Set up Filarr the first time

The first time you open Filarr, in the desktop app or in the web app, a setup wizard asks you a few questions: your language, where your data should live, your account if you want one, and your profile. It takes a few minutes.

A bar at the top of the window shows how far along you are. Back returns to the previous screen. When Next is grayed out, the reason is written right next to it, for example Tell us whether you already have an account.

Before you start

• A pen and paper. Filarr gives you a recovery phrase to write down. It shows it only once.
• For a cloud account, your mailbox. Filarr sends a link to confirm your email address during setup.

Welcome and language

The first screen, Welcome to Filarr!, sums up what Filarr does. Below, choose your Interface language: Français or English. The whole app switches at once. You can change it later in Settings → Language.

Click Next.

For you, or for your organization?

This screen only appears when Filarr offers an enterprise space. Choose Personal for your own use, local or with cloud sync. Enterprise / Team is for an organization's shared vaults and administration, and always needs a cloud account: see Create or join an organization.

This article follows the Personal choice.

Where should your data live?

This is the main choice of the wizard:

• Local only: no account, your data stays on this computer. It is free.
• With cloud sync: a Filarr account syncs your data across your devices and the web app. It is marked Recommended and costs nothing up to 5 GB.

Local profile or cloud account? compares the two in detail. You can start local and turn on sync later.

The next screens depend on your choice. The cloud path comes first below. If you chose Local only, go to The local path.

The cloud path

Say whether you already have an account

On Do you already have a Filarr account?, choose:

• No, create an account if you are new to Filarr. The steps follow below.
• Yes, sign me in if you already use Filarr on another device. See Sign in with an account you already have.

Then click Next.

Create your account

1. Enter your Email address.
2. Choose an Account password. It needs at least 10 characters, including 1 uppercase letter and 1 digit. A meter shows its strength and ticks each rule as you type.
3. Type it again in Confirm password.
4. Click Create my account.

Take a moment to choose this password well. It does two jobs: it signs you in, and it encrypts your files on your device. The form says it plainly: "This password also encrypts your files."

Write down your recovery phrase

Filarr now shows your account recovery phrase: 24 words in a grid. The words are blurred on purpose in the screenshot below. On your screen, you can read them.

1. Write the 24 words on paper, in order. Copy copies them, and Download PDF saves them as a PDF file (desktop app only).
2. Tick the box I have written down the account recovery phrase somewhere safe. I understand it will never be shown again.
3. Click Next.

Verify your email address

Filarr sends an email to the address you entered. Open it and click the link inside. The wizard shows Waiting for verification... and moves on by itself as soon as your address is confirmed.

• No email after a few minutes? Check your spam folder, then click Resend email.
• Made a typo? Click Change email address.

Set up your profile

A profile holds your files, notes and settings. This screen, Set up your profile, is the same for the cloud and the local path.

1. Enter Your name. It appears on your avatar and in the profile picker.
2. Pick an Avatar color.
3. If you want, turn on Protect this profile with a PIN and type a PIN of 4 to 6 digits twice. Filarr will ask for it each time this profile opens. The PIN encrypts nothing: your password is what protects your files. Allow PIN reset lets you replace a forgotten PIN with your password.
4. Under Which folders should we prepare?, choose a starting set of folders. Personal is selected for you.
5. Click Next.

Filarr creates the folders of the set you choose. You can rename, move or delete them later.

Set	Folders created
Personal	Documents (with Invoices inside), Photos & Media, Administrative, Health, Travel
Student	Courses (with Semester 1 inside), Projects, Research, Internship, Exams
Professional	Clients, Projects (with 2026 inside), Invoices & Quotes, Contracts, Archives
Creative	Inspirations, Projects, Portfolio, Assets (with Fonts inside), Drafts

You're all set

The last screen sums up your choices: your profile, where your data is stored, your starter folders and, if you set one, your PIN. Filarr follows your system's light or dark theme. You can pick another theme later in Settings → Appearance.

Click Get Started. Filarr shows a short checklist while it prepares your space. This can take a few seconds: the encryption key is deliberately slow to compute, which makes it harder to guess.

The local path

With Local only, there is no account, no email and no 24-word phrase. After Set up your profile, the wizard adds one screen, Security & encryption, where you choose the password that encrypts this profile.

1. Read the box Your password is the key to your files.
2. Choose an Encryption password. The rules are the same as for an account: at least 10 characters, including 1 uppercase letter and 1 digit. It is different from the PIN, which only locks the profile when it opens.
3. Type it again in Confirm password.
4. As soon as the password meets the rules, the Profile recovery phrase appears: 12 words. Write them on paper, in order. Copy phrase copies them.
5. Click I have saved this profile’s recovery phrase.
6. Click I understand and accept. This confirms that if you lose both your password and your recovery phrase, no one will be able to reopen your files.
7. Click Next. The last screen sums up your choices and shows On this device only (In this browser only in the web app).
8. Click Get Started.

Sign in with an account you already have

If you chose Yes, sign me in:

1. Enter your email address and password in Sign in to Filarr, then click Sign in. In the web app, you can also use Sign in with a passkey.
2. If you turned on two-factor authentication, enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app.

There is no recovery phrase and no email check this time. When your account already has synced profiles, the last screen says Your account was recognized. Your profiles will be restored. Your profiles, files and notes then come to this device. With an account that has nothing synced yet, you set up a profile as described above.

Forgot your password? Click Forgot password? on the sign-in form. You will need your 24 words: see Passwords and recovery.

The interface tour

Right after setup, Filarr opens a short tour of the interface. It highlights one area at a time: the sidebar, search, creating folders, notes, collections, automation, the trash, the theme, your profile and the settings.

Click Next to move on, Previous to go back, Skip to stop, and Finish at the last step. You can replay it any time from Settings → About → Interface tour → Relaunch.

On the very first run, the sidebar sometimes stays closed at the first step, Sidebar Navigation: the bubble then points at an empty area. Click Next to go on, and replay the tour later to see that step as below.

Next, Find your way around describes each part of the screen, and Your first ten minutes gets you started.

Related articles

• Local profile or cloud account?
• Find your way around
• Your first ten minutes
• Passwords and recovery
• Profiles and several accounts