flutter_file_explorer

An embedded Windows-Explorer-style file picker for Flutter desktop apps. Renders entirely as a Flutter widget — no native OS dialogs, no HWND parenting, no surprise foreground windows when called from sub-windows.

Built for Flutter desktop on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Why

Native file pickers (file_picker, flutter_file_dialog, etc.) attach the dialog to the platform's main window via hwndOwner / NSWindow. In apps that use desktop_multi_window, calling them from a sub-window drags the main window to the foreground. This package side-steps the issue by living entirely inside your Flutter app's widget tree.

Features

  • Four modes: save, open, openMulti, openDirectory
  • Three view modes: Details, Large icons, and Tiles
  • Recursive search of the current folder, with match locations
  • Preview pane for images, text files, and metadata
  • Drag-and-drop files/folders from the OS into the dialog
  • Recent locations persisted between sessions
  • Hidden-files toggle (Windows Hidden/System attributes detected, not just dotfiles)
  • Clickable breadcrumb path bar; click to type a path with %VAR% / $VAR / ~ expansion and directory autocomplete
  • Quick Access sidebar (system-pulled on Windows) + "This PC" with mounted drives (Windows A:\ … Z:\; macOS /Volumes; Linux /media, /mnt)
  • Sortable Details columns: Name, Date modified, Type, Size
  • Status bar with item and selection counts/sizes
  • Esc to cancel, Backspace to go up a level, type-to-jump in the list
  • Multi-select for openMulti, New Folder, replace-file confirmation
  • Filter dropdown driven by FileTypeFilter; auto-appends extension on save
  • Custom per-entry icons via iconBuilder
  • Fully localizable via FileExplorerStrings
  • No native picker — renders entirely inside your Flutter widget tree

Install

dependencies:
  flutter_file_explorer: ^0.2.0

Usage

import 'package:flutter_file_explorer/flutter_file_explorer.dart';

// Save
final savedPath = await FileExplorer.save(
  context,
  title: 'Save Report',
  initialFileName: 'report.csv',
  fileTypes: const [
    FileTypeFilter(label: 'CSV File (*.csv)', extensions: ['csv']),
    FileTypeFilter(label: 'All Files (*.*)', extensions: ['*']),
  ],
);

// Open single file
final openPath = await FileExplorer.open(
  context,
  fileTypes: const [
    FileTypeFilter(label: 'Image', extensions: ['png', 'jpg', 'jpeg']),
  ],
);

// Open multiple files
final paths = await FileExplorer.openMulti(context);

// Pick a folder
final dir = await FileExplorer.openDirectory(context);

All methods return null if the user cancelled.

API

Method Returns Notes
save Future<String?> Full path including filename
open Future<String?> Single file
openMulti Future<List<String>?> Multiple files
openDirectory Future<String?> Folder path

Common parameters:

  • title — dialog header text
  • initialDirectory — starts here; falls back to user's Downloads, then home
  • fileTypes: List<FileTypeFilter> — filter dropdown groups
  • quickLocations: List<QuickLocation> — overrides the default sidebar entries
  • dismissable — allow click-outside to cancel (default false)
  • showHiddenFiles — initial state of the hidden-files toggle (default false)
  • initialViewMode — FileExplorerViewMode.details (default), largeIcons, or tiles
  • iconBuilder — custom per-entry icons (see below)
  • strings — localized labels (see below)

Custom icons

Supply an iconBuilder to override icons per entry. Return null to keep the default icon for that entry.

await FileExplorer.open(
  context,
  iconBuilder: (context, entry) {
    if (entry.isDirectory) {
      return const Icon(Icons.folder_special, color: Colors.amber);
    }
    if (entry.extension == 'dart') return const Icon(Icons.flutter_dash);
    return null; // default icon
  },
);

Localization

Every user-facing label has an English default and can be overridden by passing a FileExplorerStrings:

await FileExplorer.open(
  context,
  strings: const FileExplorerStrings(
    openButton: 'Öffnen',
    cancelButton: 'Abbrechen',
    searchHint: 'Ordner durchsuchen',
    quickAccess: 'Schnellzugriff',
    thisPc: 'Dieser PC',
  ),
);

Roadmap

  • Thumbnail previews for images in grid views
  • Column resizing in Details view
  • Per-folder remembered view mode and sort
  • Cut/copy/paste and rename context actions

Example

A runnable demo lives in example/. From the repo root:

cd example
flutter run -d windows   # or macos / linux

Libraries

flutter_file_explorer
Embedded Windows-Explorer-style file picker for Flutter desktop apps.