A free, open-source Windows desktop organizer with native-feeling WinUI 3 widgets.
English | 简体中文
DeskBox organizes desktop files, maps existing folders, and keeps everyday tools close without replacing Explorer or changing how your files work. Its real-folder-backed widgets make it a modern open-source alternative to tools such as Stardock Fences, while todos, quick notes, search, weather, and music controls remain useful extras rather than the product's core promise.
DeskBox uses native-feeling Windows materials and keeps ordinary desktop files and folders in place.
| Mica | Acrylic |
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| Platform | Windows 10/11, x64 and ARM64 |
| Technology | C#, WinUI 3, .NET 10, Windows App SDK 2.2 |
| Storage model | Local-first; files, notes, tasks, settings, and layouts remain on the PC |
| Languages | English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Bengali, Russian |
| License | GPL-3.0-only |
The six newer language packs prioritize the main file-widget and onboarding flows. A small number of detailed settings still use English while their translations are completed.
DeskBox 1.4.2 is available from GitHub Releases:
- DeskBox 1.4.2 for x64 — most Intel and AMD PCs.
- DeskBox 1.4.2 for ARM64 — Snapdragon, Surface Pro X, and other Windows on ARM PCs.
The installers are framework-dependent, so they stay smaller and do not bundle a private runtime. Setup checks the matching architecture of .NET 10 Runtime and Windows App Runtime 2.2. An existing compatible runtime is reused; a missing dependency is downloaded and installed during setup.
Internet access is needed only when setup must download a missing runtime. Windows may request administrator permission for that dependency installation; DeskBox itself installs for the current user by default.
- Create managed file widgets backed by ordinary folders, or map an existing folder without moving it.
- Use icon or list layouts, title styles, detail and path controls, manual or rule-based sorting, auto stacks, adjustable icon sizes, and compact display density.
- Reorder items directly, move or copy them into a folder item, and create a folder with automatic scrolling and inline naming. Manual order is restored after restart.
- Drag files and shortcuts in or out, copy, cut, paste, rename, delete, reveal in Explorer, and use Shell-compatible shortcut behavior when dragging to the Windows desktop.
- Drop content from Explorer, WeChat, or a browser; remote image and file URLs can be downloaded and imported.
- Preview supported files through a running QuickLook instance by pressing Space.
- Merge file widgets into a group without changing their backing folders, then switch members from the title, mouse wheel, or cyclic Ctrl+Tab shortcut.
- Detach a member or dissolve a group safely; grouped and standalone file widgets share the same views, settings, menus, sorting, drag-and-drop, and QuickLook behavior.
- Preview desktop organization by category before moving anything, and choose whether each category creates a folder or reuses an existing widget.
- Optionally organize new desktop files after downloads, extraction, and same-path replacements reach a stable state.
- Work in responsive Todo and Quick Capture list/detail layouts that switch between single- and dual-pane modes, with an adjustable master pane on wide widgets.
- Track tasks with due dates, reminders, recurrence, color markers, Markdown notes, attachments, filters, and batch actions.
- Save reusable text, links, images, and files in Quick Capture with pinning, paper styles, Markdown editing and preview, removable attachments, and focused editing.
- Keep attachment files linked to their original location or copy them into DeskBox-managed storage.
- Search files, folders, applications, settings, and DeskBox content from one popup or search widget.
- Combine the Windows index with an optional local USN-based file index.
- Use configurable filters, sortable detail columns, result limits, history, favorites, and a global search hotkey.
- Select multiple rows with Ctrl or Shift, drag a selection rectangle with edge auto-scroll, and apply batch actions to the result set.
- Receive staged incremental results while individual search providers remain isolated from one another if a source fails.
- The popup shell is warmed during idle time so a widget click can show and focus it first, while recommendations, icons, and an idle-unloaded local index recover in the background.
- The resident local index can unload after search has been idle while lightweight file watchers continue tracking changes; disabling Search releases the complete search runtime.
- View current conditions plus hourly and multi-day forecasts with MSN Weather and automatic Open-Meteo fallback.
- Choose a theme-aware Standard weather skin or the richer condition-based skin, with responsive Day and Week views across widget sizes.
- Control the active Windows media session, playback mode, progress, and system volume from the music widget.
- Use responsive cover, controls, record, and compact layouts with optional album-color ambience.
- Collapse widgets into smart capsules with click-to-toggle or hover-to-expand behavior.
- Show key information, a short summary, or only an icon and title; hide sensitive Todo and Quick Capture text while collapsed.
- Arrange capsules independently or combine them into a movable, ordered bar.
- Raise or hide all widgets from the tray or a configurable global hotkey, with serialized repeated-toggle handling and recovery across display, DPI, sleep, and Explorer changes.
- Customize Mica/acrylic materials, opacity, borders, DWM corners, animation, title bars, icon size, and text size.
- Check for updates in the app, read long release notes in a dedicated view, retry failed downloads, or continue from the official website.
- Start a visible installer after DeskBox closes; upgrades reuse and lock the existing installation path instead of creating a second copy.
- Back up and restore settings, and export a privacy-filtered diagnostics package for troubleshooting.
- Recover settings from resilient snapshots, flush pending changes during shutdown, and report save failures instead of silently reverting to defaults.
- Todo completion stays attached to the correct task: custom sorting, filtering, and recycled list containers no longer redirect a checkmark to another row. Unchecking a task in Completed removes only that task.
- Quick Capture images and attachments are easier to recognize: clipboard images render as thumbnails in both panes and copy back as bitmap data. Todo and Quick Capture share a horizontally scrollable attachment tile strip with image thumbnails, file icons, and hover removal.
- Music controls look and size like native Windows transport buttons: play, pause, previous, and next use filled shapes at one responsive size, alongside a refined cover-mode control bar and song layout.
- Widget-group wheel switching remains responsive under rapid input: the two time-based input blockers are gone, while precision-delta accumulation, latest-target cancellation, and circular first/last navigation remain intact.
- Onboarding gets to the first useful action sooner: the shorter guided flow demonstrates creating a file widget, tray controls, and global show/hide before offering optional feature widgets. Feature switches apply immediately and stay synchronized with Settings.
- Interface and runtime polish continues: Records and Pinned keep consistent empty states, Pinned can create pinned content directly, the floating drag handle has solid light/dark colors, Markdown rendering is more robust, and search indexing and desktop-layer restoration use tighter memory and lifecycle safeguards.
Read the full changelog or the 1.4.2 release notes.
These screenshots are representative of the current DeskBox settings interface.
| General | Appearance |
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| Capsule mode | File widgets |
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| Feature widgets | Shortcuts & interaction |
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DeskBox does not require an account or cloud synchronization. Widget configuration, todos, quick notes, search history, layouts, and managed files are stored locally.
Some actions intentionally use the network:
- Weather requests use MSN Weather or Open-Meteo.
- Update checks contact the DeskBox update endpoint or GitHub Releases.
- Setup downloads .NET or Windows App Runtime only when the selected architecture is missing.
- A remote URL dragged from a browser is downloaded only when you import it.
Capsule privacy mode hides selected text in the collapsed presentation; it is a presentation control, not file encryption.
- Windows 10 version 21H2 (build 19044) or later; Windows 11 version 22H2 or later for the full visual treatment.
- x64 or ARM64 processor matching the installer.
- .NET 10 Runtime and Windows App Runtime 2.2; setup can install either dependency when missing.
On Windows 10, unsupported materials, rounded corners, and some animations automatically fall back to compatible visuals; file sync, drag-and-drop, and core widget behavior are validated against the compatibility floor.
DeskBox uses an Inno Setup installer and installs for the current user by default. Overwrite installation preserves app settings, widget configuration, and managed storage. Older administrator-level installations under Program Files are migrated to avoid elevated-process drag-and-drop restrictions.
Startup launch is tray-first and silent. If DeskBox is already running, a second startup instance exits instead of opening another settings window.
Uninstall offers explicit choices to keep application data or permanently remove it. Permanent removal clears %LocalAppData%\DeskBox, %LocalAppData%\DeskBox-Recovery, temporary files, and DeskBox-owned registration data; user files in the managed storage path are always preserved. Silent uninstall keeps application data unless an administrator explicitly supplies /PURGEUSERDATA.
No. Explorer remains the desktop shell, and files remain normal files and folders. DeskBox adds independently managed widgets above the existing desktop.
- App settings and widget data:
%LocalAppData%\DeskBox\data - New-user managed storage: a fixed non-system drive with enough free space when available, such as
D:\DeskBox\username; otherwise%UserProfile%\DeskBox
Both locations can be backed up from DeskBox settings.
Choose x64 for almost all Intel and AMD Windows PCs. Choose ARM64 for native Windows on ARM devices such as Snapdragon PCs. Check Settings → System → About → System type if unsure.
Release installers do not contain the .NET 10 or Windows App Runtime 2.2 payload. Setup first checks the PC and downloads only a missing architecture-specific dependency.
No. Disabling a feature closes its UI and releases runtime resources, while its saved configuration remains available for the next time you enable it.
Development requires the .NET 10 SDK and a Windows 11 environment. Visual Studio with the Windows App SDK workload is recommended.
Restore, test, and build the x64 Debug version:
dotnet restore .\DeskBox.sln -p:Platform=x64
dotnet test .\DeskBox.sln --configuration Debug --no-restore -p:Platform=x64 -v:minimal
dotnet build .\src\DeskBox\DeskBox.csproj --configuration Debug --no-restore -p:Platform=x64 -v:minimalCreate framework-dependent Release outputs:
dotnet publish .\src\DeskBox\DeskBox.csproj --configuration Release -p:Platform=x64 -p:RuntimeIdentifier=win-x64 -p:SelfContained=false -p:WindowsAppSDKSelfContained=false -o .\artifacts\publish\DeskBox\x64 -v:minimal
dotnet publish .\src\DeskBox\DeskBox.csproj --configuration Release -p:Platform=ARM64 -p:RuntimeIdentifier=win-arm64 -p:SelfContained=false -p:WindowsAppSDKSelfContained=false -o .\artifacts\publish\DeskBox\arm64 -v:minimalWith Inno Setup 6 or newer installed, compile both installers:
ISCC.exe .\installer\DeskBox.iss
ISCC.exe .\installer\DeskBox.arm64.issExpected outputs:
Output\DeskBox_Setup_1.4.2_x64.exe
Output\DeskBox_Setup_1.4.2_arm64.exe
src\DeskBox WinUI 3 application
src\DeskBox.Updater direct-release updater helper
tests\DeskBox.Tests service and policy tests
installer x64/ARM64 Inno Setup scripts
docs\user-guide product documentation
docs\images README and release imagery
docs\releases release copy and test checklists
DeskBox is currently developed and maintained by a solo developer. External pull requests are not being accepted at this stage so the project can keep a consistent architecture and clear copyright boundaries, but bug reports, feature requests, translations, and UI/UX feedback are welcome through GitHub Issues.
Special thanks to @magisph for the Brazilian Portuguese localization.
You can also visit deskbox.fun or use the contact information in the app's About page.
- Developer: Tianyu Zhu
- Repository: https://github.com/Tianyu199509/DeskBox
- License: GPL-3.0-only
Earlier DeskBox versions already published under the MIT License remain available under that license. The change is not retroactive; see LICENSE_CHANGE.md.