File Manager HD (Free) is a free Windows 8 app that allows you to manage the files on your Windows 8 device. Optionally, the app also allows you to upload your documents to popular file storage cloud accounts like box, etc. The app is available as a free download from the Windows 8 App Store, and is designed in a very minimalistic layout. The app is well designed, and functionality wise, it performs great. Upload speeds to cloud accounts are great, and so are the download speeds from them. As far as the app’s working is concerned, you don’t require an active internet connection to use this app, but if you want to use the cloud features of this app, the app requires you to stay connected. The app performs well even on slow connection speeds, and you will definitely enjoy using this app on your Windows 8 device. You can browse through the folders on your device with ease and can easily open the files that you wish to open by clicking on them!
Let’s get into the details of this app now!
Features of File Manager HD (Free) for Windows 8…
When you launch the File Manager HD (Free) app on your Windows 8 device, you will be presented with the following interface…
As you can see clearly in the above screen, you can either choose to navigate to your local storage space, or you can choose to add a cloud account from the right side of the screen. Let us try the local storage for now. If you want to access any of the locations like Pictures, Music or Videos, simply click on the quick links on the main screen of the app, otherwise, you can click on the + button below these links to add a folder of your choice to the main screen of the app.
Once you have chosen the folder, you will be returned back to the main screen of the app. You can choose either a selected folder, or you can choose an entire hard drive as well, by clicking on the drive icon, and then clicking on Choose this folder button at the bottom right corner of the screen. Then, click OK and you will be returned to the main screen of the app which should look like the following screenshot.
As you can see above, I have added the Local Disk C: to my app’s launch page. You can go on adding as many folders as you want! Now let’s navigate inside the location that I have just added.
As you can see in the above screenshot, I have navigated to the C:\Users\Pranjal\Desktop location which is clearly visible at the top of the screen. Clicking on a file opens it up and snaps the app to the left side of the screen!
The automatic snapping feature is very useful as you can quickly switch back to the file browser page and launch another file. From the above screenshot, it is also clear that the app supports snapped view for multitasking flawlessly by optimizing the interface to fit the snapped mode. Let’s talk about the cloud storage facility of this app now.
You can use the back arrow button to return to the main screen of the app. It may take more than one click to get to the launch page depending on the folder you are in. Once in the main screen, choose your preferred cloud storage. I prefer Dropbox, so I clicked on it. Upon clicking on the Dropbox icon, I was naturally asked to sign in to my Dropbox account. After entering my email id and password, I was taken to the main screen of the app again, where I could see the cloud accounts that I had set up on the app (Google Drive and Dropbox).
As you can clearly see above, under the Remote category, my account is listed. Let’s see what happens when I click on the Dropbox account.
The app barely takes a second, and soon enough I can access the documents in my Dropbox account. Let’s say I want to copy a file to my Dropbox. All I have to do is to simply navigate to the folder where the file is located, right click on it and select the Copy option from the control bar at the bottom.
Now, I have to return to my Dropbox account again, and then right click to reveal the control bar, and then choose the Paste option from the control bar at the bottom. To download a file, I simply have to click on it, and the app automatically fetches it!
Above, you can see the app fetching my file. Once the file is fetched, it will automatically be opened!
Well, this concludes the usage features of this app.
Conclusion
File Manager HD (Free) is a very well designed app that caters to the needs of all users who are looking for an effective yet easy way to manage their files on Windows 8 in a metro style environment. The biggest plus point of this app is that it allows you to sync and link your cloud accounts as well, and this is a much welcome feature after all! Overall, this app definitely is worthy of a 4 out of 5 rating!
