FileGrid

A borderless Windows desktop panel for one folder at a time. Files sit on a visual grid where you can drag them into whatever arrangement you like, the panel collapses into a single folder puck when you want your desktop back, and expands again to show everything in the folder.

What it does

• Place files on a grid. Every file and subfolder gets a tile. Drag a tile to any cell; dropping it on an occupied cell swaps the two. Positions are remembered per folder, so a file returns to its spot the next time you open it.
• Minimize to a single folder. The collapse button (or Esc, or a double-click on the title bar) shrinks the whole window into a small folder puck with a live file count badge and a caption you can rename. Drag the puck anywhere on screen; it stays on top.
• Run as many panels as you like. Each panel claims its own slot and remembers its own folder, label, window size, puck position and pin state. Saves merge under a lock, so panels never overwrite each other. Grid layouts are shared per folder, so a folder looks the same in whichever panel opens it.
• Expand to the whole directory. Double-click the puck and the panel grows back, rescans the folder, and lays out every item — including files added while it was collapsed.

Tiles use real Windows shell icons, and images get actual thumbnails.

Install and run

Requires Windows and Python 3.10+ with tkinter (included in the python.org installer).

pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

Both dependencies are optional: without Pillow, tiles fall back to colored vector icons; without tkinterdnd2, you simply can't drag files in from Explorer.

Open a specific folder on launch:

python main.py "C:\Users\you\Downloads"

Double-click FileGrid.bat to start it without a console window.

Controls

Action	How
Move a tile	Drag it to another cell (swaps if occupied)
Open a file	Double-click, or Enter
Enter a subfolder	Double-click its tile
Collapse to folder puck	Collapse button, Esc, or double-click the title bar
Expand	Double-click the puck
Move the window/puck	Drag the title bar or the puck
Resize	Drag the grip in the bottom-right corner
Search	Ctrl+F, Esc clears
Rescan folder	F5
Open another folder	Ctrl+O
Show hidden files	Ctrl+H
Auto-arrange tiles	Sort button, or right-click empty space
Delete to Recycle Bin	Delete, or right-click a tile
Rename the puck label	Right-click the puck, or right-click empty grid space
Pin above other windows	Pin button
Open another panel	Launch main.py again
Add files from Explorer	Drag them onto the grid or the puck (moves them into the folder)

The folder is polled every two seconds, so tiles appear and disappear as the directory changes.

Layout

main.py              entry point
filegrid/app.py      window chrome, collapse/expand animation, puck
filegrid/gridview.py the tile grid: placement, dragging, context menu
filegrid/icons.py    Windows shell icon extraction and thumbnails
filegrid/store.py    per-panel state in %APPDATA%\FileGrid\state.json, slot locking
filegrid/winutil.py  DPI, rounded window corners, Recycle Bin, Explorer
filegrid/theme.py    colors, fonts, DPI scaling
smoke_test.py        builds the real window and exercises the main paths

Delete %APPDATA%\FileGrid\state.json to reset every saved layout. Set FILEGRID_STATE_DIR to keep state somewhere else — smoke_test.py uses it so tests never touch your real panels.