Folders are canvases.
Windows · Freeware · Beta
Every folder can already be a mood board — Canfolds just makes it visible. It's a dual-pane file browser where each folder opens as a freely arranged canvas: images, video, sound and 3D models laid out with scale, rotation, groups and comments, while the files stay ordinary files on disk. Delete the hidden layout and it's a plain folder again — like nothing ever happened.
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- The layout lives inside the folder — a tiny hidden sidecar file, not a database or a project you import into. Move the folder anywhere and the board travels with it. Delete the sidecar and you have a plain folder again.
- Dual-pane, drag-to-sort — drag files, or whole selections with their comment frames, between two canvases; files actually move, keeping their arrangement.
- Not just pictures — PSD/PSB render a real flattened composite, video plays with scrubbing right on the card, audio gets a readable waveform, 3D models get their own preview, no other software required.
- Familiar canvas tools — Arrange / Align / Distribute / Normalize with a shared anchor across a whole group, 15°-snapped rotation, Z-order, comment frames and markdown notes.
- Your work is sacred — atomic writes, automatic layout backups (20 revisions, one click to restore), undo for both canvas edits and file operations.
- Fast by architecture — the UI thread never touches the disk. A folder with thousands of files, or a dead network share, can't freeze the window.
- Optional web gallery — mirror a folder to your own FTP/web hosting as a small, password-protected page; browse your images from any device, anywhere. Needs a web host of your own — see Settings → Web Galleries in the app.
- Portable — one exe, nothing to install. Carry it on a USB stick.
Grab the latest Canfolds_beta_<version>_windows.zip from
Releases, extract it anywhere, and run the .exe
inside — nothing to install. Requires Windows 10/11 x64.
First launch may trigger a Windows SmartScreen prompt (the exe isn't code-signed yet) — "More info" → "Run anyway".
- Launch the extracted
.exe— two panes appear, each with a folder tree, an address bar and a canvas. - Click a folder in the tree, or double-click one on the canvas, to open it. A folder with no saved layout opens as a neat grid.
- Drag images around; pull the bottom-right corner to scale. Select
several and press
Cfor a comment frame that groups and labels them. - Right-click empty canvas for Arrange — Optimal pack, by name/date/type, Align, Distribute, Normalize.
F5/F6copy/move the selection to the other pane — the arrangement and comment frames travel with it.Ctrl+Zundoes canvas edits silently and asks first for file operations.
Everything above auto-saves into a hidden .canfolds.save inside the
folder. Merely browsing never creates anything. Full reference: F1 in
the app for the shortcut legend.
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Canvas layouts | hidden .canfolds.save inside folders you arranged |
| Settings | %APPDATA%\Canfolds\Canfolds.ini |
| Thumbnail cache | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Canfolds\Canfolds\cache\thumbs |
| Layout backups | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Canfolds\backups\ |
Your images and other files themselves are never modified. Uninstalling is deleting the exe and, optionally, the locations above.
Anyone who works with visual material lives between two worlds. Reference boards make arranging easy, but the material gets swallowed into the app or the cloud — cut off from the file system, often duplicated, no longer manageable as files. File managers keep files real, but browsing is a rigid grid of identical thumbnails sorted by name or date — no arranging by meaning, no grouping, no notes. Sorting out a real visual dump — references, footage, screenshots, sound, assets — needs both at once. Canfolds is both at once: a real file manager whose view is a canvas.
Canfolds was built while developing the game Hexoto: Project Mutoboto (hexotogame.com) — it grew out of a real need to manage, sort and review visual assets during production, and turned out useful enough on its own to share for free.
If you enjoy Canfolds, consider wishlisting Hexoto (hexotogame.com/q) or following along on Telegram: @hexoto.
Free for personal and commercial use, portable, nothing installed. This is beta software — see LICENSE.txt for the full terms, including a plain-language note about backing up your files.
Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue. You can also reach the developer on Telegram: @konslid.