Files App 2.5 brings Acrylic backgrounds, navigation gestures, and more

The Files App, a popular third-party file manager for Windows 10 and 11, has received an update to version 2.5. It is a major release with new features, UI improvements, bug fixes, and other changes. The most notable changes include the return of the Acrylic material, navigation gestures, and Git integration. And as usual, there is a list of fixes and minor improvements to make the app better and more reliable.

What is new in Files 2.5?

Files 2.5 restores the previously missing Acrylic material for the app's backdrop, so now you can switch between Mica Alt and Acrylic. For those unaware, Mica Alt uses only your desktop wallpaper to generate the background, which remains unchanged regardless of what you place behind the window. Acrylic, on the other hand, is more dynamic (and resource-taxing) and can react to other objects on the screen.

Here is what The Files App looks like with Mica Alt and Acrylic and a File Explorer window behind:

Mica Alt

Acrylic

Another change in version 2.5 is gestures support. You can now swipe left or right to navigate back and forward on touch-enabled PCs and laptops. Gestures support is one of those strange omissions in the default File Explorer, so The Files App now provides a much better experience in this regard.

Developers will be happy to learn about a couple of new Git features that make it easier to work with repositories:

• The branch name is now displayed on the status bar
• Checkout remote branches, and switch between local branches from the branches flyout
• Pull commits from remote repositories using the ‘Pull’ button on the status bar
• Create new branches
• Track changes with the Git columns in the details layout

The developer says more Git features are planned, so stay tuned for future updates.

Finally, the latest update befriends the app with SeerPro, a third-party tool that lets you preview files by pressing the Spacebar key. You can learn more about SeerPro on its official website.

Here is the rest of the changelog for The Files App 2.5:

Changes and Improvements:

Preview and Details Pane:

• The preview and detail panes are now separated into two. Users can switch between the two panes using the new pivot control. Additionally, the preview will now stretch to fill the available space in the pane.
• Improved the layout when the preview pane is in the horizontal orientation.

Display and edit metadata of multiple files:

• Display and edit metadata of multiple files in the properties window. Previously it was only possible to edit metadata for a single file at a time.

Bug fixes:

Fixed issue with network locations not appearing on the sidebar

• Fixed crash when previewing large html or svg files
• Fixed crash when previewing PDFs in RTL languages
• Fixed issue where the progress bar overlapped the title in ongoing operations
• Fixed issue where the icons and names of libraries were not displayed in the details layout
• Fixed issue with some date formats not reflecting the language settings
• Fixed issue where the delete confirmation sometimes took a while to open
• Fixed issue where pinned favorites were sometimes displayed twice
• Fixed issue where right clicking an empty space didn’t clear the selected files
• Fixed issue where extracting files sometimes failed
• Fixed issue with the focus sometimes flickering in the column layout
• Fixed issue with pasting folders from Remote Desktop
• Fixed issue where the tab sometimes had the wrong icon
• Fixed contrast issues with the preview pane icon
• Fixed issue where the details pane would sometimes fail to load
• Fixed issue where renaming folders in the columns layout would open the folder
• Fixed issue with selecting multiple items in the column layout
• Fixed issue where add item was disabled in column layout
• Fixed position of ongoing operations flyout
• Fixed crash with the properties window

You can download The Files App from the Microsoft Store. Those wanting to trial early updates can navigate to the project's official website to download the preview release.

Files App 2.5 brings Acrylic backgrounds, navigation gestures, and more