Changelog

« Back to the list

FileRun Update 2021.12.07

• New User Interface

  The entire user interface has been reworked, with high attention to every little detail.

  • Great mobile experience. It adapts to screens of any size to provide a smooth and intuitive experience. Supports touchscreen laptops, handling both mouse and touch selection in the best way.
  • It is now a progressive web app (PWA), so that you can add it to your desktop or mobile phone home screen. (Requires HTTPS access.)

• New UI options

  • The folder tree panel can be collapsed for more space for the files list. It is particularlly useful when browsing photos in the new "Photo" view, or documents in the new "Large thumbnails" view. The setting is remembered in the browser.
  • Listing files and folders in "Detailed list" now allows you to sort without keeping the list split between folders and files. The option is found under the file list options menu.
  • New display mode "Large"
    • It shows twice larger thumbnails.
    • It displays both documents and photos in full aspect ratio.
    • It shows when an image file has transparency.
    • It is great for brwosing documents and photos.
    • It replaces the previous "Photos" view mode.
  • Filter files by metadata file type. You can leave the filter enabled and continue browsing around folders looking for particular types of files. The Image/Audio/Video file list view modes have been removed.
  • Tags can be added to multiple files/folders at the same time. Simply select multiple items and use the "Add tags" field on the "Details" panel.
  • Multiple files can be star rated at the same time. Just select the desired files and use the star rating option found on the "Details" panel. If any of the selected files already has a rating, its value will be overwritten.

• UI Performance improvements

  • Direct links to subfolders now open instantly, regardless of how deep the folder is located. Browsing directly to a sub folder no longer loads the parent folders unnecessarily. Yet, it still displays the full location, allowing you to browse parent folders.
  • Uploading folders now updates the folders structure in the tree menu in real time, so you can browse directly to a subfolder that was just uploaded, or that it hasn't even finished uploading!
  • Optimized code for faster display, snappier feeling and less browser memory usage.
  • Creating new folders now shows the new folders in the folders tree menu instantly.
  • Pagination for large folders! The maximum number of files you wish to list per page can be configured from the FileRun control panel. The pagination also applies to search results, so you can now see the full number of results. (Current limitation to be addressed in the future: sorting inside paginated folders is always done in an alphanumeric way by file name.)
  • Very fast thumbnail generation
    • Using "libvips" (https://www.libvips.org) instead of ImageMagick/GraphicsMagick, generating thumbnails can be almost instantaneous for average photo files on average server hardware.
    • The supported file formats are "jpg,jpeg,tif,tiff,png,webp,pdf,hdr,gif,exr,svg". Other file formats would still be processed with your current ImageMagick/GraphicsMagick configuration.
    • The "vipsthumbnail" binary must be installed on the server, and enabled from the FileRun control panel. Make sure you are using Vips version 8.10 or higher.
  • Long file management operations, including calculating a large folder size, no longer lock other FileRun action.
  • Space quotas no longer slow down the login and the loading of the user interface. Refreshing the quota usage no longer blocks other requests.
  • Listing more than 100 subfolders in the folder tree panel no longer loads metadata for the folders, as it becomes too slow to browse. Therefore, in these cases the folders in the tree panel would no longer show if they are shared or if they have notifications or changes.

• Much improved file viewer

  • Much better image viewing experience.
  • Shows now all files in the list, regardless if FileRun can generate thubmnails and previews for.
  • Faster loading previews for non-image files.
  • If files are selected, the viewer will cycle only through the selected files. Use this to preview only certain files.
  • It now shows if an image has transparency.
  • Added information when previewing an empty file (0 bytes file size).
  • Opening the file viewer no longer disturbs the file list scroll position.

• Uploading

  • Uploading a folder which contains files or folders with names which are not allowed, automatically skips those files, no longer interrupting the whole transfer anymore for user input.
  • Uploading folders now updates the folder tree in real time. This allows you to browse/manage the uploaded folders before the whole transfer completes.
  • The upload panel shows the file upload speed again.
  • The large Nextcloud uploads no longer show temporary folders inside the user's home folder. The temporary folders are now hidden. Added support for deleting a temporary upload folder by Nextcloud on a failed chunked upload, so no folders are left behind.

• Usability improvements

  • The list of files is sorted in a more natural way. Sorting is now done in a case-insensitive way, non-latin characters and numbers are sorted better as well. The browser's first preferred language is also taken into consideration.
  • The "Activity" panel
    • The "Activity" tab now shows also own user actions. $config['app']['folder_activity']['show_own'] config option no longer exists.
    • The "Activity" tab now includes the actions made on the folder iteself, when a folder is selected, not only actions made on content.
    • When no file or folder in the list is selected, the activity tab will show all the activity inside that folder and subfolders. The list is grouped by file/folder, so instead of seeing multiple actions made on the same file or folder, you will only see the last action for that file/folder. The number of other actions made is shown.
    • When selecting a particular file or folder in the list, you see all the actions performed on that file, no longer groupped. $config['app']['folder_activity']['show_all_actions'] config option no longer exists.
  • The "Details" panel
    • The details panel is collapsed by default on screen sizes that are not large. It can be displayed using the info button on the top toolbar, or by using the new file context menu option "View details".
    • The preview on the details panel now shows if the image has a transparent background. This helps also identify the image aspect ratio.
    • Added option to change label from the details panel.
    • The details panel shows when the file list is filtered (by audio/video/photos).
    • The "Deleted from" details now links for quickly opening the location an item was deleted from.
    • The "Details" tab now shows the metadata type for the selected file or folder.
  • Thumbnails
    • Thumbnails are focusing the center for photos and the top for documents.
    • Document thumbnail loading is animated, to provide hints on the page size.
    • The thumbnail display mode is now flexible, stretching and shrinking folders and files as needed to use all the available space.
    • Added control panel option for choosing the seek time for the frame selected out of videos for thumbnails.
  • The audio player
    • The audio player no longer closes when leaving the music media library folders.
    • The audio player no longer opens automatically when browsing the music media library.
    • For users who do not have download permissions but they have only preview permission, the audio player now opens directly rather than inside the file viewer.
    • It can now be disabled from the control panel.
    • Added option to disable autoplaying the next file in the audioplayer.
  • Inside the trash folder
    • Files in the trash folder can now be previewd.
    • You can now read comments on files/folders inside the trash folder.
    • The trash folder no longer groups folders at the top, but shows files and folders sorted by deletion date.
  • Increased the text/code editor font size.
  • Added contextual menu option for copying a folder's path to clipboard.
  • Added tooltips on most clickable actions.
  • Dragging files and folders over the "Collections" item automatically expands it to be able to drop into a collection.
  • Added ability to calculate total file size of multiple collections and photo albums together.
  • Better handling renaming current folder.
  • Selecting more than one file to delete now shows a confirmation prompt. This can also be used for deleting permanently instead of to the trash.
  • Added warning when deleting files from outside the home folder or a shared folder in order to prevent accidental deletion from places such as the Starred, Collections or other virtual locations.
  • To prevent accidental file changes, creating a new file from the "+ New" menu no longer allows overwriting existing files.
  • Autosave is now enabled by default for the ONLYOFFICE editors.
  • The Download cart
    • Better feedback adding files and folders to the download cart.
    • Added contextual menu option for adding files to download cart, without having to drag the files from the list to the toolbar menu item.
    • Prevented dragging folders to the download cart without the permission of downloading folders.
  • Keyboards shortcuts
    • Added CTRL+A keyboard shortcut to select all files in the list.
    • Added ESC keyboard shortcut to clear the file selection.
    • Added F5 keyboard shortcut to refresh the file list.
    • The keyboard shortcuts 1-5 for star rating files have been removed.
  • The logo and welcome message are always shown on the login page, even on small screens.
  • Various fixes and improvements regarding toolbars and menu options.
• The shared links now follow the current theme.
• The OAuth2/API authorization pages now follow the configured theme.
• And various other user interface improvements.

• Photos Media section

  • Photo and video thumbnails show with the actual aspect ratio of the image.
  • The "Photos" media library now shows both photos and videos.
  • The sorting is done by the date the photos or videos were taken.
  • Video files are visually identified by having a play icon on the thumbnail.
  • Image and video orientation detection has been improved.
  • Added support for HEIC metadata import. Requires Imagick PHP extension, enabled from the FileRun control panel.
• Media Albums
  • Photos and videos can be organized in albums, which work exactly like the regular FileRun collections.
  • Sharing albums with a link, set by default the link mode to gallery.
  • Files and folders can be added to albums from the right-click menu, or by dragging to the left folder menu.
  • Photo albums can include any other types of files and folders.
  • In the future, albums will be shareable with other FileRun users.

• Improved apps compatibility

  • Desktop Sync Nextcloud
    • Desktop sync can be now used also when the user doesn't have a home folder. Files and folders shared by other FileRun users can be now kept in sync with the desktop sync app.
    • If a user syncs all shares from all users (@Shares) or all shares from a particular user, new shares will get synced as well.
    • Sharing files and folders using links from the desktop now works. Changing permissions of existing shared links and removing links also works.
    • Use the right-click menu "Nextcloud" to get private or public links to the files.
  • Android app Nextcloud
    • Sharing files and folders using links now works. Changing permissions of existing shared links and removing links also works.
    • Previewing various types of files works.
    • You can now add a Nextcloud account to the mobile app by scanning the QR code displayed when generating WebDAV credentials from the FileRun "Account settings" panel.
  • Added compatibility with Synology Cloud Sync.
  • Added support for Nextcloud/Owncloud Thunderbird addons.
  • Tested compatibility with Joplin note-taking app: A FileRun folder can server as a synching source for note taking on various devices.
• Added "Folder Index" plugin for generating printable indexes of folder contents.

• Security

  • Fix against CSRF via HTML files opening in the browser, and via MIME sniffing.
    Thanks to Febin Mon Saji (https://www.linkedin.com/in/febin-mon-saji-1787951b1)
  • Improved protection against CSRF attacks.
  • Fixed minor undisclosed security vulnerability.
  • For security reasons, SVG files are no longer used natively for thumbnails and previews, but they get PNG rendered versions.
  • Improved login security.
  • Added option under Password Policy, to enfore two-factor authentication (2FA) on all FileRun user accounts, except guest accounts which they still login using just a link.
  • FileRun is now making sure the session cookies are secure, regardless of the PHP configuration.

• Other Improvements

  • General server-side speed improvements.
  • Sped up the thumbnail generation process via command line.
  • Adding/changing file/folder labels no longer require download permission.
  • Changing file tags is now logged to the user activity log.
  • Better error handling in the "Index file metadata" folder control panel option.
  • Audio files get year and genre metadata extracted as tags.
  • Web linked galleries now show thumbnails in the natural aspect ratio of the pictures.
  • Comments can be added to the user's home folder.
  • Better error handling on MySQL connection drop while zipping large folders.
  • The metadata autocomplete, such as for adding tags, searches not only terms starting with the typed word, but wider.
  • Added support for ImageMagick being used in Imagick PHP extension mode to the "Create photo proof sheet" plugin.
  • The user accounts created via the authentication plugin can now have a different role associated with them, compared to accounts created via the self-registration procces.
  • Troubleshooting thumbnail or preview generation from the file control panel now keeps the generated thumbnail/preview files, so one can use this to manually request thumbnail generation for a file for which the generation previously failed.
  • New FileRun branding.

• Fixes

  • Fixed display of checkboxes in file grid when thumbnails are not enabled.
  • Fixed taking into account EXIF orientation when retrieving width and height of images and videos.
  • Fixed creating web links via Nextcloud apps.
  • Fixed regression bug: GraphicsMagick support.
  • Fixed removing password protection from web links.
  • Fixed adding file comments using mobile browsers.
  • File comments can now be added via the media folders (Photos, Videos, Music).
  • The file activity log now shows correct filenames for files in the trash folder.
  • Fixed video player showing full size video via web links.
  • Fixed image editor skewing the images on particular image orientations.
  • Fixed display of login background image when the URL contains ampersand characters.
  • The "Forgot password?" function is now available when using an authentication plugin but having the "Allow local users to login" enabled.
  • Fixed search results showing files that might be in other users trash folders. This happens only when the other user's home folders are located inside the home folder of the user that is doing the searching.
  • Disabling plugins now applies also for the plugins already configured to be used with web links.
  • The option of creating file requests is no longer visible if the user had permission to create web links but now he does not have permission to download files.
  • Files and folders that are shared without alter permissions can now be added to starred.
  • Better handling of zipping folders with large number of items. Better error reporting.
  • Better compatiblity with RSS readers for the folders shared with web link in RSS mode. The file URLs now point directly to the file, rather than the file's preview page.

• Other changes

  • FileRun installations need to be registered in order to feature custom logos. Unregistered installs will feature the FileRun branding.
  • FileRun no longer works with Internet Explorer. Finally! 🥳
  • The "Default display mode:" can no longer be set to Photos, Videos or Music. The only options are now List, Grid or Large grid. The media views are now reserved for the media library sections.
  • The Zoho theme has been removed.
  • Deprecated $config['app']['ui']['enable_favicon_ico']. Favicons are enabled now by default and can be disabled from the FileRun control panel.
  • Improved debug output for "Thumbnail generation" file control panel action.
  • Updated SimpleSAMLphp plugin description to confirm compatibility with version 1.19.
  • Removed the option of linking the UI logo to a URL.
  • Fixed files showing under Starred when their parent folders were moved to trash.

• Hidden files and folders

  • Hidden files and folders will still be visible and accessible via the API, WebDAV and apps.
  • Hidden files and folders can be created and uploaded by users, even if they don't show in the list.
  • Downloading a folder containing hidden files and folders, will not include these files.
  • $config['app']['hidden_folder_names'] has been deprecated.
  • $config['app']['hidden_file_names'] applies to both file and folder names and it only hides items in the web interface.
  • Dot files and folders (.*) can be now made visible, using the new option available under the control panel "Interface" section. They are hidden by default.
  • If you want to completely exlude certain file and folder names, you can use $config['app']['excluded_filenames']. Excluded files and folders will not be visible, accessible or manageable by any means.