Keep the workspace comfortable and familiar.

Find a setting by category

• General

  Manage app updates and common desktop preferences.

• Transfers

  Choose the local transfer engine, verification, resource behavior, bandwidth, durable checkpoints, and the default action for local name conflicts.

• Appearance

  Choose theme, density, text size, motion, and contrast.

• Shortcuts & layout

  Choose visible workspace surfaces and customize safe keyboard bindings.

• Nearby & background

  Control close-to-tray behavior and the Nearby transfer bandwidth limit. The live Off/On/Auto sharing choice and incoming destination remain on the Nearby devices page.

• Storage connections

  Connect or manage Google Drive, separately authorize direct Google transfers, and explicitly add or remove shortcuts to OneDrive folders already configured in the Windows sync client. Unlinked providers stay out of the ordinary storage list.

• Plugins

  Detect, enable, disable, install, or remove the optional, separately supplied VLC Video integration for compatible Inspector previews.

• Developer

  Opt in to the bounded, read-only Git overlay and related developer controls.

• Help & About

  Open getting-started help, view the current keyboard bindings and version, and reach support information. This replaces the former separate Help sidebar page.

Comfort and visibility

• Density

  Choose Compact for denser rows and controls or Comfortable for larger targets and spacing.

• Text size

  Scale RFile text and interface content to 90%, 100%, 110%, or 125%.

• Motion

  Follow the Windows preference or select Reduce motion. Reduced motion also stops decorative 3D auto-rotation and automatic model animation.

• Contrast

  Use the standard theme behavior or RFile's High contrast presentation. Windows forced-colors behavior remains respected when the operating system enables it.

Choose which controls stay visible

• Toolbar

  Show or hide Back, Forward, Up, Refresh, Bookmark, Search, and the More menu.

• Sidebar

  Show or hide Recents, Bookmarks, Home, storage, Recycle Bin, Transfers, Network, and RFile account sections. Help & About remains inside Settings.

• Status bar

  Hide the whole status bar or individually choose its filter, folder/file counts, split-view control, view control, and transfer progress.

Customize keyboard shortcuts

1. Choose a command

   In Settings, select the current shortcut shown beside the command you want to change.

2. Press a combination

   Press the new key combination. RFile rejects duplicate assignments, bare printable keys that would break filename type-ahead, and Windows-reserved combinations.

3. Clear or restore

   Clear a command to leave it unassigned, restore one default, or reset all shortcuts.

Choose what keeps running

• Close to background

  When enabled, closing the last visible window keeps RFile in the Windows notification area. Open RFile restores it, and Quit RFile exits explicitly.

• Nearby sharing mode

  Choose Off, On, or Auto on the Nearby devices page. Auto turns sharing on now and whenever RFile starts, while remaining separate from close-to-background and never bypassing pairing, permissions, or consent.

• Nearby bandwidth

  Set a whole-number limit from 0 through 1,000,000 MiB/s under Nearby & background. Enter 0 for unlimited bandwidth.

• Incoming destination

  Received content defaults to Downloads\RFile. Choose another local folder in RFile's temporary opposite-pane folder picker, then select Use this folder or Cancel. Existing tabs and split layout are preserved.

Manage optional VLC video playback

Settings > Plugins detects a compatible 64-bit VLC 3 desktop installation. VLC is made by VideoLAN, installed and updated separately, and is not bundled with RFile. RFile uses the embedded Windows/WebView engine first for reported-playable MP4, M4V, WebM, and MOV, then tries VLC once after an actual decode error; other eligible containers can use VLC directly.

Use VLC in Inspector is one native persisted setting for the entire running RFile process. Turning it off closes active VLC previews and prevents new helpers from starting without uninstalling VLC. Every open RFile window receives the same revisioned status, so a stale response cannot reverse a newer enable, disable, install, or uninstall result.

Install VLC first shows the package, GPL-2.0 license, and Windows-prompt notice. After explicit confirmation, RFile verifies the protected WinGet executable and official Microsoft winget source, then asks WinGet for the exact x64, machine-wide VideoLAN.VLC 3.0.23 package. Windows may show a User Account Control prompt; keep RFile open until installation finishes.

When the trusted WinGet path is unavailable, Open VLC website opens VideoLAN's official Windows download page instead. Install VLC there separately, return to Settings > Plugins, and choose Refresh.

Uninstall VLC is a separate confirmed system-wide action. RFile first turns off the integration and closes active playback, then asks the same trusted WinGet path to remove VLC for every app on the PC. If removal is unavailable, fails, or cannot be verified safely, RFile stays off and offers Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps for manual removal. Built-in playback remains the first fallback, and unsupported formats can open in the default player.

RFile's consistent ArtPlayer-inspired accessible control surface retains the Fit/Fill picture modes, idle-fading controls, playback-speed choices, full-screen view, media keys, and exact 350 ms mouse or pen hold-for-2× contract across browser and native playback. Releasing restores the selected rate and prior play/pause state, playback never autostarts, and touch-promoted input is filtered from the native VLC 2× gesture.

Export or import UI preferences

Export creates a JSON file containing only RFile UI preferences. Import validates that bounded preferences-only format before it replaces the current theme, density, visible controls, terminal choice, local name-conflict preference, and keyboard shortcuts.

Choose a trusted terminal

• Automatic

  Prefer Windows Terminal when available, then use Command Prompt as the fallback.

• Explicit choice

  Choose Windows Terminal, PowerShell, or Command Prompt for Open in Terminal.

Opt in to read-only Git context

Developer features are off by default. After enabling Developer features and Git status badges and branch, local repository folders can show compact working-tree badges beside affected entries and the current branch in the status bar.

Related documentation

• RFile basics
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Views and navigation
• File transfers