A GUI file manager with real Vim keybindings

hjkl through your files. yy to copy, dd to cut, p to paste. / to find by name, \ to search inside files. All the keyboard nirvana of ranger or lf — with the real previews only a GUI can give you.

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Stop choosing between keyboard control and previews

Terminal file managers — ranger, lf, nnn, vifm — gave us beautiful keyboard control and almost no preview. GUI file managers gave us previews and made us click everything. FileHop's Vim mode is the combination: modal navigation over a real, visual file browser.

Turn it on in Settings — it's opt-in, so nothing changes for people who don't want it — and press ? any time to see the full map.

Motions in the file grid

h j k l

Move left / down / up / right

g g

Jump to the top

G

Jump to the bottom

D U

Page down / page up

12j

Counts — move down twelve rows

Operating on files

y y

Yank (copy) the current file

d d

Cut the current file (paste it with p)

p

Paste files you yanked or cut

v

Visual mode — select a range, then act on it

/

Search file names

\

Search inside file contents

Vim in the editors — yes, even DOCX

The same muscle memory carries into FileHop's source editors and its Word-document editor. It's a real implementation: normal, insert, visual and visual-line modes, a block cursor, and a mode indicator so you always know where you are.

Note — DOCX is early. Vim in the Word-document editor is in its early stages and not yet perfected. Formatted documents (tables, lists, mixed styles) are a much harder surface than a plain text buffer, so expect rough edges while we refine it. The source editors are further along; the DOCX side is what we're actively polishing.

i a I A o O

Enter insert mode

w b e

Word-wise motions

0 $

Start / end of line

d d c c y y

Delete / change / yank a line

d c y + motion

Operator + motion (e.g. dw, ce)

x s r

Delete char / substitute / replace

v V

Visual and visual-line select

p P

Paste after / before

u Ctrl r

Undo / redo

Want the bigger picture? Read the deep dive: we put real Vim mode in a file manager, or see the full keyboard reference in the keyboard-first file manager guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real Vim, or just arrow keys relabeled?

It's real modal editing. The file grid gives you motions (hjkl, gg/G, counts like 12j), operators (yy to copy, dd to cut, p to paste), visual mode (v), and search (/ for names, \ for contents). The text editors add the full operator + motion grammar (dw, ce, cc), insert-mode entry (i/a/o/O), x/s/r, visual and visual-line select, p/P, and u with Ctrl-r to redo.

How is this better than ranger, lf, or nnn?

Terminal file managers give you great keyboard control but weak previews — a thumbnail or a few lines of text. FileHop is a full GUI, so you get real previews of images, video, PDFs, and documents while keeping Vim-style navigation. You don't have to choose between flying with the keyboard and actually seeing your files.

Does Vim mode work inside the editors too?

Yes. The same keybindings carry from the file grid into the source editors (Typst, Mermaid, JSON, and more) and into the DOCX editor, which has normal/insert/visual/visual-line modes, a block cursor, and a mode indicator. One caveat: Vim in the DOCX editor is still in early stages and not yet perfected — formatted documents are a harder surface than plain text, so expect rough edges there while we refine it. The source editors are further along.

What's the difference between / and \ ?

/ searches file names, like classic Vim search. \ searches the contents inside your files — full-text search across documents — which is the thing built-in OS search often misses. Two adjacent keys for two kinds of find.

How do I turn Vim mode on?

Open Settings and toggle Vim mode. It's opt-in, so if you leave it off, the regular arrow keys, Tab navigation, and standard shortcuts work exactly as before. Press ? at any time to see the full list of motions and operators.