Quickfiles

A macOS menu bar app for browsing folders directly from the menu bar. Inspired by Folder Peek by Sindre Sorhus.

Features

Menu Bar

• Add one or more folders to the menu bar, each as its own status item
• Display as icon, title, or icon + title
• Click to browse folder contents via native NSMenu with recursive submenus
• Right-click or Option+click the menu bar icon to open the folder directly in Finder
• Type to search while the menu is open (native NSMenu behavior)

File Browsing

• Folders listed first, then files (like Finder)
• Files and folders shown with their system icons (16×16)
• Folders expand into submenus (lazy-loaded on hover)
• Click a file to open it in its default app
• Click a folder to open it in Finder
• Item count shown at the top of each root menu (e.g. "3 folders, 12 files")

File Actions (submenu per file)

• Open — open the file in its default app
• Quick Look (Space) — preview the file in a floating window without closing the menu
• Size and Modified date displayed as info
• Copy — copy the file to clipboard (paste in Finder with ⌘V)
• Reveal in Finder — show the file in Finder
• Copy Path — copy the file's full path as text
• Move to Trash — send the file to Trash
• Open With ▸ — submenu listing all apps that can open the file

Quick Look Preview

• Press Space while hovering over a file to open a Quick Look preview
• Preview appears in a non-activating floating window — the menu stays open
• Press Space again to dismiss the preview
• Preview window automatically closes when the menu is dismissed
• Supports all file types that macOS Quick Look supports (images, PDFs, videos, documents, etc.)

Folder Menu Footer

• Open in Finder — open the folder in Finder
• Open in Terminal — open a new Terminal window at the folder path
• Settings... — open the settings window
• Quit Quickfiles — exit the app

Per-Folder Settings

• Folder path with "Change…" button
• Display mode — icon / title / icon & title
• Custom title — override the folder name shown in the menu bar
• Icon picker — grid of SF Symbols (folder, tray, archivebox, doc, briefcase, etc.)
• Icon color — full color picker
• Sort order — name, date modified, date created, kind, size
• Sort direction — ascending / descending
• Max items — limit how many items are shown (0 = unlimited, up to 100)
• Show hidden files — toggle visibility of dotfiles and hidden items
• Keyboard shortcut — global hotkey to open/close this folder's menu

Global Settings

• Launch at Login — via SMAppService
• About section with app name and version

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Space — Quick Look preview (while browsing menu)
• Option+click menu bar icon — open folder in Finder
• Right-click menu bar icon — open folder in Finder
• Custom global hotkeys per folder (configured in settings)

Building

Requirements

• macOS 13+ (Ventura or later)
• Xcode Command Line Tools or Xcode
• Swift 5.9+

Build & Run

# Debug build and run directly
swift build && .build/debug/Quickfiles

# Or build the .app bundle (release)
./build.sh
open build/Quickfiles.app

Project Structure

Quickfiles/
├── Package.swift                 # SPM manifest, macOS 13+
├── build.sh                      # Builds release .app bundle
├── README.md
├── Resources/
│   └── Info.plist                # LSUIElement=true, bundle metadata
└── Sources/
    ├── QuickfilesApp.swift       # @main entry, SwiftUI Settings scene
    ├── AppDelegate.swift         # Initializes StatusItemManager
    ├── StatusItemManager.swift   # One NSStatusItem per folder, click handling
    ├── MenuBuilder.swift         # Builds NSMenu trees, Quick Look, all file actions
    ├── FolderConfiguration.swift # Data model, display mode, sort order, hex color
    ├── SettingsManager.swift     # UserDefaults persistence, ObservableObject
    ├── SettingsView.swift        # NavigationSplitView settings with sidebar
    ├── FolderSettingsView.swift  # Per-folder configuration UI
    ├── KeyboardShortcutManager.swift # Global hotkeys via Carbon API
    └── FileUtils.swift           # File size, dates, thumbnails, app lookup

Technical Notes

• Menu bar app only (no Dock icon) — uses NSApplication.setActivationPolicy(.accessory)
• File browsing uses NSMenu / NSMenuItem for native menu bar behavior
• Submenus are lazy-loaded via NSMenuDelegate.menuNeedsUpdate(_:)
• Quick Look uses a non-activating NSPanel with QLPreviewView so the menu stays open
• File icons via NSWorkspace.shared.icon(forFile:)
• "Open With" apps discovered via NSWorkspace.shared.urlsForApplications(toOpen:)
• Global shortcuts via Carbon RegisterEventHotKey API
• Settings persisted in UserDefaults as JSON-encoded [FolderConfiguration]