Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are customizable in Tools>Preferences>General>Keyboard shortcuts.
The keyboard shortcuts displayed below are relevant for
macOS.
Click here to switch to shortcuts for
Windows or
Linux.
Navigation in panels
Tab | jump over from the active panel to the inactive panel |
Space | change location in the active panel |
/ | edit location in the active panel |
Backspace | go to the parent folder |
Shift+Tab |
clone the location from the active panel to the inactive panel and jump over to the inactive panel |
Cmd+1, Cmd+2, Cmd+3 |
sort the corresponding column (Name, Size or Time) of an active panel in ascending or descending order |
Cmd+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) |
Cmd+Left/Right |
change a current column in the active panel to modify order of items (the "Name", the "Size" and the "Date" columns) |
Option+Left | go to previous location in the active panel |
Option+Right | go to next location in the active panel |
Cmd+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) |
Cmd+A | select all currently visible items in the active list view; or if all are already selected then deselect all |
Cmd+Shift+A | invert selection of all currently visible items in the active list view |
Cmd+E | toggle selection for the files with the same extension as the current item |
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
Cmd+X | cut to clipboard (the items will be moved after the subsequent paste operation) |
Cmd+C | copy to clipboard (the items will be copied after the subsequent paste operation) |
Cmd+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 |
Option+Enter | open item Properties dialog |
Cmd+Enter | counts statistics (total size occupied, most recent modified date) for folder contents |
Operations
F2 | rename selected item or items |
Cmd+D | duplicate the selected items (similar to Cmd+C followed by Cmd+V) |
Cmd+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
Cmd+Plus | zoom in (i.e. increase font size)
|
Cmd+Minus | zoom out (i.e. decrease font size)
|
Cmd+0 | reset zoom to default size
|
Cmd+, | open Preferences dialog
|
Cmd+. | show/hide hidden files (note: hidden files start with a dot on Unix-like systems)
|
Tools
F9 | open Terminal with the current location as the working directory |
F10 | open Command center |
Cmd+F | find file or folder |
Cmd+Shift+F | find text in files |
Cmd+Shift+D | finds duplicate files |
Cmd+R | open window with recently used files |
Cmd+S | compare and synchronize folders |
F1 | display help |
Tabs
Cmd+T | open a new tab with the same locations as in the current one |
Cmd+W | close the current tab and switch to the previous one |
Cmd+Tab | switch to the next tab |
Cmd+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
Cmd+left click | toggle selection of the clicked item |
Shift+left click | extend (toggle) selection from the current item to the clicked item |
Cmd+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