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Guide · 07

Launcher & quick switch

Open apps, files, folders and commands with Alt+Space, and jump to your folders in any Open or Save dialog.

Launcher Pro

The launcher is a search window for your whole PC. Press Alt+Space anywhere in Windows – even with no Tern Files window open, as long as Tern Files runs in the tray.

Type a few letters. The launcher finds apps from your Start menu (Store apps included), files and folders from the search index, commands and calculations. Results are grouped under Best match, Folders, Apps, Files and Commands. On the right you see details and, for pictures, PDFs and text files, a small preview.

  • ↑ ↓ – choose a row
  • Tab – next area: All, Files, Folders, Apps, Commands, Calculator (Shift+Tab goes back)
  • Enter – open: apps start, files open in their program, folders open in Tern Files
  • Ctrl+Enter – Show in folder
  • Shift+Space – Preview; ← → browse the results, Esc takes you back
  • Ctrl+K – all actions of the row, e.g. Copy as path
  • Esc or a click elsewhere – close

With an empty search box it lists what you use most (Used often). It learns from what you open, locally on your PC. Filters of the search work here too, for example ext:pdf.

If another program already uses Alt+Space, Tern Files takes Ctrl+Alt+Space. The active keys are shown in the top right corner of the launcher. You can change them under Settings › Integrations › Open launcher.

Commands and calculator

Commands take you to the tools of Tern Files and to a few Windows actions without the mouse. Type part of the name in the launcher – English and German words both work, so lock and sperren find the same command. To see only commands, press Tab until Commands is selected.

  • New window and Settings
  • Storage & duplicates, History, Rules, Compare and sync folders and Tidy up a folder with AI – open the tool in a Tern Files window
  • Open workspace “…” – one entry for each of your workspaces
  • Lock the PC and Sleep – Tern Files asks first, then runs the command

Calculator: type a calculation such as 12*19,5. The result appears at the top. Enter copies it to the clipboard, the launcher says Copied to the clipboard and stays open, so you can go on calculating. You can use + - * × / ÷ : ^ % and brackets, with a decimal comma or a decimal point. A calculation needs at least one operator, and dates like 2026-09 stay a normal search.

Quick switch in file dialogs Pro

Quick switch saves you from clicking through folders in the Open and Save dialogs of other programs. When such a dialog opens, the Quick switch panel docks on its left (on its right if there is no room) and shows:

  • Open in Tern Files now – the folders of your Tern Files windows, the active one first
  • Recent – folders of files you opened recently
  • Favorites – folders you pinned to Quick access, plus Desktop, Documents, Downloads and Pictures

Click a folder, or choose it with ↑ ↓ and Enter: the dialog jumps there, and the file name you already typed stays. In Jump to folder … you can type part of a folder name; Tern Files also looks for matching folders in the search index (Found). Ctrl+G hides and shows the panel and puts the cursor into its search box; Esc gives the keyboard back to the dialog. The panel moves with the dialog and closes with it.

You can switch quick switch off or leave out single programs under Settings › Integrations. Ctrl+G is only taken while a file dialog is in front, so other programs keep their own Ctrl+G.

Tern Files must be running (the tray is enough). The panel does not appear for programs that run as administrator, because Windows does not allow it.

Tray and start with Windows

Tern Files keeps a small icon in the tray, the notification area next to the clock. It keeps the launcher, quick switch, rules and running transfers working while no window is open.

  • Click the icon – brings a Tern Files window to the front or opens a new one
  • Right-click – New window, Launcher, Transfers, Pause rules, Settings, Exit

Pause rules stops all rules without changing them. The tick stays, even after a restart, until you click it again. Exit quits Tern Files completely.

When you close the last window, Tern Files keeps running in the tray and tells you once (Tern Files keeps running). If closing the last window should quit the app, switch off Keep running in the tray under Settings › General. With Start with Windows (on after the setup) Tern Files starts invisibly in the tray when you sign in, so the launcher is ready at once.

A rule set to ask first, and Transfers done after a longer copy while you work in another program, show up as Windows notifications.

Can't see the icon? Windows may have moved it to the hidden icons – click the small arrow next to the tray icons.