Release notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed missing Everything sort options in the plugin settings

• Fixed an issue where constantly changing language via settings could cause high memory

• Fixed an issue where the Appearance tab in settings would keep a wallpaper file locked and never release it

• Fixed issues with the Calculator plugin's handling of decimal separators and functions with multiple arguments

• Fixed text wrapping for the JsonRPC plugin's settings panels

• Optimised Program plugin's indexing lock logic

• Changed the log message for plugins manifest fetch failure to be more user-friendly

• Added handling of empty or corrupted favicons for Browser Bookmarks plugin

• Added missing translatable default strings for Default Browser and File Explorer in settings

• Fixed an issue where clearing the cache twice via settings will cause an error in the logs

• Translations updated

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@dcog989, @Jack251970

Release notes

Highlights

Dialog Jump

• Use Alt+G to quickly jump the Open/Save As dialog window path to the path of the active file manager.
• Search for a file/folder and quickly jump to its path in the Open/Save As dialog window. This is enabled via settings 'General' section.

Automatic Plugin Update Check

• A new option to enable automatic checking for plugin updates.
• A new update dialog will allow for selective plugin updating.

Release Notes Window

• A release notes window will be available when a new update arrives, allowing you to check the release notes directly from the app. You can also access this window from the "About" section in settings.

Double Pinyin Search

• When the "Search with Pinyin" option is enabled via settings, a new option for Double Pinyin search will also be available.

Previous Windows Versions

From this release onward, Flow will only be compatible with Windows 10, 11, and future versions. This is because the newer libraries and frameworks we plan to adopt are no longer compatible with older versions of Windows. Only v1.20.x will remain compatible with Windows 7 and above.

New & Updated Plugins

New and updated plugins will no longer be available for versions of flow prior to v2.0.0. This is because the default plugins have been upgraded to .NET 9, making them incompatible with older versions.

Features

• Added the ability to rename the Explorer plugin's Quick Access Links.

• Improved image icon loading performance.

• Web Search plugin can now set private mode for its queries.

• Added a new language: Srpski (Cyrillic).

• The Calculator plugin now works with either a comma or a dot as its thousands separator.

• Added a delete confirmation when deleting Quick Access Links and paths excluded from Windows Index search.

• The Sys plugin now displays all usable commands when its action keyword is triggered without a search query.

• Added an API function for plugins to determine whether the flow is currently using a dark theme.

• Added an API function for plugins to be invoked when the theme is changed.

• Added the ability for plugins to set their own query suggestion text via Result.QuerySuggestionText.

• The Program plugin now displays all programs when its action keyword is triggered without a search query.

• The Calculator plugin now supports using hexadecimal numbers.

• Added a new date and time format options: "dd MMMM yyyy" & "yyyy-MM-dd".

• Improved the UI for adding Quick Access Links.

• Improved the UI for adding action keywords.

• Added a new API function to show a message with custom buttons.

• Added a new option in the Explorer plugin to display a file or folder's size and age in the plugin result's tooltip.

• Added a new date format in the Explorer plugin's Preview Panel settings.

• Added folder information in the preview panel for folder results in the Explorer plugin.

• Added a new option to show the search window at topmost.

• Added ability for plugin to set a minimum required flow version. This is done via the plugin manifest by setting a "MinimumAppVersion" property.

• Updated to .NET 9.

Bug fixes

• Fixed some minor issues with the Explorer plugin's preview panel.

• Fixed an issue that caused a pop-up error message after opening a file's containing folder.

• Fixed a possible recursive image loading issue.

• Fixed a property binding issue in the Web Search plugin.

• Fixed an issue with mouse hovering on items in the "Plugins" section of settings.

• Corrected typos in the Calculator plugin's translation strings.

• Added a warning message to notify that the preview panel requires a minimum height to properly render content, maximum number of results set below this height may not take effect.

• Stopped a customized preview panel from being created when the preview is turned off.

• Fixed an issue that caused the flow to crash when the error report window's URL was invalid.

• Fixed missing translations and UI issues for some message boxes.

• Fixed an issue with the Browser Bookmark plugin that caused a random high CPU load.

• Fixed an incorrect Quick Access Link type display.

• Updated translations

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@01Dri, @dcog989, @Jack251970, @onesounds, @PatrikHed, @stefanroelofs, @taooceros, @TBM13, @VictoriousRaptor, @WayneFerdon, @Yusyuriv, @zoltanvi

Release notes

Bug fixes

• Fix an issue where UWP changes are not monitored

• Fix an issue where the result selection hotkeys on the Home Page results not updated when visibility/modifier key is changed

• Fix an issue where Home Page not updated when language changes

• Fix an issue causing flow to crash when pasting into the search window

• Updated translations

• Fix an issue where the Plugin project's NuGet package does not have documentation generated

• Fix an issue causing incorrect Plugin version comparison

• Fix some minor UI issues with settings window

• Fix Explorer plugin's preview margin

• Pre-releases now include the associated PR in the release note

• Fix Shell plugin's cmd command parsing error

• Plugins Manager plugin can now be removed without impacting Plugin Store

• Fix culture info issue for plugins that use WinForm

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@Deigue, @Jack251970, @onesounds, @OrigamiDev-Pete, @VictoriousRaptor and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

Release notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed the Browser Bookmark plugin taking a long time to load due to favicons. An option has been added to enable or disable favicons; after this release, favicons will be set to off by default. You can turn them on again via the plugin settings.

• Fixed an issue with the missing PendingLineStyle key in custom themes, which caused flow to error on startup.

• Fixed an unhandled external plugin exception that caused flow to crash after typing a search query.

• Fixed an issue with the Program plugin displaying a pop-up dialog when unable to resolve LNK shortcuts.

• Fixed button width not adjusting to text in plugin settings.

• Fixed minor issues found in the settings window UI.

• Added additional missing media types for display in the Preview window.

• Fixed an issue causing settings to fail to save.

• Fixed Explorer plugin settings panel display issue when scaling is greater than 125%.

• Added support for loading MSIX Firefox bookmarks.

• Fixed an index out of range error when loading Firefox bookmarks.

• Fixed an issue with running commands in pswh.exe.

• Added handling for when Everything installation fails and notifies the user.

• Fixed an issue causing the Web Search plugin to crash from certain URI paths.

• Added handling for plugin download exceptions from incorrect URLs.

• Fixed an issue with Web Search incorrectly opening URI file paths.

• Updated translations.

• Fixed issues related to search window maximization and Snap behaviors.

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@Jack251970, @onesounds, @stefanroelofs, @VictoriousRaptor and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

Release Notes

Highlights

Flow Reached 10K Stars! 🎉

Showcase Your Plugin On flowlauncher.com!

• Visit here to find out how. Help users learn more about your plugin, see images and videos of it in action, and read blog posts about it.

Top-ranking Issue

• For tracking requested features and bug fixes. If a feature or bug fix is something you would also like to request for, put a thumbs up emoji on the issue description.

Windows Key Support

• The use of the Windows hotkey to trigger Flow is now enabled.

Fluent Window

• The blur implementation has been completely changed. It now uses the DWM effect provided by the OS.
• Blur themes now support rounded corners by default.
• If you're using a custom theme (not one of the default themes), the theme creator may need to add certain values manually.
• Unfortunately due to the implementation of Fluent, the window movement animation had to be removed .

Multiple Action Keywords

• Setting multiple action keywords per plugin is now supported.
• You can set multiple action keywords for the Bookmark plugin, such as b, bookmark, and fav.

Home Page

• Added new 'home page' feature for displaying plugin results and quick access.
• This feature displays plugin keyword tips by default when first enabled. You can disable it in the General>Homepage section.

Placeholder Text

• The application now supports configurable placeholder text in the search window.
• You can change it to a phrase you like. It is enabled by default.

Search Delay

• A new configurable search delay has been added.
• If the results appear too quickly after typing, it's recommended to enable this option. A slight delay (around 50ms) is generally effective in most cases.
• This value can be customized by the user for each plugin, and plugin developers can set a default value.
  It is recommended for plugins that require a delay, such as those performing network requests.

Favicon Support in Bookmark Plugin

• The application now supports SVG file icon loading and local favicons for Bookmark plugin results.

Custom Command in Sys Plugin

• You can now use a new command keyword to search for system commands in System Commands plugin.
• You can execute the shutdown command by typing "abracadabra" instead of "shutdown".

Previous Windows versions

With the next feature release v2.0.0, Flow will only be compatible with Windows 10, 11 and onwards. This is because the newer libraries and frameworks we plan to adopt are no longer compatible with older versions of Windows. As a result, v1.20.x will remain compatible with Windows 7 and above, but once v2.0.0 is released, Flow may no longer work with versions prior to Windows 10.

Features

• The Flow Launcher theme selector has been added to the System plugin.

• The preview panel now displays the age of files.

• All built-in plugins now follow the same version as Flow.

• The delete button logic for the Program plugin has been improved.

• You can now copy file names directly from Explorer plugin results.

• The application now supports having multiple records that stay on top of other windows.

• You can now filter plugins by type, including .NET, Python, Node.js, and executable plugins.

• The process killer has improved performance, and there is now an option to display window titles when managing processes.

• Results now feature badges for quick visual identification. Plugins must be updated to enable this feature.

• Minor UI tweaks on settings window controls have been implemented

• Added an option to clean the cache folder.

• Glyph icons have been added for System Plugin.

• The acrylic effect is now enabled on first launch.

• New API functions for Loading Bar Start and Stop are available.

• Shutdown, Restart, and Hibernate functions in the System Plugin have been improved.

• Windows Terminal has been added to Shell Plugins.

• Deleting plugin settings when uninstalling plugins is now supported.

• Logon Task support has been added for a faster application startup experience.

• Progress bar display for plugin downloading has been added.

• Process Killer will place on top the processes with visible windows.

• More date formats are now available in settings.

• Hebrew has been added to the available languages.

• New option to preserve the last action keyword have been added.

• ., ./lib, and ./plugin directory paths have been added to path for Python plugins.

• Data URI images are now supported as icons.

• Message box UI design has been improved, and also available via API call.

• A new API function BackToQueryResults has been added for changing the query list back to the query results list.

• Debug logging can now be enabled via settings.

• A new search order has been added to Explorer plugin.

• A new button has been added to the developer tools to access the cache folder easily.

• You can change the settings window font under About > Advanced. While it's generally not recommended, this option is available if needed- for example, in certain Chinese language environments.

Bug Fixes

• New translations have been added.

• The file deletion confirmation message has been updated.

• File explorer invocation has been fixed to ensure correct file selection behavior.

• A fix for opening folders has been added.

• A setting window navigation issue has been fixed.

• Auto-restart after plugin install is now disabled by default.

• A results context menu display issue has been fixed.

• Vertical window positioning with multiple monitors has been fixed.

• Error messages for plugin initialization are no longer shown if a plugin is already disabled.

• A sound effect issue after sleep or hibernation has been fixed.

• Result list changing animation has been improved.

• "Search Window Position" has been renamed to "Search Window Location".

• A JsonRpc plugin connection loss exception has been fixed.

• Guidance for Korean IME users has been added.

• Improved saving on application exit.

• The settings page has been reorganized.

• The issue with cursor not moving to the end of query on initial launch has been fixed.

• Preview Panel for history results is now supported.

• Graceful shutdown has been implemented.

• System.IndexOutOfRangeException in the Explorer settings panel has been fixed.

• A copy to clipboard issue has been fixed.

• A Welcome page backspace issue has been fixed.

• A Hotkey Control settings window null exception has been fixed.

• Preview background has been added to Welcome page.

• Plugin metadata and path management have been improved.

• Settings Panel Design has been unified.

• Report Window Design has been improved.

• Custom Query Hotkey / Shortcuts Preview issue has been fixed.

• An exception when getting thumbnails has been fixed.

• The search window is now hidden from the Alt+Tab program switcher.

• ChangeQuery and ReQuery issues have been fixed.

• Explorer path parsing has been improved when the path ends with a backslash.

• A Plugin Store page refresh issue has been fixed.

• A search window resize border thickness issue has been fixed.

• A Unix directory separator issue has been fixed.

• A setting window freeze issue has been fixed.

• Fixed error handling for JsonRPC v2

• Using Windows index search with special characters has been improved.

• A possible result update issue for plugins with the IResultUpdate interface has been fixed.

• Result Equal used for WPF caching has been removed.

• A possible null reference when a query is cancelled has been fixed.

• A new image icon has been added for images whose formats are not supported.

• A System.OperationCanceledException issue has been fixed.

• A possible content frame navigation issue in the welcome window and setting window has been fixed.

• Style for Highcontrast mode has been fixed.

• The Progressbar Dispatcher Exception has been fixed.

• Fixed an issue where a jagged font was set by default. The system now selects a clean and appropriate font automatically.

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@01Dri, @AleksandrSl, @Azakidev, @cibere, @Jack251970, @NoPlagiarism, @Odotocodot, @onesounds, @PaulPSta, @pc223, @Sparrkle, @taooceros, @VictoriousRaptor, @yeelali14, @Yusyuriv, @ZGGSONG and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

A big thank you to @...

Release Notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Flow's settings window to freeze/blank out after returning from locking/sleeping the computer

• Updated translations

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@Jack251970 and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

Release Notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue causing input selection dialog not working for JSON-RPC plugins

• Fixed an URL format issue associated with plugin website links

• Updated translations

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@taooceros, @Yusyuriv and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

Release Notes

Bug fixes

• Addressed CVE-2024-43483 security vulnerability from a third-party library used by the Program plugin

• Fixed an issue related to the absence of Windows Media Player causing Flow to crash on startup

• Updated translations

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@cspotcode, @gyaaniguy, @VictoriousRaptor and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

Release Notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue causing wrong positioning of the search bar on multi-monitor setups with different DPIs

• Updated translations

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@abdgad, @taooceros and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.

Release Notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed Explorer plugin to show an "Enabled" column in Customize Action Keyword settings tab for better clarity over the status of action keywords.

• Fixed Node.js path select error in settings window.

• Translations have been added

Contributions

We would like to directly mention and thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their contribution and support in this release.

@onesounds, @taooceros and everyone who has joined discussions, added translations, created plugins, reviewed pull requests, put through their ideas or reported bugs.