floe CLI, Floe’s command-line tool, so it sends to
and receives from browsers and the CLI without any extra setup.
Needs: a Windows 10 or 11 PC. The exact Windows version and processor depend on the channel: see
Requirements.
The short version
Install it from the Microsoft Store: Windows shows no warning, and the Store keeps it up to date. Use the installer or the portable zip from GitHub only when the Store is not an option. You never need the same version as the person on the other end. To remove it, use Apps in Windows Settings.Requirements
Which Windows and which processor you need depends on the channel you install from:
x64 means a 64-bit Intel or AMD processor, which most Windows PCs have. ARM64 is the other kind, found in some
thin laptops. To check yours, open Settings > System > About and read System type: “x64-based
processor” is what Floe needs.
On an older Windows the installer stops with “This product is only supported on Windows 10 (Server 2016) and
later.” On any other processor, an ARM64 PC for example, it stops with “This product can’t be installed on the
current Windows architecture. Supports: amd64”.
Every channel also needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which draws the
interface. Windows 11 includes it, and the vast majority of Windows 10 machines already have it. You do not
normally need to do anything about it.
If the runtime is missing, Floe offers to download and install it when you start the app, then carries on once
that finishes. Decline, and Floe closes and asks again next time. The installer from GitHub also installs it
during setup, by downloading it from Microsoft, so that step needs an internet connection.
One case needs care. If the machine cannot reach Microsoft’s download at that moment, because it is offline or
behind a filtering proxy, the runtime cannot install and Floe cannot start. It shows a message that begins
“Floe could not start.” and names the runtime. Install
WebView2 yourself, then start Floe again.
Choose a channel
- Microsoft Store
- GitHub release
The recommended way to install.Get Floe Desktop from the Microsoft StoreOr from a terminal:Windows trusts Store apps, so it installs with no SmartScreen warning: Microsoft
re-signs the package with its own certificate. Updates arrive automatically through the Store.The app itself differs from the GitHub build in these ways:
Terminal
- The Show in right-click menu setting is not available, and the Windows section of Settings that contains it is hidden entirely. Windows does not let a Store app add to File Explorer’s menu this way: a packaged app’s registry writes go to a private view that File Explorer never reads.
- It never runs the GitHub build’s update check and does not show the Check for updates switch, because the Store updates the app.
- Windows knows it as Floe Desktop, in its list of installed apps and as the sender of its notifications, where the GitHub build is Floe.
- Windows lists it with a different version number from the one Floe shows. See Check the version.
Verify a download
Every GitHub release shipsSHA256SUMS.txt. To check a file you downloaded:
PowerShell
SHA256SUMS.txt. PowerShell prints the hash in capital letters
and the file writes it in lowercase, so compare the characters and ignore their case. Store installs need no
check: the Store verifies the package signature itself.
For a release of desktop-v1.0.4 or later, the GitHub CLI (gh) can also check a download against the release’s
attestation, which GitHub records when the release is published:
PowerShell
SHA256SUMS.txt.
Check the version
Open Settings (the gear in the title bar, orCtrl ,) and look at the About section. App version
reads the release tag, for example desktop-v1.1.1. A build you compiled yourself reads dev.
That section also shows the transfer protocol version and which signaling server
the app is using, and a Copy button that puts all of it on the clipboard. Those are the details worth
including in a bug report.
Windows shows the Microsoft Store build under a different number, in Apps in Windows Settings and in
winget list. The Store needs a version that does not start with 0, so the first number is one higher and a
fourth number is added: Floe Desktop 1.1.1 is 2.1.1.0 there. The version Floe itself shows, and the
changelog, use desktop-v1.1.1.
Update
Nothing from GitHub installs by itself, but from Floe Desktop 0.2.3 on, the app tells you when there is
something to get: see Check for updates. Earlier builds do not, so
check the download page yourself.
On GitHub, desktop releases carry the Pre-release label so that Latest release always stays the CLI,
which the install scripts and
floe update rely on. The label is not about stability: Floe Desktop is a
stable release. Watch floe.one/download or the
full release list for new ones.
You never need the same version as the person on the other end of a transfer. See
version compatibility. Desktop releases carry their own
desktop-vX.Y.Z version numbers, separate from the vX.Y.Z tags that release the CLI and the server, and
the two lines never need to match. A feature still needs a release that has it:
request links need Floe Desktop 0.3.0 or later, and a
link key is made and checked by Floe Desktop 1.1 and later. Floe Desktop from the
Microsoft Store updates on its own, so if you run your own server, update its web image first: see
Keep the client and server on one version.
Uninstall
Open Settings in Windows, go to Apps, and uninstall it. The installer build is listed as Floe; the Store build is listed under its Store name, Floe Desktop, and can also be uninstalled by right-clicking it in the Start menu. What is removed depends on the channel:
The portable build adds Send with Floe to File Explorer only if you turned on
Show in right-click menu. If you did, turn it off in Floe first,
then delete the files you unzipped. Deleting them with the switch still on leaves an entry that points at a
program that is gone, until the next installer or portable Floe you start takes it over or removes it. The
Microsoft Store build never reads or changes the entry, so it cannot clean one up.
The installer build’s uninstaller deliberately leaves a few things behind, so a reinstall picks up where you
left off:
- Your settings, in
%APPDATA%\floe\desktop.json. - Your transfer history and save folders, in
%APPDATA%\floe\webview. - The update check’s once-a-day cache, in
%APPDATA%\floe\desktop-update-check.json. Only the builds from GitHub write it. - If Floe was closed during a request-link drop and has not started since, that drop’s record, in
%APPDATA%\floe\quit-drop.json.
%APPDATA%\floe into File Explorer’s address bar and delete what you find.
The floe CLI keeps its own files in that same folder, so only delete the whole folder if you are removing
both.
The builds from GitHub leave two more things that are not in that folder: the per-user registry entry that
names Floe on its Windows notifications, and a small icon file in your temp folder.
Security and privacy lists everything Floe Desktop keeps on a PC.
Run alongside the CLI
The desktop app and thefloe CLI share the %APPDATA%\floe folder, and both talk to the same signaling
server by default, so a transfer started in one can be received by the other. Point either at a different
server and they still interoperate as long as both use the same one. See Settings.
If something goes wrong
- Floe will not start: the WebView2 runtime is missing and Floe could not download it.
- There is no right-click menu setting: that is the Microsoft Store build, which hides the Windows section of Settings.