prevents multiple users from editing the same file at the same time and causing conflicting changes or accidental overwrites.

For example, if one user opens a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document from a Mounted Drive using a desktop editing application and another user tries to open the same document for editing from another Mounted Drive or the Files.com online editor, the second user will see the file open in read-only mode.

If you make changes while the file is open in read-only mode, the application prompts you to save the file with a different name or in a different location. The application does not allow saving changes to the original file while another editing session holds the lock.

The lock is released when the user closes the file in the editing application that opened it. If the file remains open and the lock is not released, the lock expires automatically after 12 hours.

File locking does not apply in Turbo Transfer Mode because Turbo Transfer Mode is used to transfer files, while Mounted Drive Mode allows files to be opened and edited directly.

Offline Access (macOS Only)

On macOS, the Desktop App lets you work with files and folders that are already in the local cache, even when your Mac doesn't have an internet connection. Files you've recently opened are already there, since the Desktop App downloads them automatically. Before going offline, you can also right-click a file or folder in Finder and select Download Now to download anything else you know you'll need.

While offline, you can open, edit, and save any content that's in the local cache. You can't access anything the Desktop App hasn't already downloaded.

Reconnecting syncs things in both directions. Any changes you made while offline upload to Files.com automatically, and anything changed elsewhere, in the web app, on another device, or through a different client, comes down for anything you've already downloaded. Finder updates on its own, with no manual refresh needed.

Files you download through Download Now don't stay local forever. They're still subject to the same cache limits as anything else downloaded, and get cleared from the cache once those limits are hit if you haven't reopened them.

Offline Access is most useful when you can't count on a connection holding for a full work session, on a flight, at a client site with unreliable Wi-Fi, or anywhere else you're working on the go.

Right-clicking a file or folder in a mounted drive also offers Create Share Link, which builds a Share Link for it without the need to open the web app. Creating one requires sharing permission on the folder. The Creating Share Links from the Desktop App page covers this feature in more detail.

Managing macOS Finder Integration

On macOS, the Desktop App's Advanced settings include a Finder Integration panel showing whether the Finder integration is currently active, with Refresh and Repair actions if it stops working. The first time you connect, macOS requires you to approve the extension in System Settings before Finder integration can turn on. When that approval is still needed, the panel shows a warning with instructions for doing it.

If Finder integration isn't working, the same panel includes a fallback to switch to the classic Finder mount without restarting the Desktop App. Switching back to the default integration asks for confirmation first.

Multiple Concurrent Users (Windows Only)

The Desktop App supports multiple user sessions on the same Windows machine. Each user authenticates with their own Files.com credentials and gets their own mounted drive, limited to what their permissions allow.

This applies to these environments.

Windows Server running Remote Desktop Services (RDS), where multiple users connect remotely at the same time, each in an isolated session.
Windows 10/11 with Fast User Switching, where multiple local accounts share one machine and switch between sessions without logging out.
Shared kiosk machines, where a single machine is used by multiple employees in sequence, common in warehouses, factory floors, airport counters, reception desks, and retail environments.

By default, mounting a drive also registers a UNC network share path (\\Files\<name>) alongside the drive letter. Only the Windows user who mounted the drive can list that path or open and write the files in it. Files.com permissions still apply. Some applications, such as Adobe applications, find and use the network path behind a drive letter when they open and save files. These applications keep working for the user who mounted the drive. IT administrators can disable this registration.