FAQ - Frequently asked questions
Download and installation
Q: Do I need Administrator rights to install HiFile on Windows?
A: Currently yes, you do. The reason is that HiFile is installed to Program Files folder, writing to which is allowed only if you have Administrator user rights.
We are currently working to change this limitation and allow users install HiFile to any folder. Administrator rights will not be necessary then.
Q: AppImage file for Linux and DMG file for macOS have about 30 MB. But installer for Windows is much smaller. Why?
A: Linux AppImage must contains more libraries to support all possible Linux desktop environments. Moreover it contains ICU library,
which provides support for internationalization of text coding (Unicode). On Windows and macOS, this internationalization support is provided by the operating system, ICU library is not needed to be bundled with the application.
Regarding DMG file for macOS, it contains universal binaries which support both Intel and Apple Silicon processors.
Therefore it is larger than the binaries supporting only one chipset would be.
Q: What versions of Linux are supported?
A: Versions of Linux supported by HiFile are determined by Qt6 framework targeted platforms. These are 64-bit versions of
Ubuntu 20.04 or newer, CentOS 8.1 or newer, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 or newer, Open SUSE 15.1 or newer. Plus, of course, all other distributions derived from these versions.
HiFile may work on other versions but this cannot be depended upon.
Q: How to uninstall HiFile?
A: On Linux: just delete the AppImage file. On Windows and macOS you should first unregister the license if you had your license registered.
This will allow using your license on another computer later. Unregistration can be done in Help>Unregister license.
To actually uninstall HiFIle you follow the standard uninstallation procedure for your operating system.
See instructions for Windows or
instructions for macOS.
Troubleshooting
Q: HiFile AppImage does not run on Linux even though I changed permissions to be exectuable. What now?
A: This may be caused by some unexpected error. In order to find out more about the error, try to run HiFile from command line. Depending on what the results is, check some of the following answers.
Q: When I run HiFile from command line, it tells me "dlopen(): error loading libfuse.so.2 AppImages require FUSE to run..."
A: This means that you do not have FUSE installed, which is a library needed to run AppImages. It should be installed on each Linux machine but for some reason it is missing on your computer.
It is however easy to solve. Follow these instructions.
In most cases you can install it by calling sudo apt-get install fuse libfuse2.
Q: HiFile crashes on Windows shortly after start. What may be wrong?
A: There may be many causes of this unfortunate event. It however happened that this was caused by having installed some Windows Explorer extensions or some programs which use Explorer extensions.
These extensions may do things like adding custom items to default Windows Explorer context menu or adding file icon overlays (i.e. custom look of file icons).
Obviously some extensions may be faulty or do not like to cooperate with HiFile for some reason. You can therefore experiment with disabling the extensions,
see e.g. https://superuser.com/questions/286000/how-to-list-explorer-extensions-and-disable-them.
In any case please report the problem at https://bitbucket.org/vladimir-kraus/hifile-issue-tracker
or drop an email to info@hifile.app.
Q: TaskManager (or similar tools) report suspicious network trafic when HiFile is running. Why?
A: The only network communication which HiFile uses is checking for updates
and verifying a license (on Windows and macOS) at the application startup.
If you see any other traffic related to HiFile, then this may be caused by the fact that you have connected
some network or cloud drives (e.g. OneDrive, GoogleDrive, iCloud, DropBox etc.) and HiFile is regularly checking their connection status.
This network traffic is normal and should be very small, no more than 10 kB per second.
Higher network trafic could be reported only when you are actively using the network or cloud drives,
e.g. you are synchronizing, copying, donwloading etc. files stored on these drives.
Purchasing and license registration
Q: I purchased HiFile but I have not received email with license key. What should I do?
A: Assuming you have provided correct email during the purchase, you should receive email almost immediately after the payment.
I rare cases there can be some technical difficulties or delays so we ask for a little patience. Try to refresh your email box after a few minutes.
You should be looking for email with sender "contact@payhip.com" and title "Thank you for buying HiFile".
If you cannot find it in your regular email box, please check also you spam email box or other email boxes.
If the email cannot be found anyway, please contact us at info@hifile.app
and describe when exactly you made the purchase and what is your email address which you entered during purchase.
We will try to sort it out.
Q: Windows displays warning when I try to install HiFile. Why is that?
A: HiFile is a new software by a new developer. It means that Windows may in some rare cases pop up a SmartScreen
window during installation to warn you about potential risks. If you want to install HiFile click "More info" and then "Run anyway".
Q: macOS displays warning when I try to install HiFile. Why is that?
A: HiFile for macOS is not yet digitally signed. Process of acquiring required Apple Developer ID is underway.
Consequently Apple Gatekeeper will prevent you from running the application.
If you do not want to wait until the application gets signed, you can find the downloaded file in Finder and right-click to open context menu and then click Open and confirm you want to run the application.
It is however better to wait until the missing digital signature is resolved, which will be soon.
Using HiFile
Q: Can I use cloud drives such iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive or Drop Box with HiFile?
A: Yes, but they must be mapped as a drive or as a folder. For iCloud on macOS and OneDrive on Windows this is automatic and the support is already built in the operating system.
For Google Drive and DropBox you need to install a desktop client application which allows mapping the cloud space to a local drive of folder.
The desktop client for Google Drive can be downloaded at https://www.google.com/drive/download.
Similarly, the desktop client for DropBox can be downloaded at https://www.dropbox.com/install.
Q: How can I reset all HiFile settings and preferences from command line?
A: You can call HiFile from command line and add argument `--reset`. On macOS use `open -a HiFile.app --args --reset`.
HiFile on Windows
Q: How to change the default application which opens individual files after pressing Enter?
A: File type associations are defined by Windows OS.
To change the default application to open individual files, open Properties (by context menu or the main menu or by pressing Alt+Enter),
then go to General tab and click Change... button in Opens with entry.
Then select the program you want to use to open all files with the same extension.
HiFile on macOS
Q: Keyboard shortcuts containing Ctrl do not work on macOS. Why?
A: macOS has slightly different keyboard layout and handling. Ctrl on Windows or Linux has equivalent in Cmd on macOS.
It is not practical to mention this fact at each place in documentation where key shortcuts are mentioned.
Try the same shortcut but replace Ctrl with Cmd. It should work then.
Q: HiFile application opened multiple windows or dialogs. How can I switch between them on macOS?
A: On Linux and Windows, you can switch between individual windows using Ctrl+Tab.
However on macOS, corresponding shortcut Cmd+Tab switches only between applications but not between individual windows.
To switch between individual windows of the same application, use shortcut Cmd+` if the windows are not in fullscreen mode and
use shortcuts Control+Left and Control+Right if the windows are in fullscreen mode.
Other
Q: I am a happy user of HiFile and I like the project. What can I do to support it?
A: The best way to support HiFile is to tell everyone about your positive experience.
And if you have any ideas how to make the project even better, let us know at https://bitbucket.org/vladimir-kraus/hifile-issue-tracker.