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 @atilford for sponsoring us! ❤️