Keyboard shortcuts

HiFile is very concerned about ergonomy. It is easy to use with mouse but if you want to achieve the highest productivity, it is very useful to learn some simple key shortcuts.

The keyboard shortcuts displayed below are relevant for Windows or Linux. Click here to switch to shortcuts for macOS.

Navigation in panels

`Tab`	jump to the opposite panel
`Space`	change location in the active panel
`/`	edit location in the active panel
`Backspace`	go to the parent folder
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Left`	clone the active location from the right to the left panel
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Right`	clone the active location from the left to the right panel
`Ctrl`+`1`, `Ctrl`+`2`, `Ctrl`+`3`	sort the corresponding column (Name, Size or Time) of an active panel in ascending or descending order
`Ctrl`+`Up`/`Down`	change the order of current column in the active panel (e.g. order the "Name" column alphabetically and vice versa or order the "Size" column ascending or descending)
`Ctrl`+`Left`/`Right`	change a current column in the active panel to modify order of items (the "Name", the "Size" and the "Date" columns)
`Alt`+`Left`	go to previous location in the active panel
`Alt`+`Right`	go to next location in the active panel
`Ctrl`+`B`	create a new bookmark or edit existing one

Selections in list views

`Shift`+`Up`/`Down`	toggle selection the selection of the current item and jump up or down
`Shift`+`PageUp`/`PageDown`	toggle selection from the current item by jumping one page up or down
`Shift`+`Home`/`End`	toggle selection from the current item to the beginning or end of the list
`Insert`	Windows and Linux only: toggle selection of the current item and go to the next item (same as `Shift`+`Down`)
`Ctrl`+`A`	select all currently visible items in the active list view
`Ctrl`+`E`	toggle selection for the files with the same extension
`Ctrl`+`I`	invert selection of all currently visible items in the active list view
`Escape`	clear the selection in the active list view

Filtering in list views

`any letter or number`	edit quick-filter
`Shift`+`Space`	open "Filter items" dialog
`Backspace`	remove the last character from the quick-filter (if quick-filter is active)
`Escape`	reset the active quick-filter or filter

Clipboard operations

`Ctrl`+`X`	cut to clipboard (the items will be moved after the subsequent paste operation)
`Ctrl`+`C`	copy to clipboard (the items will be copied after the subsequent paste operation)
`Ctrl`+`V`	paste items from clipboard to the current folder
`F8`	copy the path of the selected items

Opening, viewing, editing

`F3`	view current file in text, binary of image viewer
`Shift`+`F3`	turn ON/OFF thumbnail mode
`F4`	edit the current file in external text editor
`Shift`+`F4`	create and edit a new file
`Enter`	open folder, archive or open a file with the default application or run a program
`Shift`+`Enter`	specify how to open the current item
`Alt`+`Enter`	open item Properties dialog
`Ctrl`+`Enter`	counts statistics for folder contents

Operations

`F2`	rename selected item or items
`Ctrl`+`D`	duplicate the selected items (similar to `Ctrl`+`C` followed by `Ctrl`+`V`)
`Ctrl`+`L`	create a shortcut (Windows) or symlink (macOS and Linux) to the current item
`F5`	copy selected items
`Shift`+`F5`	compress selected items to a new archive
`F6`	move selected items
`F7`	make a new folder in the active folder
`Delete`	move selected items to trash (`Fn`+`Backspace` on MacBooks)
`Shift`+`Delete`	permanently delete the selected items (`Shift`+`Fn`+`Backspace` on MacBooks)

Customizations

`Ctrl`+`Plus`	zoom in (i.e. increase font size)
`Ctrl`+`Minus`	zoom out (i.e. decrease font size)
`Ctrl`+`0`	reset zoom to default size
`Ctrl`+`,`	open Preferences dialog
`Ctrl`+`.`	show/hide hidden files (note: hidden files start with a dot on Unix-like systems)

Tools

`F9`	open terminal
`F10`	open Command center
`Ctrl`+`F`	find file or folder
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`F`	find text in files
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`D`	finds duplicate files
`Ctrl`+`R`	open window with recently used files
`Ctrl`+`S`	synchronize folders
`F1`	display help

Tabs

`Ctrl`+`T`	open a new tab with the same locations as in the current one
`Ctrl`+`W`	close the current tab and switch to the previous one
`Ctrl`+`Tab`	switch to the next tab
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Tab`	switch to the previous tab

Tip: These four shortcuts are the same as are used in web browsers to work with tabs.

Mouse related

`Ctrl`+`left click`	toggle selection of the clicked item
`Shift`+`left click`	extend (toggle) selection from the current item to the clicked item
`Ctrl`+`right click`	show secondary context menu (Windows only)
`long hold of left mouse button`	turn on mouse-selection mode (indicated by "hand" mouse cursor)
`Escape` or `right click`	turn off mouse-selection mode

Escape key functions

Escape key has various functions depending on the context. The priority order from the highest to the lowest:

close dialog or cancel the current action
turn off mouse-selection mode
clear quick-filter
clear filter
clear selection

Space key behavior

Space key is a powerful key in HiFile and has several different uses depending on context:

press once in the main window - displays a list of bookmarks and drives in the active panel
press twice in the main window - displays a list of recently used folders
similarly, it can be used in dialogs in dedicated path edit boxes
pressing space on a certain item in a window such as "Find files and folders" will open this item in the active panel of the main window
in other cases it works as a normal space key