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You are going to send a file and watch it arrive. The quickest way to see it work is to send to yourself, in two tabs, so nothing depends on anyone else being ready.
1

Open Floe and pick a file

Go to floe.one and drop a file onto the card, or click it to browse.
2

Create the link

Click Create secure link. Floe shows a link with Copy and Show QR under it. Click Copy.
3

Open the link in a second tab

Paste the link into a new tab. In real use this is where you would send the link to someone, or have them scan the QR code with their phone.
4

Watch it arrive

The transfer starts on its own as soon as the two tabs connect. When the file lands, a download button appears on its row in the second tab. Click it to save.

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What just happened

Your two tabs met in a room on Floe’s server, which only introduces them. Then they connected directly. The file went from one tab to the other without passing through any server. That is why there is no upload to wait for, and why Floe sets no size limit on a direct connection. The badge at the top of the card said Direct once that path was open. On a network that blocks direct connections it would have said Relay instead. The file would then have traveled through an encrypted relay that cannot read it, with a 2 GB cap. Before the second tab offered that download button, it checked the file. It compared the size, and a fingerprint of the contents called its SHA-256, with what the first tab sent. The green check mark in front of “1 file received” is that check passing (the SHA-256 matched mark). To read more:

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The same thing from the desktop app or the terminal

Both send to and receive from the browser, and each other. Both also send folders and write what they receive straight to disk. They differ from the browser in smaller ways too, and Which Floe to use lists them.

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From the terminal

Install the floe CLI, the command you type in a terminal. Pick your system below. Installation has the other ways to install it.
Terminal
Then send:
Terminal
floe send prints a room code, three words, and a link, and either one works. The receiving side runs floe receive olive-tiger-castle with the code that was printed, or pastes the code or the link into Floe Desktop’s Receive tab, or opens the link in a browser. In floe 1.12 and later the link also carries a link key, which a room code does not, so give the link when you can.

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From Floe Desktop

Install Floe Desktop from the Microsoft Store, or from a terminal:
PowerShell
Drop a file on the window and click Send 1 item. Floe shows a room code, a share link, and a Show QR button, and any of the three gets the other person in.

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Any Floe can talk to any other

Every pairing works, in both directions: A browser recipient always needs the link, because the web app has no field for a room code. When you do not know what the other person will use, share the link. See Mixing them. A request link is the one transfer that starts from the receiving side. Floe Desktop makes the link and receives, and the sender opens it in a browser or runs floe send <files> --to "<link>". Folders are the other difference. The CLI and the desktop app send them and rebuild the structure on arrival. In the browser, the Send page at floe.one sends a folder you drop on it, and the page a request link opens takes one too. A browser that receives two or more files offers Download ZIP, which rebuilds the folders inside the archive. Saving files one at a time flattens them.

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If something goes wrong

  • The second tab shows “Link Invalid”: the pasted link was cut short, or the link is already open in another tab. See Troubleshooting.
  • The second tab says “The sender is not connected”: the first tab was closed or reloaded. See Troubleshooting.
  • “Connection failed. Ask the sender to try again.” with a real recipient: the two networks could not reach each other. See Troubleshooting.
Last modified on November 6, 2026