Privacy Policy

File Shell is a desktop file manager published by Demetrios Kallergis / K2 Research (“we”, “us”). This policy explains, plainly, what the app does and does not do with your data.

The short version

• We do not collect, store, or transmit any personal information.
• The app has no user accounts and no sign-in.
• The app makes no network connections of its own — there is no File Shell server, no analytics, no telemetry, and no advertising.
• The only network traffic the app ever makes is to servers you set up yourself: the cloud storage you choose to mount (your own S3, WebDAV, or Nextcloud), and a one-time, on-demand download of the on-device search model if you turn that optional feature on.
• Everything the app remembers — your settings, the search index, your file tags, any search vectors, and local diagnostic logs — stays on your own device and is removed when you uninstall.

Data we collect

None. File Shell does not collect personal data, usage analytics, telemetry, device identifiers, advertising identifiers, location, contacts, or any other personal information. We have no servers and receive nothing from your use of the app.

Network connections

File Shell is a local file manager. It does not “phone home.” Network connections happen in exactly two situations, both of which you initiate:

• Cloud drives you configure. File Shell can mount S3-compatible buckets, WebDAV servers, and Nextcloud (via WebDAV) as Windows drives. When you do this, the app connects directly to the server address you entered, using the credentials you provided, to read and write your files. We never see, proxy, or receive this traffic — it goes straight from your PC to your server. Your credentials are stored locally on your device so the drive can reconnect.
• The optional on-device search model. If you turn on semantic (“search by meaning”) search, the app downloads a small embedding model once, on demand, the moment you enable the feature. After that download the model runs entirely on your device; your files and queries are never sent anywhere.

If you never configure a cloud drive and never enable semantic search, File Shell makes no outbound network connections at all.

Information stored on your device

So the app can do its job and remember your preferences, it stores data locally on your own computer (in your user application-data folder and the app's local storage). This includes things like your settings and window layout, your favorites and watched folders, the full-text search index of folders you've chosen to index, the search vectors for semantic search, the connection details for any cloud drives you've added, and local diagnostic logs written by the app and its helper process.

This information never leaves your device, is not accessible to us, and is removed when you uninstall the app. We do not consider this “collection” — it is ordinary local app data, like any program remembering your options.

File tags

When you tag a file, File Shell writes that tag into the file's NTFS Alternate Data Stream — metadata stored alongside your own file on your own disk. On file systems that don't support Alternate Data Streams, it falls back to a small sidecar file next to yours. Either way, your tags live with your files, on your device, under your control. They are never transmitted to us.

The engine process

For technical reasons File Shell is split into two parts: the window you see (the UI) and a local helper process (the “engine”) that performs file operations and drives cloud-drive mounts. They talk to each other over a private, on-machine channel (a named pipe) that is reachable only from your own computer. The engine has no network of its own beyond the cloud-storage connections you explicitly configure. No data is exposed to other machines or to us.

No telemetry, ads, or accounts

File Shell contains no analytics SDK, no crash-reporting service, no advertising, and no account system. There is nothing to sign in to and nothing reporting your activity.

Children's privacy

File Shell is a general-purpose utility. Because the app collects no personal information from anyone, it collects none from children. We do not knowingly collect data from any user, including children under 13 (or the equivalent age in your region).

Third parties and the Store

File Shell is distributed through the Microsoft Store. When you purchase or install it, Microsoft processes that transaction and any related data under its own privacy policy — we never see your payment details or account information. The free, third-party Dokan driver, which you may choose to install to enable cloud-drive mounting, is provided by its own project under its own terms; we do not bundle it and receive no data through it. We do not share data with any third party, because we have no data to share.

Security

Because the app holds no personal data on our side and sends nothing of its own off your device, there is no personal data for us to secure or to be exposed. Cloud-drive credentials you enter are stored locally on your machine.

Changes to this policy

If we ever change this policy, we will update the “Effective date” above and post the new version at this address. Material changes will be reflected here before they take effect.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact us at:

[email protected]

File Shell manages your files. It doesn't manage you.