Getting Started

Download and install

Download the latest .dmg from GitHub Releases. Open the DMG and drag Float into your Applications folder. Float is signed and notarized by Apple, so no Terminal gymnastics — just drag-and-drop, then launch.

Requires macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later on Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, or M4). Intel Macs are not currently supported.

Open the panel from the menu bar

Float lives in your menu bar as a small icon. Click it to open the panel; click anywhere outside the panel or press Escape to dismiss it. The panel floats above any app, including fullscreen Spaces, so you never have to leave your work to find a file.

Activate your license (if you bought one)

Bought Float? Here's how to unlock it — it takes about ten seconds:

1. Open the panel and click the gear icon in the top-right to open Settings.
2. The License card is the very first thing at the top — you can't miss it.
3. Paste your license key (Lemon Squeezy emailed it to you right after purchase) into the License key field.
4. Click Activate.

Pick which folders Float watches

Open Settings → Folders. Click Add Folder and choose any folder under your home directory — Desktop, Downloads, Screenshots, a project folder, anything. You can watch as many folders as you want, and Float merges them all into one panel sorted by recency.

For each folder, toggle Include subfolders if you want files inside nested directories to appear too.

Browse, open, and preview

Files appear as visual thumbnails sorted by modification date, with sections for Pinned, Recent, and Earlier.

• Click a file to open it in its default app.
• Press Enter to open it in Float's inline preview — works for images, PDFs, documents, and more. The preview includes an Extract Text button (see step 9).
• Press Space to open the file in macOS Quick Look instead.
• Right-click any file for Open, Reveal in Finder, Copy Path, Stage, or Move to Trash.

Pin the files you reach for most

Hover over any file, then click the pin icon in its bottom corner. Pinned files get their own Pinned section at the top of the panel and stay there no matter how old the file gets or which folder it's in. Click pin again to unpin.

Stage a batch and drag the whole stack

Need to attach multiple files at once? Click files to add them to the staging bar at the bottom — files can come from different watched folders. Once staged:

• Drag the stack into any app to drop them all at once.
• Zip them into a single archive on your clipboard.
• Copy them all to your clipboard.
• History shows your recent staging sessions in case you want to bring one back.

Run anything with the Command Bar

Press ⌘K anywhere in the panel to open the Command Bar. Type to search files across every watched folder, or to run actions like Toggle Theme, Copy File Path, Copy Staged Paths, Open Settings, and more. Keyboard-only flow, never touch the mouse.

Pull text out of images and PDFs

Select any image, screenshot, or PDF and press Enter to open it in Float's preview. Click Extract Text in the top-right of the preview, wait a second or two, and the extracted text appears with a Copy Text button. The text lands on your clipboard ready to paste — no separate OCR app needed.

Make it yours

In Settings → Appearance, pick from 12 themes (six day, six night) that auto-sync with macOS dark mode. In Menu Bar Icon, choose between Float, Colorful, Framed, or Split tray icon styles. Set a global hotkey in Shortcuts. Switch the panel position between docked-to-tray and center-floating. Resize the panel by dragging its bottom-right corner.