Tern Files Download
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Guide · 01

Getting started

Install Tern Files, go through the setup and find your way around the window.

Install

Tern Files runs on Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) and Windows 11, on PCs with x64 or ARM64. You don't need administrator rights, and there is no account to create. Plan for about 500 MB of disk space.

There are two versions of the same app:

  • Microsoft Store – installs and updates through the Store. You buy Pro with your Microsoft account.
  • Direct download from ternfiles.com – can also become the default file manager and set up the index service for the fastest search. It checks for updates itself, and you unlock Pro with a licence key.
  1. Open Tern Files in the Microsoft Store and install it – or download the direct version from the download page on ternfiles.com.
  2. For the direct version, open the downloaded file. Windows' App Installer shows Tern Files; click Install.
  3. Start Tern Files from the Start menu. The setup opens on the first start.

The 14-day trial starts with the first start and includes everything. More in Trial & licence.

Setup

The setup helps you choose the most important options in a few minutes. It appears once, the first time you start Tern Files, and everything you choose here can be changed later in the settings.

  1. Welcome: pick the language, the theme (Light, Dark or System) and an accent colour.
  2. Prepare instant search: Tern Files starts reading your drives right away and shows the number of files per drive. Network drives are off by default. You can also switch on Also read contents, to search for text and amounts and load the AI model. The direct version offers the faster index service here.
  3. Set as default: make Tern Files the default file manager (direct version only), keep the quick switch in open and save dialogs and choose the key for the launcher.
  4. Developer tools: terminal, editors and Git status. Skip this step if you don't need it.
  5. Done: the most important keys at a glance. Create demo folder sets up Documents\Tern Files Demo with sample files, so you can try everything without risk. Let's go opens the window.

Skip setup keeps the defaults. To run it again, open Settings › General and click Start setup next to Setup.

After the setup, Tern Files starts with Windows and waits in the tray, so the launcher and your rules are ready at once. Switch this off with Start with Windows under Settings › General.

The window

Once you know the parts of the window, everything else is easy to find. From top to bottom:

  • Title bar – your tabs and + for a new tab. The ? button (or F1) opens the guide page for the view you are in.
  • Toolbar – back, forward and up, the path bar, the views List, Grid and Columns, the buttons Dual pane and Details pane, and the field Search everywhere or run a command … (Ctrl+K).
  • Sidebar on the left – workspace, quick access, drives and locations, tags, saved searches and the tools Storage & duplicates, Rules and History.
  • File list in the middle – above it the folder name, the number of items and the total size.
  • Details pane on the right – size, composition and actions for the selected item.
  • Status bar – selection, index status, running transfers and the free space on the drive.

Open the settings with Ctrl+,; under Keyboard shortcuts you can change the keys. When you close the last window, Tern Files keeps running in the tray, so the launcher and rules keep working. To quit, right-click the tray icon and choose Exit. More about the tray.

Default file manager

Make Tern Files your default file manager if folders should open in it everywhere – with Win+E, when you double-click a drive, or when another app opens a folder. This is only available in the direct version; Windows doesn't let Store apps make this change.

  1. Open Settings › Integrations.
  2. Switch on Tern Files as default file manager. Tern Files shows you the result.
  3. Try it with Win+E.

To switch back, turn the same switch off. Tern Files removes exactly the entries it added, checks that File Explorer is the default again and reports the result. File Explorer itself is never changed. Should switching back ever fail, Tern Files says so and names the emergency file Explorer-wiederherstellen.reg next to the program.

  • If Tern Files isn't running, it starts and opens the folder. If it doesn't answer within 3 seconds, File Explorer opens instead.
  • If Tern Files is no longer installed, the folder opens in File Explorer and the setting removes itself.
  • Control Panel, the Recycle Bin and Network still open in File Explorer.

"Show in folder" in other apps (for example the downloads of your browser) opens File Explorer – Windows doesn't ask the default file manager there. Switch on Take over Explorer windows under Settings › Integrations, and such a folder opens in Tern Files with the file selected (Explorer shows up for a moment). Open and save dialogs belong to Windows, too; in them, the quick switch helps.

Updates

Updates bring fixes and new features. All 1.x updates are included in your licence.

  • Microsoft Store version – the Store updates Tern Files for you. There is nothing to set up.
  • Direct version – while Check for updates is on (Settings › General, on by default), Tern Files asks ternfiles.com once a day whether a new version exists, the first time one minute after the start. Nothing else is sent.
  1. When a new version is ready, the notification Update available appears.
  2. Click Install. Windows asks you to confirm and installs the update.

If Windows can't install it this way – for example because your organisation has switched off App Installer – the download page opens instead, and you install the new version from there.

With Check for updates switched off, the direct version makes no connection for updates at all. In the Store version the switch is greyed out, because the Store takes care of it.

Uninstall

You remove Tern Files like any other app. A few steps beforehand leave Windows tidy.

  1. If Tern Files is your default file manager, switch off Tern Files as default file manager under Settings › Integrations.
  2. If you set up the index service, click Remove … under Settings › Search & index › Index service and confirm the Windows prompt.
  3. Quit Tern Files: right-click the tray icon and choose Exit.
  4. In Windows, open Settings › Apps, find Tern Files and uninstall it.

Forgot step 1 or 2? Nothing breaks. The next folder you open goes to File Explorer, and the entry of Tern Files removes itself. The index service notices that Tern Files is gone and unregisters itself from Windows; you can then delete its folder %ProgramFiles%\Tern Files by hand.

Settings, history, tags and the search index are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tern Files. If that folder is still there after uninstalling, delete it to remove everything. Keep the e-mail with your licence key – you'll need the key again after a new installation.