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.

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
Cmd+Shift+Left	clone the active location from the right to the left panel
Cmd+Shift+Right	clone the active location from the left to the right 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
Cmd+E	toggle selection for the files with the same extension
Cmd+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

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 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
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	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:

1. close dialog or cancel the current action
2. turn off mouse-selection mode
3. clear quick-filter
4. clear filter
5. 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