RELEASE INFO

Thank you very much for installing Ultimate File Manager 15.4. This project was born out of the need to create a tool that makes working on a computer easier - a tool that allows you to perform any task in a simple and thoughtful way. A tool that is consistent, modern, looks how I want, and does what I want. I hope it suits you as well. It is thanks to you that I have continued to develop this project despite many obstacles. I have learned a lot and spent thousands of hours making it better.

Thank you for your trust and choosing my software. I sincerely hope that Ultimate File Manager serves you well in all tasks (from the simplest to the most complex). I hope, dear user, that you could have completed each task faster and better by focusing on doing your job, not the tool.

ULTIMATE FILE MANAGER IS AVAILABLE COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE. THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE. IT IS CREATED WITH PASSION AND COMMITMENT - FOR YOU. I HOPE IT SERVES YOU WELL. CREATING IS A GREAT AND BRINGS MUCH SATISFACTION, BUT IT REQUIRES A SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT OF TIME AND MONEY.

THAT IS WHY - IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT - PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION - WITHOUT YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT, FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IS NOT POSSIBLE. YOUR SUPPORT IS ESSENTIAL AND CAN TRULY MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

I am presenting you today with the latest and most polished release of Ultimate File Manager 15.4. I spent a great deal of time fixing bugs and refining existing functionalities. Our journey together continues...

2026 is a special year - it's the 10th anniversary of the original release of Ultimate File Manager! I hope that over this decade, UFM has become a mature and trustworthy product that helps you get things done faster every day. The UFM project was launched in mid-2016, and its first public version was released in May 2017 (after nearly a year of development).

Last year, the most popular File Manager within the UFM suite was Total Commander, with a 70.4% share (64-bit architecture). The most frequently installed version was the portable edition (54.1%) and UFM MEGAPack (59.1%) with a dark interface (51.6%). The most popular installation languages ​​were English (27.3%) and Polish (24.2%). Interestingly, the most popular operating system was Windows 11 (67.8%) with a screen resolution of 1920 × 1080 (39.1%).

For more information, see Ultimate File Manager usage statistics. Ultimate File Manager project statistics are based on anonymous data reported by the UFM installer during installation on user's disk. These are basic data about the installation, on the basis of which the direction of further development of the project is determined.

Current Ultimate File Manager 15.4 version is main release. I've spent a significant amount of time fixing known bugs and implementing new features. I've focused on improving UFM's accessibility, including support for the Jump List functionality of the UFM icon pinned to the Windows Taskbar.

This release brings the long-awaited update to Total Commander File Manager. File Manager is the heart and most important application of UFM, which connects all the others and allows you to manage your files in a convenient and quick way. Total Commander 11.57 introduces many changes and functionalities and fixes found bugs. More information can be found on the official website of the manufacturer in the release bulletin.

UFM project has been expanded with two new external applications (available only in UFM MEGAPack). These are:

I’ve added support for Jump Lists for the UFM icon pinned to the Windows Taskbar. What are Jump Lists? They are menus that appear when you right-click an application icon in the taskbar, displaying frequently used or recently opened files and folders.

This functionality is supported by UFM Launcher and UFM Settings apps. If the UFM icon is not pinned to the taskbar (the user must do this manually; this process cannot be automated), UFM launcher will suggest pinning it and show you how. In UFM Settings app, you can configure all the options for the pinned icon on the Taskbar (UFM Launcher tab) and disable this information (if you don't want to pin it).

UFM icon allows you to perform the following actions (number of actions is limited):

Taskbar Jump Lists functionality nicely complements UFM icon in Notification Area and UFM icon in Quick Access/This PC View of File Explorer.

This release of Ultimate File Manager also prepares for future releases that will bring back the 32-bit UFM installer (with support for older systems, Windows 7/8). Therefore, I've slightly changed the appearance of the installer and the UFM Shell Integration / UFM Updater application - the goal is to unify the style for each installation type (64-bit UFM, UFM MEGAPack, and 32-bit UFM).

I spent a lot of time improving and fixing bugs in the project's internal applications. These include UFM Power Manager (I fixed several issues), UFM App Manager (I added the ability to display internal project applications in the list), and UFM System Information (I fixed a potential application loading issue and added better support for the logged-in user feature).

Development of UFM Clipboard Manager application is a separate topic. I'm working really hard on new features and changes that I hope will make this program even better. I've improved Windows clipboard monitor and added support for manually taking screenshots (full screen, selected window, selected rectangle, or selected shape). I've improved the automatic screenshot creation (at specified intervals). There will also be support for global keyboard shortcuts, operation from a pinned icon on the taskbar, etc. I might add basic desktop recording support. However, all of this will take time and work.

I've slightly changed file manager menu and also visually improved UFM installer. As you know, the installer no longer displays the dedicated page requesting financial support – it was disabled because it wasn't serving its purpose (I am very disappointed). It's up to You, dear users, whether UFM continues to develop, whether it gets its own dedicated domain, etc. The project website (release notes) no longer opens automatically at the end of installation (you can uncheck the appropriate option). These changes improve the user experience by leaving the user the choice of what to do.

External applications and Total Commander plugins have been updated to the latest versions.

NOTE: Current version of Ultimate File Manager requires the uninstallation of older version. It is not possible to update an existing UFM installation directly. This is necessary for compatibility reasons. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Installer Update Mode notes. Update mode is designed to update the files of the existing version of UFM (already installed on the user's disk) with files from the newer version (currently being installed). Only new project files are copied - NO CONFIGURATION FILES OR SETTINGS ARE CHANGED. As a reminder, UFM is designed so that user files are not changed (overwritten) in Update mode.

However, there remains the problem of menus and button bars, which are dynamically generated. UFM allows the user to decide whether to recreate these files or leave them as is. By default, they are modified (even in Update mode!). However, if you don't want this, simply uncheck the appropriate option. With this approach, the user decides whether to keep the menus and buttons as they are (perhaps customized and improved), or to update them with the fixes and improvements of the latest UFM version.

UFM let you to add a UFM icon to the Windows Notification Area (Standard installation only, in Portable installation you must do it manually). Because UFM Launcher runs continuously in the background (starts with Windows), you have quick access to project settings and many UFM tasks and features. Most importantly, you can launch your favorite file manager or supported applications. Note that Windows hides icons in the notification area by default. However, this can be easily changed in Windows Settings (Settings->Personalization->Taskbar->Other taskbar icons).

Ultimate File Manager supports multiple languages ​​(supported by Total Commander and Multi Commander file managers). Only a few of them are fully translated (so-called official). To change this and thus popularize UFM I decided to create a special UFM TRANSLATOR'S GUIDE, which discusses in detail all aspects of UFM translation. It is worth reading it before attempting this job. I would like to thank all translators for their contribution to the development of the project.

I created UFM INSTALLATION GUIDE. This document discusses the installation process of Ultimate File Manager in detail. You will learn everything you need to know here - every aspect of the installation is discussed step by step (among others, you will learn what you are installing, where the files are copied and what choices you have). It is worth reading!

I am still working on UFM System Manager application. This application is still in the early stages of development and requires a lot of work - it will allow you to run tools and services of the Windows operating system and selected toolkits from external suppliers (e.g. Microsoft Sysinternals Suite). For now, these functions are supported without a GUI.

In the near future, work is also planned on the internal application UFM App Manager and its publicly available equivalent - Total Editor. Based on the submitted suggestions and found bugs, I intend to refresh and improve them a bit. They allow you to open or edit files with a specific extension (file type) in a selected application, previously defined by the user. As we know, Total Commander file manager supports File View and File Edit actions. My implementation of this functionality allows you to customize file view/edit actions of different types in different applications. This allows you to create associations of files with a given extension with a specific application, independent of the operating system.

CHANGELOG