BinaryNights Blog

ForkLift 4 beta 2 is available

We have fixed numerous bugs that were reported to us and added some new features. If you previously reported an issue to us and do not see it on this list, please do not submit a new report. All reported issues have been added to our bug tracker, and we are currently working our way through them. Hopefully, we will address all of them soon. However, if you see an issue that we claimed to have fixed but still encounter it in beta 2, please submit a new report.

New

  • Added support for ssh identity agents
  • Added support for ssh configuration file
  • Added support for Apple Script
  • Added 2 new themes

Fixes

  • Fixes a possible crash when opening a new tab while the Connect Panel was open
  • Fixes an issue that prevented the creation of simple key keyboard shortcuts
  • Fixes an issue with placement of the View Options pop-over
  • Fixes an issue where ForkLift asked to download Xcode even when SCM Status wasn’t enabled
  • Fixes an issue where in some cases a blank pop-up was displayed after connecting to SFTP
  • Fixes an issue where previewing large text files could cause hangs
  • Fixes an issue where the selection in the sidebar of the Settings window could get lost for users not using ForkLift in English
  • Fixes an issue where the word “copy” got added at the end of the file names when a new item was created or when items got compressed
  • Fixes an issue with the “Reveal in ForkLift” quick action service
  • Fixes an issue with the missing Service menu and context menu items
  • Fixes an issue where Arrow keys couldn’t be used in keyboard shortcuts
  • Fixes an issue with missing options in the Group by setting in the View Options
  • Fixes an issue where the Info Window couldn’t be closed with Command-W
  • Fixes an issue that prevented double-clicking in Column View

Download ForkLift 4 beta 2

64 thoughts on “ForkLift 4 beta 2 is available

    1. I think that the issue is that the name of the item contains a space. If you put quotation marks around that placeholder like this: “$SOURCE_SELECTION_PATHS” then it should open all paths. We will fix this problem and the use of quotation marks won’t be necessary.

  1. Hi,

    How can I create a new group in Favorites Bar ?
    In FL3, I had a “+” in botton of sidebar.
    I couldn’t find this in FL4.

    1. You can do that now from the Favorites Manager (Favorites > Show Favorites) But we will add new menu items to the Favorite menu to create favorites and favorite groups more easily.

  2. Will Forklift 4 support connecting to a specific aws s3 bucket with a bucket level only permission? Beta 2 still does not do that.

    1. Connecting to specific buckets with bucket level only permission should work without issues. Leave the Server field empty and write the name of the bucket into the Path field starting with a forward slash, for example: “/mybucket”

  3. Hi,
    I’m excited to see FL4 ready. There are some features that I would like to see:
    – Enable Cut/Paste
    – Show spotlight comments in file preview (not only in Get Info)
    – Workspaces (like FL3)
    – Applescript support

    Thanks for the great work!!
    BS

    1. – It is not likely that there will be cut and paste.
      – Comments in a column: Added to feature request list
      – There are workspaces in ForkLift 4 too. Imported workspaces doen’t work but you can create new ones.
      – Apple Script is supported

      1. To cut files might be confusing for some people, especially if something goes wrong. We prefer Copy and Move Here instead of Cut and Paste.

  4. Additionally, should be possible to turn off toolbar on a per window basis. Now it applies to all windows.

    1. Unfortunately, that is an issue of macOS Ventura and not ForkLift. Please report this to Apple if you can.

  5. I can’t find this mentioned yet in the comments. When I drag and drop to reorder the sections in the sidebar, it looks like it works. I like to have them in this order: Favorites, Cloud, Shares, Devices. I have a shortcut in the sidebar Favorites to connect to my work network via smb. Once it connects and refreshes the sidebar with the network connection showing under the Shares heading, the sidebar resets to the default order (Devices, Shares, Favorites, Cloud)

  6. It would be nice if the Information panel could show the size when you have a folder selected like Finder does without having to go into view options and check Calculate all sizes

  7. Mostly c/p from beta 1 comments 🙂

    I think you should have a better way to report. Like forum where users can open topic to report bug, suggest feature, etc. Then other users can confirm a bug and vote for a new feature. It’s easier for you to track all that as well.

    1. Thank you for the suggestion but we don’t want to make our bug tracker and feature request list public at the moment. We have a pretty good idea of what the most requested features are.

      1. “We have a pretty good idea of what the most requested features are.”

        I wouldn’t agree 🙂 For example, you removed keyboard selection. It’s up to you, of course but it’s better to listen users/customers then just assume what they want.

  8. There still exists the annoying behaviour in Columns view (currently present also in v3), where the file viewer will “jump” when selecting and dragging a file
    🙁

  9. May I suggest you add not only Name, Size, Modified… but other important and helpful columns. It would enhance ForkLift if there was for example Dimensions for media files.
    Oh yeah how about Color tags. There are so many option here that would set you about from every other App.
    I would have uploaded screen capture, but the blog will not allow this.
    You can see here FreeCommander XE 2023 that offers such features

    1. You can add more columns but Dimensions and things like that aren’t possible at the moment. We will consider enabling more columns.

      You can send us suggestions and screenshots at support [at] binarynights [dot] com

  10. Hi,
    I wanted to try out the dropbox integration,
    but I’m stuck at the beginning, I don’t konw where to fill in my account-details.
    There is
    “Path”: ______________
    “Local Path”: ______________
    “Base URL”: ______________
    ???
    Can I set the local Path to an external Volume (that is no longer supported by Dropbox itself)?

    Thx for helping me out…

    1. You don’t have to fill out any of those fields. You just set Dropbox as the Protocol and then click Connect, then you have to authenticate in the browser that opens.

      The Local Path is a path that opens in ForkLift in the other pane when you connect to Dropbox, that path can be on an external drive too.

  11. A ok, so via the syncronize Button i can sync the online files with my external SSD in both ways? I’m trying this now, takes a while got 2 GB in my DB. That would be great!

    1. Yes, but you can do that with all locations that you can open in ForkLift, you don’t have to set the “local path” on the connect panel to do that. Just navigate in the other pane to folders that you would like to sync and then start syncing. If you haven’t used sync before in ForkLift, then try it on a smaller folder to see how that works and what happens exactly. Also check what “both ways” mean.

  12. Will Forklift 4 support AppleScript queries about its windows?

    I’m trying to use Default Folder X’s ability to click on a Forklift window/directory while in Open/Save dialog boxes in other apps to make it the active directory in the Open/Save dialog. Right now (FL4 b2) when hovering over a window, all that is highlighted is the Desktop.

    This functionality works perfectly in Forklift 3.

  13. Obvious request: keyboard selection should come back. I’ve emailed about that previously! This sort of feature is what sets tools like Forklift apart from basic Finder. What on earth are you thinking to remove it?

    Other feature all competitors have: font selection. I like to use fixed-width fonts for file lists — and of course this is super subjective, so lot me choose my preferred font. Some extra display options would be much appreciated, for instance the somewhat common “show folders in [brackets]”. Options are good!

    I also second comments mentioned before, including those about cut/paste. You have power user bash scripting on the one hand, but cut/paste is too confusing?!?

    Feature request: auto-size columns to use the space available in each panel. Often the leftmost column is so narrow that I can’t read full file names. Double-click on column separator is an ancient method to resize column automatically, but it’s not supported. So I need to resize the column manually, and when I ever change the width of the preview panel, the column sizes need to be adjusted again… also a problem btw that competitors don’t have.

    Feature idea re preview panel — allow toggling a narrow vs wide view by keyboard. Preview is often wide enough for general use, but if I look at a few images I may suddenly want it larger.

    One more: Command-Down to enter a folder? What? I had to check the configuration dialog to figure that one out… Command-Up already confused me, but I still didn’t come up with that one. Why break with all commander traditions in this regard? There’s return/backspace, there’s left/right arrow… all intuitive stuff!

    1. Thank you for your feedback. We have added everything to our bug tracker and feature request list. You can modify the keyboard shortcuts in the Settings of ForkLift and you can use Enter and Backspace to navigate.

  14. Hey
    Can you elbarote on the Dropbox support? I have the Dropbox app installed, so I have a Dropbox in finder and all my files are stored there. When I right click on any file in there in FL3, I get a copy Dropbox Link etc. menu item. This is not the case in FL4. Do I need to reconnect in FL4 to Dropbox using the Connect feature? Will that mess with my existing connection through the Dropbox App?
    Thanks
    Rolf

    1. The same Dropbox support as in ForkLift 3 isn’t yet available in ForkLift 4. The connection via the Dropbox Desktop app and the direct connection in ForkLift 4 don’t mess with each other.

  15. Can we please remove huge path/status bar on the top and leave only a minimalistic slim path bar (without icons and not bright)? Must be an option in settings. Right now it’s TOO huge and TOO bright/colorful.

      1. it will be awesome to have settings to customize this part. I understand some ppl like this new fancy, big and bold design. But workflow wise this a lost of wasted space + get too much attention.

  16. It’s great! A few quick comments for polish:

    – The icon to the left of the path is way too large
    – The tool bar is confusingly laid out: folder in the current pane is listed to the right of the back/forward buttons but it’s above the left pane, so seems to be connected to that one

    (TBH I don’t use the toolbar and would be happy for it to go.. FL is much cleaner without it. Might just be me though.)

    One last thing (bug?): how can I view a folder that is stored on iCloud Drive but not yet downloaded? ‘Reveal in finder’ lets me view files. How can I download these files in FL without needing to use the Finder?

    cheers!

    1. In the upcoming version (beta 3) the icon will be smaller but the title bar, that is now part of the toolbar, will remain in the same location on the left, next to the back/forward buttons. It will be possible to turn off almost all interface elements, so you will be able to turn off the title bar and even the path bar. You can check out some screen shots on our Twitter. https://twitter.com/BinaryNights

  17. I must be doing something wrong, but I can’t see my own folders/files in iCloud Drive – only the “application-created ones”. In Forklift 3 they all show up, but not in FL4B2. The path shows the same in each version /Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud Drive

    How can I show all my files?

      1. The iCloud Drive implementation is very tricky, we are still working on that. You can’t do anything to change the listed items.

  18. Keyboard tab order is weird (Beta 2):
    I open the form to add a new server connection (e.g. sftp). I click into Server field use then key to jump into next field (Port would be reasonable). Instead focus goes to the upper toolbar and selects an item there.

    1. Sorry for that. We have rewritten the Connect Panel and the new version will be available in beta 3. Moving wit the Tab will work if the keyboard navigation is not enabled in the System Settings.

  19. Regarding SFTP on Beta2. If I choose a private key file instead of a password the chosen PKF is shown instead of a password and the label changes.. But where do I enter the password for the file? In Forklift 3 the PKF was not chown instead I could enter the password in the password field.

    Thanks, Niels

    1. ForkLift will ask for the passphrase if the key is protected with a passphrase when you try to connect to the server. You can then save the passphrase too.

      1. It doesn’t in my case. I’ve also searched the keychain access app. Where should the password be stored?

      1. Please write us an email about this issue at support [at] binarynights [dot] com and explain the issue again. It is a little bit hard to follow and solve this here in the comment section.

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