martinmimigames / little-file-explorer

Android 1.0+ mini file explorer and manager

Little File Explorer

Descriptions

A small, simple file explorer, designed with compatibility in mind.

Open-sourced and publicly-viewable code for anyone worrying about being locked in or privacy invasion.

It provides multiple functions, including copy and pasting files, multi-file share, etc. More information available in Features section below.

Supports Android 1.0+

Currently under 40 KB.

Previous known as Simple File Explorer (but from martinmimigames).

Location of website: https://martinmimigames.github.io/projects/little-file-explorer.

Screenshots

Features

• Free
• Small (< 40 KB)
• Basic file operations (Cut, copy, paste, rename, delete)
• File name filter
• Name and Modified Time sort
• Easy switch between sdcard and internal storage
• Multi-share function
• File/folder path copying
• Minimum permissions
• Dark/light theme toggle
• md5 checksum generation and verification

Latest Versions

• v4.15

  • Fixed copying pasting not working properly in some cases
  • Fixed having grey area in cursors on some text inputs
  • Shrunk size
  • Reworded notification

• v4.14

  • Fixed filter bug causing crash on startup
  • Fixed file not opening on some apps (missing metadata)
  • Fixed file size calculation incorrect
  • Now clear text input when create new folder
  • More natural-looking back button
  • Removed unused notification about invalid folder name
  • Now uses Future for concurrency management (less race condition)

• v4.13

  • Fixed # in file name error
  • Added follow system dark mode
  • Fixed crash when open details of large files
  • Fixed error when empty clipboard
  • Now clear filter when entering/exiting folder
  • Added invalid name warning when creating/renaming files

• v4.12

  • added md5 checksum calculation and verification (details page)
  • theme is now toggle-based (burger menu)
  • app now forget last path (feature reverted)

• v4.11

  • Fix crashing if last exited on a non-existing folder
  • Fix unable to exit folders with access denied
  • Added details page for files
  • Added light mode (follows system settings)
  • Added sorting by file size
  • Moved storage info to the bottom
  • Added slight padding to dialogs

• v4.10

  • Added "toggle hidden" option (available in menu button)
  • Added File/Folder name filtering (available on top bar)
  • Added display sorting (name, last modified time) (available in menu button)
  • Added file path remembering on app exit
  • Re-added share button in open list options
  • Fixed delete confirmation screen being full screen

• v4.9

  • Fixed sticky selection state after leaving app
  • Fixed concurrent directory list modification
  • Removed share button from file option menu
  • Added duplicate folder warning when creating new folder
  • Changed rounding system for storage size display
  • Always update storage list quick switch display
  • Now use cache thread pool for reducing idle cpu usage and increase performance

• v4.8

  • Allow folder path to be copied to clipboard
  • Fixed incorrect handling after path copying
  • Fixed delete conformation button being pushed out by long list
  • Fixed copying to incorrect directory when moved directory while in progress

• v4.7

  • Added multi-share option (sdk 4+)
  • Added file path copy option
  • Allow open file with default apps
  • Reduced open list button size
  • Capitalised buttons
  • Changed opener text

• v4.6

  • Fixed not opening when no sdcard inserted

• v4.5

  • smaller apk
  • fixed quick selection overlap with menu list
  • opening file request by other app now have open prompt
  • changed audio png
  • back button now go back to parent folder if available

Branches

• main: latest source-code

Issues

Issues and pull requests are always welcome!

You can submit issues the following ways:

• via Github Issues
• via email: [email protected]

Installation

Get it from the official website

Made by Martinmimigames

Official Website at https://martinmimigames.github.io

Last update of README

Date : 2024-03-28 yyyy-mm-dd

Important

Please read the license!

little-file-explorer's Issues

[Feature Request] Rename files from clipboard

Hi,

Is it possible to have "rename from clipboard" option in the toolbar when selecting multiple files.

I just want a shortcut to rename multiple files without opening the rename box.

Thanks for the app.

[Feature Request] Always open LFE at root folder

Describe your idea
Optiwn to make LFE always start on the root folder.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
Currently, LFE opens the last browsed folder, but it can get a bit disorienting, understanding which folder you are in, where is the folder you want to get to relative to this one, then browsing back several folders before setting yourself on the right track. Allowing LFE to open at root folder would help minize a lot of thinking and browsing relative to these situations.

ContextOptions are sticky after Exit/Relaunch

I mark a some items
a few ContextOption buttons appear

BUT we then Exit app
and Relaunch

ContextOptions from previous session are stcky, buy no object items are yet Marked

After a while, figured out to Cancel .. to get back to Norbal

Explore potential for use of Futures

Using Futures allows for cancelling tasks.

Can be used to cancel unnecessary running threads to prevent continuous execution.

Example potential usage:

• folder size calculation
• md5 hash calculation

Much more safer than custom-rolled synchronisation, may reduce concurrent bugs in code.

[Feature Request] Keep position of files and folders list when going back to parent folder

Description

Currently, the files and folders list resets to the top position when the user goes back to the parent folder (via the "<-" button or the Back button).

Rationale

The behaviour of keeping the position of the list is consistent with other user and system apps.

It also allows users who are looking through a list of folders to open folders without needing to scroll back to where they were previously.

Implementations considered

Some file managers keep the position by putting the folder the user last tapped on at the top of the list. This might be convenient as the previous folder is always in the same place.

However, if the list of folders is not long enough for the previous folder to be at the top of the list, then the position of the previous folder would not be consistent (unless some space is appended at the bottom of the list (e.g. like when you do page down in GNU nano).

A more standard way would be to keep the position of the list. Users usually remember the position they last tapped on when entering a folder, so it would feel intuitive to continue looking from that spot when they return to the parent folder.

TAP an image file .. and

Navigate to a folder with a few image files, and
TAP an imagefile:

MENU shows, to Open, Share or Cancel =Second-guesses obvious intent for tap
. . . SUGGEST .. Ditch the menu .. just DIRECTLY open the imagefile
. . . . "Share" is already offered in LongPress (Marked) context

magefile name is indeed handed off to sysdefault image handler =GOOD
BUT .. cannot SwipeL-or-R to sibling images .. stuck on that one file
THIS MAY BE the ImageViewer app's behaviour

[Feature Request] Autoselected text-areas

Describe your idea
Have the text-areas for renaming or giving nevmw names to folders automatically active/selected.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
When you want to create a new folder, or you want to rename a file, the text-area that pops up is never selected by default, which means you have to tap on that area before typing anything.
Having that text-area automatically selected will save a single tap from the user, but will greatly improve speed and usability i think.

[Feature Request] Sorting

Describe your idea
An option to sort files by ascending/descending name, size, or date created.
Remembering the sorting method for each folder would be great too but not mandatory.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
When folders exceed 20 somethin files, it can become tedious to browse all of them to find the right one, especialy if their name look the same.
My personal exemple would be my audio recordings folders: they're automatically named after the date i record them on, but sometimes i rename them so i remember what they are about, which completely ruins the sorting if the files are sorted by alphabetical order. If i were to have Date creation sorting, that would help me browse these recordings more efficiently.

[Feature Request] Organised buttons during selection

Here's some mock ups I made which organises the buttons that appear during selection.

	Once selected	Two selected
Before
After
After (tapped on "More")
After (tapped on "Details")		N.A.

Changes

• Moved "Select all", "Invert select all", and "Share selected" from the top right to the bottom.
  • Previous menu was easily confused with the top right option button's menu, which also appears in the same place.
  • Having the "Select all" and "Invert selected" buttons next to "Cancel" makes it more clear that the "Cancel" button is meant to cancel the select mode.
• Put "Cut", "Copy", "Delete", "Rename", ("Details", and "More") buttons together.
  • These options act on the files themselves, so it makes sense to put them together IMO.
• Moved "Details" to main screen.
  • Having buttons in a single place would make it more simple for users. (Currently, buttons appear either by tapping on a file, or by holding on a file.)
  • Hence, tapping on a file would now straight away "Open" it (instead of showing a file menu).
  • Making it tap to open means we must move out the "Details" (and also "Share") buttons. Some reasons for moving them out:
    • Users open files more often than viewing details or sharing.
    • Share button already exists outside when selecting.
    • Can implement viewing details for folders more easily in the future.
  • Steps required, before and after, for:
    • Open: 2 -> 1.
    • Details: 2 -> 2.
    • Share: 2 -> 3.
• Added "More" button.
  • The "More" button is for buttons that are less frequently used, or buttons that don't fit on the screen (on smaller screens).
  • The user will see "Cut", "Copy", "Delete", "Rename", and "Details" first, followed by the buttons in the menu.)
• Moved "Copy path" into details screen.
  • Path can be put under details IMO.
  • Puts all the "copy" buttons together.
  • (I've also joined the MD5 buttons to show that they're together, and like on the main screen.)

So these are my ideas for organising the buttons. Feel free to incorporate them if you like!

add open by default

[Feature Request] Able to enter folders during select mode

Description

Currently, when select mode is enabled (with one or more files or folders being selected), and when pressing the "<-" button or the Back button, the user is taken to the parent directory and is able to continue selecting files and folders there. Cut, copy, and delete works for files and folders that are selected on multiple levels.

However during select mode, while the user can go to parent folder, they are not able to enter into any folder in the list, as tapping on a folder selects it.

Rationale

A way to enter folders during select mode would make the multiple level selection feature more consistent and useful.

Implementations considered

Implementation	Pros	Cons
Tap to enter, hold to select (and enable select mode). (In select mode) tap to select, hold to enter.	User can enable select move from anywhere on the file or folder.	Might be considered less intuitive as it swaps the controls during normal and select mode.
(Always) hold to select, tap to enter.	Can be considered more intuitive as the controls are always the same.	Some users might find selecting many files and folders by holding them to be more tedious.
(Always) tap icon to select, tap anywhere on file or folder to enter.	Can be considered more intuitive (same controls), and is fast (no need to hold).	User must tap on the specific areas (instead of anywhere on the file or folder). May also be harder for right hand users and/ or big screen users.
All of the above, choosable via settings option.	Users can choose what they like best.	More code, bigger app size.

In all cases, the user will remain in select mode (unless no files or folders are selected) and can continue selecting files and folders, in addition to the ones previously selected in other folders.

[Bug] Stuck on permission info screen

Describe the bug
The app is stuck on the following screen, trying to access …/emulated/Android/data:

My phone's back button doesn't do anything. The app back button '<-', doesn't do anything either. Restarting the phone didn't do anything.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to …/emulated/Android/data
2. That's it.

Expected Behaviour
We should be able to acces other directories, if this one isn't accessible. So back buttons should work.
The app should also provide additional informations as to why it cannot access these directories, as other file browsers i use can access these, and if the user can do something on his phone to fix this issue.

[Optional] Additional information
I think this behavior is partially caused by this new feature from the latest update: #12
If it was made optional, this issue could be circumvented.

Space between files and folders

I realized lately the files and folders are separated in their own little list. Each section is then preceded by its name Folders: and Files:.

I don't know if there is anything else that needs it own separate list ?
Anyway, i was thinking that the little space taken by the titles of the lists could be kept, but the titles of the lists hidden. It would keep the differenciation between the two lists and give a cleaner look, without losing important information (as you can already tell folders are folders by their icon, and files are files… because they have other icons).

It's really a small thing but would be nice nonetheless.

add file/folder details

eg. size, date, etc.

[Feature Request] recursive search

Describe your idea
Optional recursive search mode.
As well as the ability to add tags to files...

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
Search only in the current directory in most cases is useless, sometimes you want to immediately find the file, not remember which directory it is located in.

[Bug] Icons bigger after crash

Describe the bug
When opening the app after a crash (crash recovery i guess) the icons or bigger than usual. After i properly close and reopen the app again, the icons are back at their usual size.
The conditions in which this happen are a bit unclear, but i'm pretty sure i overloaded either the app or the phone. Maybe i was trying to open succesively a bunch of big files, or maybe trying to share files to other apps (the menu for this action tends to lag quite a bit on my phone, whatever app i use).

Normal icons:

Bigger icons:

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Crash LFE (i'm not even sure that's how it happened)
2. Open LFE from the Recent Apps/Active Apps button (◻️ or ≡)
3. See error

Expected Behaviour
Icons should be of normal size.

[Optional] Versioning information

• App Version: 4.12
• OS: 11

remember last opened folder path

no need to renavigate when restart app

[Bug] filter not modified by ui thread

Describe the bug
An EditText was sometimes modified by non-ui thread on startup.
Likely to be caused by filter clearing.

To Reproduce
Open app.

Expected Behaviour
App open nornally

use listview

for scrollable scrollbar

[Bug] Moving while copying cause incorrect pasting

Describe the bug
When moved to another folder, pasting paste to wrong folder

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Select many folder/files
2. Copy, Paste
3. Go to another folder

Expected Behaviour
Pasting paste to correct folder.

[Feature Request] open file on single tap

Describe your idea
Open files on a single tap on said file. Current menu that is being prompted would never appear, and the Share option would be moved to the long press menu.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
It is a bit strange to hae to tap twice in order to open a file. Most file browsers do it with one tap. Also the menu it prompts is a bit weird, as Open is essentially saying Yes i do want to continue, Cancel is saying No i changed my mind (these being only for confirmation's sake then) and finally the Share button sitting awkwardly in the middle.
Share is not such a common action that it shoild parasite the simple action of opening a file imho.

support for external storages

eg usb, network, etc.

Default browser for accessing files in apps

Not sure if this is a bug or missing feature, or if it is even possible.

I've had both https://github.com/zhanghai/MaterialFiles and LittleFileExplorer installed, and when using apps that needed browsing your files, never have i been prompted to use LittleFileExplorer. Sometimes, the default phone browser would kick in without a possible choice, sometimes i could choos MaterialFiles.

Would it be possible to make it so LittleFileExplorer is the one and only file browser i use for every browsing needs ? is it not, and why ?

[Bug] Check directory exist before opening

Describe the bug
Open non-existing directory.

gitignore app/release

[Feature Request] Add toast for invalid names when renaming/folder creation

Describe your idea
Add toast for invalid names when renaming/folder creation

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
Notifies users when unusable characters are in the name.

[Optional] Describe any implmentations you've considered
Use toast, include the invalid character for clarity

[Feature] Folder size instead of global size

Describe your idea
It would be helpful to display the current folder's size at the bottom of the page, instead of the global available space and size taken on the current storage.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
The global size is currently misleading in subfolders, as it's a device info that looks like it's dependant on the current folder vhich name is written just above.
Replacing it with the current's folder size would actually give it some usefulness.

[Optional] Additional information
Maybe this is actually a bug ? i don't know.

Add thumbnail support

so people can know what the img is about easily

Can you make a video and photo viewer?

Now all viewers are larger than 8 mb (open source)

I would like a small but suitable for new formats and versions of photos and videos

if you do, then the idea of a small file manager will be successful. In the meantime, I still have to use these non-free, long update and big viewers

Sorry to be off-topic

[Bug] Fix file size units

Describe the bug
1024 -> KiB
1000 -> KB

TopLeft storage stats area shows Available 0.2TB .. Capacity 0.22TB

TopLeft storage stats area shows item NAME, then
Available size 0.2TB
Capacity size 0.22TB

Fone internal storage should show in gB, not tB
No external storage (ever) attached

MotoEdge2022
android 12

[Feature Request] Move file description

Describe your idea
Move file description down to bottom.

Describe why you want the idea incorporated
Allow extra screen space for file display on small screens.

From email

[Bug] Last new folder name as pre-entered text

Describe the bug
Ef you create several new folders in a row, the next new folder's text-area for entering its name will always be pre-filled with the last new folder's name.
I'm not sure wether this is a bug or a feature.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a new folder with any name, for example test
2. Create another new folder
3. The text-area for entering its name will be filled with the previous, in this example test

Expected Behaviour
I don't see any situation in which you'd like to create several folders with almost the same name. In other file browsers, the expected behavior is to have this text-area always empty.

Alternatives
This behavior could be kept as is if it is useful to some, but have the pre-filled text selected, so that most users will only have to type new text in, whereas others who want to use the previous new folder's name will only be one click away from using it, by deselecting it.

Creating Issues

If you want to report bugs, request features, etc, you can do so in the following ways:

• Create a Github Issue (there will be templates)
• Send a lovely email ([email protected])

There is no specific format you need to follow, so write in the way you like best.
But if you don't know how to start, here is a suggestion to how you can write a bug report:

Describe the bug
A description of what the bug is.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to '...'
2. Click on '....'
3. Scroll down to '....'
4. See error

Expected Behaviour
A description of what you expected to happen.

[Optional] Screenshots
If applicable, add any screenshots that may help explain your problem.

[Optional] Versioning information

• App Version [e.g. v1.10]
• OS: [e.g. Android 1.0]

[Optional] Additional information
Add any other information about the problem that may be useful.

[Bug] App stops responding while opening details view for large files

Description

It stops responding until the details view opens. Larger files take longer.

Takes about a minute for a 1.6 GB file on a high end 2013 device.

To reproduce

1. Tap on a file, select "Details".
2. App stops responding until the details view shows.

Some ideas

Assuming it hangs while doing the hash, then perhaps the details screen can be shown first.

Alternatively, can have a manual "calculate md5" alongside the "copy" (or "copy md5"?) and "check clipboard" buttons.

Extra: something to indicate calculating and have it stop if the user closes the details screen.

Version

• App: 4.12
• OS: Android 13

[Bug] Checking md5 hash against blank clipboard causes app to stop

To Reproduce

1. Clear the clipboard (via keyboard/ reboot/ etc.)
2. Tap on a file > Details > check clipboard.
3. App stops.

Version

• App: 4.12
• OS: Android 13

Delete window is huge

The Delete window takes up the whole screen, compared to the Open window for example. It could probably be reduced in size to be more convenient :)

Options overwritten

Steps to reproduce:

1. Long click any folder/file
2. Click on the options menu
   (or reverse)

App version: 4.4 (6)

multi file share?

Delete button out of view

In the delete dialogue, if selected many files, the delete and cancel button is pushed out of the screen.

[Feature Request] Remove folder name

Describe your idea
Remove the Name at the end of the file list, since the name can already be seen in the adress bar.

[Optional] Describe any implementations you've considered
Just remove the folder name at the end of the files list.
If the name of the folder neads to appear more prominently, we can imagine it being in place of the adress bar. It would switch between the folder name and the folder adress on a single tap on that space.

[Feature Request] Icon for other text files

Describe your idea
Many text files with currently unrecognized extensions like pdf, odt, doc and docx… share their default icon with archive files in the explorer (a folder with a zip in its center). It can get a bit confusing when browsing folders with both PDF and Archive files: typically the download folder.

Describe a solution
Add an icon for common text files extension to differentiate them from Archive files.

F-Droid can't build

> Task :app:processReleaseResources FAILED
FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:processReleaseResources'.
> A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.res.LinkApplicationAndroidResourcesTask$TaskAction
   > Android resource linking failed
     /builds/fdroid/fdroiddata/build/com.martinmimigames.simplefileexplorer/app/build/intermediates/packaged_manifests/release/AndroidManifest.xml:16: error: resource drawable/folder (aka com.martinmimigames.simplefileexplorer:drawable/folder) not found.
     error: failed processing manifest.

ref: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/jobs/3512094633#L589

/LE: fyi https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/commit/ec934a282c9b462ab43c4a003137825b1e9352dc

Hidden files litter certain folders

DOT-files, like .thumbnal___ files should remain hidden

SUGGEST
default: do NOT show
settings toggle so Show

[Feature Request] About page in burger menu

Describe your idea
Add an About… page in the burger menu. It would allow you to credit your work, briefly explain the main purpose/goal of this app, and provide a link to this project's page for people who'd like to contribute.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
An about page is quite common, and the things it provides are rather useful.

[Bug] Can't read files with a hashtag (#) in their name

Describe the bug
Files with a hashtag (#) in their title can be opened, but the app that should open them fails to read them. Videos appear as 00:00 lenght videos, pdf can't be read, images fail to load... The hashtag can be either from the file creation or after its name has been changed. Deleting the hashtag from their name allow the files to be read as normal.
It isn't a file problem since i can open them from the built-in file browser, or from other apps.
Folders with a hashtag in their name can be read correctly though.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Choose a file in your system
2. Add a # to their name
3. Try to open the files from Little File Explorer

Expected Behaviour
Files should open like any other.

[Optional] Versioning information

• App Version: 4.11
• OS: Android 11

[Optional] Additional information
Maybe this problem extends to other special characters, it might be worth checking.
Originally posted an issue at moneytoo/Player#512

[Feature Request/ Idea] Streamlined filtering: Clear filter text upon opening folders; keyboard "enter" to open first list item, keyboard "backspace" to navigate up, scroll to hide keyboard.

Feature	Rationale	Implementations considered
Clear filter text upon opening folders	To be able to see the folder contents. (Usually not filtering the same thing twice.)	Only necessary for folders rather than files. Navigating to parent folder also clears the filter text.
Keyboard "enter" to open first list item	Like picking the first result in app search or web browser. Can keep fingers on the keyboard.	Navigates into folders, opens files (like tapping on a file > Open).
Keyboard "backspace" to navigate up	Can keep fingers on the keyboard.	Either 1 - press once to delete all characters, once again to navigate to parent; or 2 - backspace navigates to parent if filter box is empty and no chars were deleted within last consecutive presses (X ms apart).
Scroll to hide keyboard	Saves a step.	Scrolling the folders and files list hides the keyboard (also consider mouse scroll).

Just some features for efficient navigation, similar to file managers like PCManFM-Qt. IMO the most needed is the clearing of filter text; the other features are extra.

show create duplicate folder warning

may be useful

[Feature Request] Close the top right menu when tapping outside of it or back button

Description

Referring to the menu that opens when tapping on the "|||" button in the top right corner.

Rationale

It's generally an expected behaviour for the view on top to close when tapping outside of it/ pressing Back.

Implementations considered

Tapping anywhere outside of the menu (on the parent folder button, filter box, file list, etc.) or the Back button will close the menu, similar to how tapping on the "|||" button opens/ closes it. Probably also close it when pressing on the Recents or Home buttons.

Extra: pressing on Menu button opens/ closes it also.

[Feature Request] Zip support

Describe your idea
It would be convenient if little file explorer could open or extract .zip files.

Describe why you want the idea incorprated
Unfortunately there aren't many good zip-only apps since most file explorers have built in support, so devs don't spend much time on it. I can see this being considered unnecessary bloat, but there really isn't an alternative.

[Optional] Describe any implmentations you've considered
Opening zip file could prompt to open with little file explorer, which could either open it directly (similar to windows file explorer or 7-zip gui), or extract it (similar to mac finder)

[Optional] Additional information
I think other formats aren't as important since .zip is just so much more common.