Getting Started with the FileFortress Desktop App

The FileFortress desktop app gives you a visual home for everything the command-line interface can do. It is a local application that ships inside the same FileFortress download, runs entirely on your own device, and opens in your web browser at a local address. Nothing leaves your machine: the app uses the exact same engine as the CLI, so your encrypted metadata stays local and private.

This guide walks a brand-new user from launch to a fully working setup: sign in, connect a cloud, scan, and start searching. If you prefer scripting and automation, the CLI remains fully available alongside the GUI, and a mapping table near the end of this guide shows the command behind each screen.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following ready. The desktop app and CLI are bundled together, so a single download covers both.

• A FileFortress download installed on your computer (Windows, macOS, or Linux).
• A FileFortress account, or a portal sign-in to authorize this device.
• At least one cloud storage account you want to connect: Google Drive, OneDrive, AWS S3, Backblaze B2, or a local folder.
• A modern web browser, since the app opens its interface in the browser.

1. Launch the App

There are two ways to start the FileFortress desktop app. The simplest is to double-click the FileFortress app the same way you would open any other program. It will start the local GUI and open your default browser to the interface automatically.

If you prefer the terminal, or you want to launch the GUI as part of a script, run the following command instead.

# Launch the desktop GUI and open it in your browser
filefortress --gui

# Launch the GUI without auto-opening a browser tab
filefortress --gui --no-browser

The --no-browser flag is handy when you are launching on a remote machine, already have the page open, or simply do not want a new tab. When you use it, the app still starts; you just navigate to the local address yourself when you are ready.

2. First-Run Setup Wizard

The first time you open the app, a short setup wizard greets you. Its job is to sign you in and authorize this device so the local engine can decrypt and manage your metadata. Follow the on-screen prompts to sign in with your FileFortress account.

Part of setup is device authorization. FileFortress ties your encrypted metadata to specific authorized devices, which is what keeps your data private even if your account credentials are ever exposed. When prompted, approve this device so it can participate in your FileFortress setup.

Once the wizard finishes, you land on the Dashboard. The Dashboard is your at-a-glance overview: connected clouds, recent activity, and quick entry points into the rest of the app. From here, the natural next step is to connect a cloud.

3. Connect a Cloud with the Add-Remote Wizard

Open the Remotes page and start the add-remote wizard. A remote is simply a connection to one of your cloud storage accounts or local folders. The wizard walks you through picking a provider, naming the connection, and authorizing access.

FileFortress supports the following providers today. Pick the one that matches the storage you want to index.

For Google Drive and OneDrive, the wizard guides you through an OAuth sign-in. If you would rather use your own OAuth application for those providers, see the OAuth credentials guide. For AWS S3 and Backblaze B2, you supply your access keys and bucket details. The Local provider simply points at a folder on your computer.

When you finish the wizard, the new remote appears on the Remotes page, ready to scan.

4. Run Your First Scan

A scan walks your connected cloud and records each file's name, path, size, and basic details into your local encrypted metadata store. Until you scan, FileFortress does not yet know what lives in your cloud, so this is the step that makes everything else searchable.

From the Remotes page, start a scan on the remote you just added. The app shows progress as it indexes your files. The first scan of a large cloud can take a while, since it has to enumerate everything, but later scans only pick up what changed.

5. Browse in File Explorer

Once the scan completes, open File Explorer to browse your indexed files in a familiar folder layout. You can navigate into folders, filter the current view, and sort by name, size, or other columns to find what you are looking for.

File Explorer also offers an open-in-explorer action, so you can jump from a file in FileFortress straight to its location in your operating system's native file browser when that makes sense. This is the visual equivalent of listing files from the command line.

Browsing is great for exploring, but when you know roughly what you want, search is faster. That is the next stop.

6. Your First Search

Open the Search page to find files across all of your connected remotes at once. Search supports structured filters, so you can narrow results by attributes such as file type, size, or date. You can also save queries you run often and re-run them with a click.

FileFortress also offers AI natural-language search: you describe what you want in plain language and the app translates it into filters for you. This is the fastest way to ask questions like "videos from last summer" without learning filter syntax.

Structured search works out of the box with no extra setup, so you can start filtering immediately while you decide whether to enable AI search later.

7. Find Duplicates

The Duplicates page helps you reclaim space by surfacing files that appear more than once across your clouds. Reviewing duplicates is a satisfying early win once your first scan is in: you often discover the same photos or documents copied into several places over the years.

Working through duplicates safely deserves its own walkthrough. For a complete, step-by-step approach to reviewing and resolving duplicate files, follow the dedicated duplicate management guide.

8. Tools and Enrichment Overview

Beyond names and sizes, FileFortress can extract richer details from your files. There are two distinct pathways for this, and the app gives each its own surface.

The two are complementary: provider-API enrichment is quick and requires no downloads, while local-tool enrichment goes deeper at the cost of reading file contents. For a full breakdown of what each provides and when to use it, read the local tools guide and the enrichment guide.

9. Settings and Device Management

The Settings page is where you manage your account and this device. From here you can change your password and view your current configuration, so you always know how the app is set up.

Settings is also home to device management. You can enable or disable this device, refresh its profile to pick up the latest account state, remove it when you no longer use it, and repair it if it ever falls out of sync, for example after being removed from the portal. These controls keep your authorized devices accurate and secure.

CLI Equivalent

Every GUI action maps to a command, so you can move fluidly between the visual app and scripts. The table below pairs common desktop screens with the command that does the same job.

Next Steps and Related Guides

• Multi-device setup guide — authorize and sync FileFortress across more than one computer
• Local AI setup guide — configure a provider so the GUI can offer natural-language search
• Enrichment guide — understand provider-API versus local-tool enrichment
• Local tools guide — install and run FFmpeg, ExifTool, and built-in tools
• Duplicate management guide — review and resolve duplicate files safely
• OAuth credentials guide — use your own OAuth app for Google Drive and OneDrive
• search command reference — full syntax for structured filters and saved queries