Evenpine · File manager for macOS

Branchway. Your files,
finally at home.

A native Finder alternative with tabs, dual panes, its own search index, a map of your disk and themes to make it yours.

Download free trial Buy a license Try it live Watch the film1:21

14 days free, no account, no card. Launch price $19, usually ~~$29~~.

Branchway in list view: three tabs, a Projects folder with folders listed above files, and the inspector showing the folder’s details

Branchway · list view, tabs and inspectormacOS 14 or later · Apple silicon and Intel · 16 languages

01 · Views and panes

Four views, two panes,
as many tabs as you like.

List, icons, columns and gallery share one selection and one set of shortcuts. Split the window in two when you’re moving things around, and drag a tab out when it deserves its own window.

Branchway: list view, with the inspector open — **List** · List view, with the inspector open

Branchway: column view, with a preview of the selected file — **Columns** · Column view, with a preview of the selected file

Branchway: gallery view of a photo folder — **Gallery** · Gallery view of a photo folder

Branchway: two panes side by side, sync browsing on — **Dual pane** · Two panes side by side, Sync Browsing on

Switch views: ⌘1 – ⌘4
Dual pane: ⌥⌘2
Sync Browsing: ⌥⌘B
New tab: ⌘T

01 · Views and panes · Each pane has its own header

Two panes that each know where they are.

In dual pane every pane gets its own header: back, forward and up, then a path you can click through. Long paths fold from the start so the folder you are in stays visible, and each segment has a menu of its sibling folders. ⌘L turns the path into a field you can type or paste into. Press and hold back or forward to see that pane’s history. Drop files on a path segment to move them there.

Path: Click a segment, or ⌘L to type
History: Right-click or hold back and forward
Compare: A button in each header

Two panes, each with its own header: back, forward, up, a breadcrumb path and a history popover open on one of them

02 · Find

Press ⌘K. Type a path,
a name, a command or a sentence.

One box takes a folder path, a file name, a command, or a description of a photo, a document or a video. Branchway keeps its own index of file names on each volume and merges in Spotlight when it’s there, so it still finds things when Spotlight is switched off or still catching up.

The ⌘K palette over the window, listing matching files and commands for one query — ⌘K · files, folders and commands in one box. ⌘Return opens in a new tab.

The search page with a query, its scope and the matching file — Search · scope, kind, date, size and tag filters, across every drive.

02 · Find · What you can type

Type where you want to be.

Start with a folder path, like ~/Pictures/ or a full path, and ⌘K lists what is inside as you go: the folders and files that match, up to eight at a time. Return opens a folder, ⌘Return opens it in a new tab, and ⌘R shows a file in its folder. A path that does not exist offers the nearest folder that does. Open ⌘K with nothing typed and it lists the files you opened lately and a few commands.

A path: ~ and file:// work too. Not listed for network or cloud drives; locked vaults and hidden files are left out
A name: Files and folders from the index, with Spotlight merged in
A command: Any menu command, and the ones you saved
A photo: Describe it, and photos whose contents match are listed as In image
A document or video: With the optional model, a plain sentence finds text inside documents (In document) and moments inside videos (In video at 1:42)
The rest: Return on Show all results opens the Search page. ⌘1 to ⌘9 jump to a group

The ⌘K palette with a folder path typed: the Open row, then the folders and files inside it as completions

Index: File names, one per volume, kept on this Mac
Drives: Internal and external
Freshness: Updates live as files change
Manners: Pauses while you type, on Low Power and when the Mac runs hot

02 · Find · Preview

See the file before you open it.

Give ⌘K room and a preview opens beside the results. Arrow down the list and the preview follows: a PDF jumps to the page that matched and marks the words, a video waits paused, everything else shows its Quick Look. Files in a locked vault are never previewed. Arrow keys move through the rows, Return opens one, and ⌘R reveals it in its folder, scrolled to the middle so it is easy to see.

Preview: ⇧⌘P shows or hides it
Layout: Settings: Automatic, Wide with preview or Compact
Facts: Kind, date, size, plus pixels, pages or length where they apply

The ⌘K palette in its wide layout: results on the left and the preview of the selected PDF on the right, with the matching page marked

03 · Home

Open Branchway on what you did yesterday.

Home is a page of facts about this Mac, put together on this Mac. It lists what arrived in Downloads, Desktop and Screenshots in the last three days, the folders and files you open most, your pinned places, and the windows you had open when you quit. If a disk is nearly full or a cloud upload failed, it says so at the top.

Search: A box for names, contents, photos and videos, with a scope chip for this Mac or iCloud Drive
Pick up: Reopen your windows, or open them as tabs here
Yours to arrange: Customise Home to choose what shows
Clean up: A few piles, such as Large Files, each with its size and why it is there, and one place that deals with it
Never uploaded: Built from facts on this Mac

The Home page as designed: a search box, the files that arrived in the last three days, most visited folders and pinned places

The Downloads folder in list view with a Downloaded from column naming the site each file came from

The search page headed Downloaded from one site, listing its files

04 · Know where it came from

Which site sent you this?

macOS records where a download came from. Branchway reads that record and shows it: a Downloaded from column, and a Group By › Source that sorts Downloads into one section per site. Right-click a file to copy its download link or open the page it came from. Type from: and a site name to find everything from one place.

Column: On in Downloads, available in any folder
Group By: Source, newest site first
Menu: Copy Download Link, Open Download Page
Search: from:github.com, or the From chip
Kept: Copying or moving a file keeps its source

05 · Search inside files

Find it by what is in it.

Branchway can read the text in a picture and the things it shows, so a search for a receipt, a beach or a whiteboard finds the image, not just a file called IMG_4021. It uses the image tools built into macOS, on this Mac, and you switch it on in Settings › Search.

For better matches there is an optional extra, Smarter photo search. It is a language model you download once. Evenpine hosts the download, and after that it runs on this Mac. Type a plain sentence and it finds photos by what is in them, sentences inside Word, PowerPoint, Excel and e-book files, PDFs and text files, and the moment inside a video that matched. Results say In image, In document or In video at 1:42. Without it, searching inside documents still goes through Spotlight. By default it indexes only while the Mac is charging and above 50 %, and you can remove it whenever you like.

Built in: Photo labels and text, off until you turn it on
Optional: Smarter photo search (photos, documents and videos) · Apple silicon, macOS 15 or later · EmbeddingGemma 2 by Google, converted by Evenpine, Apache License 2.0
Indexing: Only while charging and above 50 %, or whenever plugged in, or always
Leaves your Mac: For this feature, only the model download. Your files and searches stay here

The search page for a photo query with picture results in a grid

Settings, Search: the Smarter photo search card with its indexing progress, the Index photos choice, where the model is stored, and the note that everything stays on this Mac

The Trash page with hidden items counted in its summary and a Deleted date on each row

06 · Trash you can trust

If it is in the Trash, you can see it.

Hidden files you deleted are still in the Trash, taking space. Branchway counts them, says how much room they use, and gives you a Show link. The sidebar count includes them, every row says when it was deleted, and Empty Trash tells you how many items and how many gigabytes before you confirm.

Summary: Hidden items and their size, with Show
Empty Trash…: ⇧⌘⌫, with the item count and size
Put Back All: Includes hidden items
Deleted: Each row shows when. Nothing is removed on its own

07 · Organise the listing

Folders above files, columns that fit.

Turn on Folders above files and the listing splits in two, folders on top. Group by kind, date or cloud status. The name column in list view, and the newest column in column view, widen to fit the longest name, from 140 to 320 points, so you stop dragging dividers.

Folders above files: ⌥⌘F
Group By: Kind, Date, Cloud Status
Auto Resize Columns: On by default · View menu or Settings › General › Views

A Downloads folder with folders above files and a long name that fits its column

Two panes with Sync Browsing on: a folder selected on the left opens on the right

08 · Sync Browsing

Browse on the left, see it on the right.

In dual pane, turn on Sync Browsing and selecting a folder on the left shows what’s inside it on the right. Skim a tree on one side and read the contents on the other. Each window keeps its own setting. When the selection stops being a folder, the other pane says “Paused” and picks up again as soon as you select a folder.

Sync Browsing: Toolbar button or ⌥⌘B
Remembered: Per window
Switch pane: ⇥

08 · Sync Browsing · Compare folders

Two folders, one aligned list.

Compare this pane with the other pane and get a single table of what differs. Filter it to Differences, Same, Orphans or Newer, and choose how files are judged: by name, by size and date, by contents, or by checksum. Open a text file that differs and a side-by-side view marks each change; step through the changes with the keyboard. Nothing is changed unless you set up a sync.

Compare: ⌥⌘K, or the Compare button in a pane header
Judged by: Names, Quick, Contents or CRC-32. Leave out version-control folders and hidden files
Text diff: Read-only. Ignore whitespace, capitals or line endings. ⌥⌘↓ and ⌥⌘↑ step through changes
Set Up Sync: Replaced files go to the Trash first. Nothing is deleted for good, and vaults are never synced

Two folders compared in one table, with filter chips for Differences, Same, Orphans and Newer and a mark in the gutter showing which pane has the newer file

A side-by-side text diff of one file, with Difference 1 of 1 and a map of the changes

09 · Storage

See where the space went.

A map of any disk, sized by what’s on it. Each colour is one kind of file, and it stays that colour in the legend, the map and the review tray. Click a tile to go inside. Nothing goes to the Trash until you ask.

The storage map of a startup disk, coloured by file category

The Large Files page: the biggest files on a disk first, a filter bar for folder, minimum size and type, and a review tray

09 · Storage · Large Files

The biggest files, first.

Large Files lists the biggest files on a disk or in a folder, largest at the top, read from the index so it is quick. Start at 100 MB or pick your own size, and narrow by type. Tick what you no longer need and review it in a tray before anything moves. Files that are only in the cloud are left out unless you ask.

Where: The sidebar, below Storage, or ⌘K
Removing: Move to Trash only. A sheet asks first, and ⌘Z brings them back
Show it: ⌘R shows a file in its folder

10 · Cloud

iCloud and OneDrive, without a sign-in.

Branchway works with the cloud folders already on your Mac. A status column shows what’s downloaded, what’s only in the cloud and what’s on its way. OneDrive gets its own sidebar section as soon as it’s set up.

Status: On this Mac, in the cloud, downloading
Actions: Download Now, Remove Download, Keep Downloaded
OneDrive: View Online, Copy Web Link

11 · Themes · Personalisation

Make it yours.

Four themes, each with a light and a dark look and its own file icons. Pick one in Settings › Appearance and every window changes at once.

Paper Lantern goes further: ink-outlined, full-colour glyphs in the toolbar and sidebar, short quiet sounds and small paper moments after you work. Each one has a switch.

Branchway in the Default theme, light look — Default · Light

Branchway in the Default theme, dark look — Default · Dark

Branchway in the Evenpine theme, light look — Evenpine · Light

Branchway in the Evenpine theme, dark look — Evenpine · Dark

Branchway in the Graphite Ember theme, light look — Graphite Ember · Light

Branchway in the Graphite Ember theme, dark look — Graphite Ember · Dark

Branchway in the Paper Lantern theme, light look — Paper Lantern · Light

Branchway in the Paper Lantern theme, dark look — Paper Lantern · Dark

RidgeDefault

EvenpineEvenpine

SlateGraphite Ember

LanternPaper Lantern

File icons · four packs, one for each theme, covering the same 37 kinds of file in every view

And the settings around it.

Themes: Default, Evenpine, Graphite Ember and Paper Lantern
Appearance: System, Light or Dark
Row size: Compact, Standard or Comfortable
File icons: Follow the theme, 37 kinds of file
Views: List, Icons, Columns, Gallery · ⌘1–⌘4
Folders above files: Off by default · ⌥⌘F
Keyboard: macOS, Windows or your own shortcuts
Default apps: Pick the app for each kind of file

Sounds: Paper Lantern · quiet, under 0.4 s, follow your alert volume and mute
Playful details: One switch for every paper moment, or Customise… to pick them one by one
Reduce Motion: Respected: every moment becomes a short fade

12 · Details

Every detail, one glance away.

The inspector keeps a preview and the facts beside your files, with folder sizes when you ask for them. Get Info edits permissions for owner, group and everyone, adds people and applies the change to everything inside. Rename a batch of files and see every new name before you commit.

Get Info for a folder with Sharing and Permissions open — Get Info · ⌘I · permissions you can edit

Renaming a batch of items with a live preview of the new names — Batch rename · replace, add text, number, with a live preview of every new name

12 · Details · Repositories

See which folders are repositories.

A folder with a git repository inside gets a small badge on its icon, in list, icons, columns and gallery. Its kind says Repository, so Group by Kind gathers them together and Get Info names it. Branchway only looks for the .git folder, never starts git, and skips locked vaults, cloud-only folders and network drives.

Switch: Settings › General › Show git badges, on by default. It appears when git is installed
Group: Group by Kind

13 · Your keyboard

Your shortcuts, your way.

Start from the macOS or Windows profile, or make your own, then change any shortcut in Settings › Keyboard. Toolbar tooltips and menus show the shortcut, so you pick them up as you go.

Profiles: macOS, Windows, Custom
Custom: Change any shortcut, import or export a set
Tooltips: Hide Sidebar · ⌃⌘S

The Hide Sidebar toolbar tooltip naming its shortcut, ⌃⌘S

A file’s context menu with Reveal in Finder, Share and Open With

14 · Mac integration

Plays well with the Mac.

Make Branchway your default file viewer and Show in Finder from other apps, AirDrop and Safari downloads opens here. Reveal in Finder takes you the other way. Share and AirDrop are in the menu, and one Settings pane picks the app for each kind of file.

Reveal in Finder: ⌥⌘R
Open in Terminal: ⌃⌥T
Default apps: One pane, every file type

15 · Vaults · Archives · Privacy

Your files stay yours.

Keep private folders in encrypted vaults that unlock with Touch ID, and lock them all at once. Open zip, tar and other archives in place, drag files out of them or extract them, without another app.

A locked vault in the listing, with its Unlock button

The unlock panel asking for the vault password or Touch ID

A zip archive opened in place in list view

Nothing about your files leaves this Mac.

Telemetry and analytics: None
Account or sign-in: Not needed to start
Search index: File names, kept on this Mac. Photo labels and text too, if you turn that on. With the optional model, document text and video frames too
Smarter photo search: Optional. Finds photos, documents and video moments. One download from Evenpine, then it runs on this Mac
Updates: Sparkle, with your permission
Vaults: Encrypted, keys stay on your Mac
License: Online activation; signed license stored locally

16 · And more

And the small things.

The parts you notice on the fiftieth day, not the first.

Tabs you can tear off
Drag a tab out for its own window, or onto another window to join it.
Paste images from the web
Paste or drop an image from a browser and it becomes a file named from its source, ready to rename. PNG, JPEG, GIF and HEIC stay byte for byte; TIFF becomes PNG.
Smart folders
Save a search and keep it in the sidebar.
Tags
Finder tags in the sidebar, the menus, Get Info and the inspector.
Undo that remembers
Undo and Redo say what they will do, and the journal is kept.
Operations queue
Copies and moves wait their turn. Pause, resume or cancel any of them.
Conflict choices
Replace, Keep Both or Skip, with a default answer you set once.
Trash with Put Back
Put Back, Empty Trash and Delete Immediately, all where you expect.
Large Files
See the biggest files on a drive and review them. Nothing is deleted until you say so.
Menus in your theme
Context menus take the colours and type of the theme you picked.
Quick Look
Press Space. The preview follows your selection.
Copy Path
POSIX or HFS path from any file, folder, tab or empty space.
Spring-loaded folders
Hold a drag over a folder and it opens for you.
Favorites
Drag folders into the sidebar and put them in your own order.
Default apps
Choose the app for each kind of file in one Settings pane.
Open in Terminal
⌃⌥T opens the folder in Terminal, iTerm or the one you choose.
Filename extensions
Show all, hide all, or do as Finder does.
Address bar
Breadcrumbs, typed paths with completion and a history on Back.
Inspector
Preview, facts, tags and Open With beside your files. ⌥⌘I.
First-run tour
Six short steps after setup. Help › Show Tour Again any time.
16 languages
Branchway speaks your Mac’s language from the first launch.
Updates you approve
Branchway checks daily and never installs without asking.

17 · Pricing

One price. Yours to keep.

Questions

No subscription and no account. Pay once, get every version 1 update, and choose the number of Macs you need.

Branchway Launch price

1 Mac$19~~$29~~
2 Macs$29~~$45~~
3 Macs$39~~$59~~

One-time · USD

Buy a license Download free trial

Free for 14 days, then a one-time purchase.

Included

Every feature, nothing held back
All version 1 updates
A license for 1, 2 or 3 Macs
A perpetual license, yours to keep

Try everything free for 14 days, and extend once by 7 days if you need to. No account, no card. After the trial, browsing stays free; changing files needs a license.

Later

Your version stays yours.

A future major version would be a separate, optional upgrade. If you don’t upgrade, Branchway 1 stays yours.

18 · Questions

Good to know.

01Is Branchway a Finder replacement?

Branchway is a Finder alternative, and Finder stays on your Mac. Reveal in Finder (⌥⌘R) takes you to Finder whenever you want it, and you can make Branchway the default file viewer in Settings.

02How much does Branchway cost?

Branchway is on sale now. Try it free for 14 days, then buy a license: a one-time purchase with no subscription. Launch prices are $19 for 1 Mac, $29 for 2 Macs, $39 for 3 Macs, against regular prices of $29 for 1 Mac, $45 for 2 Macs, $59 for 3 Macs. Every Branchway 1.x update is included.

03How does the free trial work?

Download Branchway and use every feature for 14 days. No account, no card, nothing to cancel. If you need more time, you can extend the trial once by 7 days. When you buy a license, you receive a license key (it is on your order confirmation page and in the customer portal), and entering it turns the trial into the full app, with nothing to reinstall.

04What stops working after the trial?

Only editing. You can still browse, search and preview your files for free. Moving, renaming, deleting and creating files needs a license.

05How many Macs can I use it on?

Choose a license for 1, 2 or 3 Macs. One key covers the number of Macs you buy. Enter the same email and key on each Mac.

06Are updates included?

Every Branchway 1.x update is included. A future major version would be a separate, optional upgrade. Your version keeps working.

07Can I get a refund?

Yes. You can ask within 14 days of buying for a full refund. See our refund policy for how to get in touch.

08Does it run on Intel Macs?

Yes. Branchway runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 14 or later.

09Does search work with Spotlight off?

Yes. Branchway keeps its own index of file names for each volume, including external drives, and stores it on your Mac. When Spotlight is on, its results are merged in. Without the optional Smarter photo search model, searching inside documents still goes through Spotlight. Text and objects in pictures can be indexed on your Mac too, if you turn that on in Settings. With the model installed (Apple silicon, macOS 15 or later), a plain sentence also finds sentences inside documents and moments inside videos.

10Do I need a Microsoft account for OneDrive?

Not in Branchway. If OneDrive is already set up on your Mac, its folder appears in the sidebar by itself, with download status, View Online and Copy Web Link. Branchway never asks you to sign in.

11Can it open “Show in Finder” links?

Yes. Make Branchway your default file viewer in Settings, and Show in Finder from other apps, AirDrop and Safari downloads opens in Branchway. Reveal in Finder (⌥⌘R) still takes you to Finder whenever you want it.

12What leaves my Mac?

Your files and your search index stay on it. Branchway checks for updates and asks before installing one, and it contacts the license server when you activate. There are no analytics. The optional Smarter photo search model is a one-time download hosted by Evenpine; once it is installed, it runs on your Mac and your photos, documents, videos and searches stay there.

19 · Download

Try Branchway free
for 14 days.

Every feature. Your own files. No account and no card.

Download free trial Buy a license

System: macOS 14 or later
Chip: Apple silicon and Intel
Languages: 16
Security: Signed and notarized by Apple

20 · Featured on

Branchway. Your files, finally at home.

Four views, two panes, as many tabs as you like.

Two panes that each know where they are.

Press ⌘K. Type a path, a name, a command or a sentence.

Type where you want to be.

See the file before you open it.

Open Branchway on what you did yesterday.

Which site sent you this?

Find it by what is in it.

If it is in the Trash, you can see it.

Folders above files, columns that fit.

Browse on the left, see it on the right.

Two folders, one aligned list.

See where the space went.

The biggest files, first.

iCloud and OneDrive, without a sign-in.

Make it yours.

And the settings around it.

Every detail, one glance away.

See which folders are repositories.

Your shortcuts, your way.

Plays well with the Mac.

Your files stay yours.

Nothing about your files leaves this Mac.

And the small things.

Tabs you can tear off

Paste images from the web

Smart folders

Tags

Undo that remembers

Operations queue

Conflict choices

Trash with Put Back

Large Files

Menus in your theme

Quick Look

Copy Path

Spring-loaded folders

Favorites

Default apps

Open in Terminal

Filename extensions

Address bar

Inspector

First-run tour

16 languages

Updates you approve