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Browse and manage files ​

The Files window browses the connected machine over SFTP: navigate, select, preview, create, rename, move and delete, with the shortcuts you already know from a local file manager.

Prerequisites ​

A connected workspace whose server offers SFTP. Without it, Files reports that file access is unavailable while terminals keep working. Your own account's permissions apply to everything below.

Steps ​

  • The Places sidebar lists Home, the filesystem roots the server reported, and Drives.
  • The path bar shows the current folder; type a path and press Enter to jump. Ctrl+L focuses it.
  • Back and Parent folder are in the toolbar, on Alt+← and Alt+↑.
  • Refresh re-reads the folder, or press F5.
  • Filter files narrows the list as you type, without hiding what is on the server.

Large folders stream in: the status bar shows discovering… while pages arrive. If the folder changes mid-scan, ShellCanvas says so and asks you to refresh rather than showing a half-old listing.

Select ​

Click selects one item. Ctrl+click adds or removes one, Shift+click takes a range, and Ctrl+A selects everything visible. Esc clears the selection. Selection follows what you can see, so filtering or hiding dotfiles prunes it.

Open and preview ​

Enter opens a folder, or previews a file inside the window. From the context menu:

  • Open in text editor — opens the file in the Editor.
  • Open folder / Open in new window — a second Files window for the same host, which is how you copy between folders.
  • Preview file — a read-only look at text files, up to 256 KiB.

Create, rename, delete ​

  • New folder in the toolbar or the menu, with the destination shown, and existing items are never replaced.
  • New text file opens an empty editor pointed at the current folder.
  • Rename — F2. The new name must not already exist.
  • Delete — Delete, with a confirmation naming the exact path. There is no remote trash and no undo.

Deleting is deliberately narrow: files, symbolic links and empty folders only. Deleting a link removes the link and keeps its target. For more than one item, the review dialog lists up to 100 entries, deletes them one at a time, and stops at the first failure, showing which were deleted, which were not confirmed and which were not attempted.

Move and copy ​

  • Move to folder… moves a file, link or folder within the same host, with a destination browser. The name stays the same and an existing destination is never replaced.
  • Copy to folder… copies a regular file within the host, through the transfer queue, so you can watch and cancel it.
  • Cut (Ctrl+X) and Paste here (Ctrl+V) move one item between Files windows of the same workspace. A banner shows what is pending; Esc cancels it.
  • Copy (Ctrl+C) copies the selection for pasting elsewhere in the workspace, and on Windows also offers it to File Explorer.
  • Copy name, Copy path and Copy folder path put text on the clipboard, and Go to clipboard path navigates to a path you copied somewhere else.

Sort and view ​

Sort and view… sets the sort key (Name, Modified, Size), the order, Keep folders first, Show hidden files and Compact rows. Clicking a column header sorts by it; clicking again reverses. These preferences apply to every Files window, while each window keeps its own folder and selection.

Hidden files are shown by default — ShellCanvas assumes you are working on a server, where dotfiles usually matter.

Expected result ​

Browsing feels local: folders open immediately, actions confirm what they will do before doing it, and every refusal explains itself. Nothing is written to the server unless you asked for it.

Limitations ​

  • Empty folders only for deletion; there is no recursive delete. Remove the contents first, or use the terminal.
  • One item at a time for rename, move and cut. Copy, download and delete work on a multi-selection.
  • No drag and drop between windows. Use Cut and Paste here, or Move to folder.
  • Changes made outside the window are not pushed to it. Something created in the terminal appears after a refresh.
  • Back history holds 50 entries per window, and at most 256 open locations are tracked when files move.
  • Special files — devices, sockets, FIFOs — are listed but cannot be previewed or edited.

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