Everyday operations

Copy, move, rename, and delete files with familiar keys, and press Ctrl+Z when something goes wrong.

Copy, move, and paste

1. Select files and press Ctrl+C to copy or Ctrl+X to cut. Cut items show scissors.
2. Go to the destination and press Ctrl+V.

With exactly one folder selected, Ctrl+V pastes into it. Otherwise it pastes into the folder you are viewing. A copy pasted into its own folder becomes report (1).pdf; Ctrl+D (Duplicate) does this without the clipboard.

Prefer a dialog? Right-click and choose Move to… or Copy to….

When a name is taken, File already exists offers:

• Replace: overwrite that item.
• Keep Both (copies only): add name (1).ext beside it.
• Merge (folder copied onto folder): add the incoming contents, replacing same-named files.
• Skip (several items): keep the existing item, transfer the rest.
• Cancel: transfer nothing.

Apply to All reuses your answer for the remaining conflicts.

Create and rename

Press Ctrl+Shift+N for a new folder, type its name, and press Enter. Right-click empty space for New Folder or New File. Ctrl+Alt+N (New Folder with Selection) moves the selected items into a new folder.

To rename, press F2 or Ctrl+R, or click the name of a single selected item again after a pause. Enter, Tab, or clicking elsewhere saves; Escape keeps the old name.

Trash, restore, and delete

Press Delete to move the selection to Trash, with no prompt. To get it back later, open Trash in the sidebar, right-click the item, and choose Restore. Strata shows the original path before restoring.

Press Shift+Delete, or choose Permanently delete, to delete for good after a confirmation. This cannot be undone.

Good to know:

• Inside Trash, Delete always deletes permanently, after confirming.
• Locations without Trash, such as /dev/shm, ask before deleting permanently.

Undo a mistake

Press Ctrl+Z to undo the last file operation; Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y redoes it.

The history holds 32 operations, shared by every window.

Work with archives

Right-click an archive and choose Extract here or Extract to…, or double-click it. A single top-level entry lands under its own name. Several land in a folder named after the archive, such as photos/ for photos.zip. Nothing existing is overwritten.

To create one, select items and choose Compress…. Pick ZIP, 7Z, TAR.GZ, or TAR; ZIP and 7Z can be Password protected.

Drag and drop

Drop items onto a folder, a sidebar place, or a parent breadcrumb.

Hover over a folder for 750 ms to open it mid-drag. To skip the question, set Settings → General → FILE TRANSFERS → Drag & drop to another device to Always copy or Always move.

Follow progress in Jobs

A file operation that runs past 350 ms, or touches 16 or more items, shows its progress. Copies, deletions, and compression get a card in the bottom-right corner, so you can keep browsing; the card's X cancels it. Moves, extraction, and restores show a progress dialog; Cancel stops them. Either way, what is already done stays done.

Custom actions run in the background and open Jobs. Reopen it from the footer button, such as 1 job running. Details shows a job's output; Cancel stops it. Escape hides Jobs without stopping anything.

Full detail: Archives reference, Creating files and folders, and Jobs and cancellation