Dark mode

[user74581]

I was able to get freefilesync with a dark version with wsl/ubuntu on windows.
It's not like freefilesync was natively in dark, but you could have freefilesync in a windows window and with a dark theme.

freefilesync inside a windows window. Launched from wsl under windows ✅

wsl should be disponible for free for win10 and win11, even with windows home versions (no need a win pro version) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/

Installation steps wsl/freefilesync
1. install wsl with powershell as admin :

wsl --install


2. restart pc
3. install freefilesync from a wsl terminal :
- launch a standard terminal from windows, like cmd
- type wsl in this cmd terminal. This should open a new wsl terminal.
-then try install freefilesync in your wsl :

sudo apt install wget tar


then

wget https://freefilesync.org/download/FreeFileSync_13.0_Linux.tar.gz -O freefilesync.tar.gz


tar -xzf freefilesync.tar.gz


cd FreeFileSync


./FreeFileSync


sudo ln -s "$(pwd)/FreeFileSync" /usr/local/bin/freefilesync


4. ensure you have a dark theme for wsl
maybe

sudo apt install gnome-themes-standard


export GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark


from a wsl terminal this could be enough for have a dark theme

5. then you should be able to launch freefilesync by typing freefilesync, from wsl terminal and have freefilesync with a dark version, on windows
It's maybe not perfect cause it's not like you have freefilesync natively dark, but at least you have freefilesync dark, from win10 or win11

[user74581]

I realized that

tar -xzf freefilesync.tar.gz
cd FreeFileSync
./FreeFileSync
sudo ln -s "$(pwd)/FreeFileSync" /usr/local/bin/freefilesync


is not ok
instead this, use

sudo apt install freefilesync


With freefilesync downloaded with wget, then tar -xvf freefilesync.tar
, then chmod +x FreeFileSync_13.8_Install.run, then ./FreeFileSync_13.8_Install.run i had freefilesync version 13.8 but not a dark version. But with freefilesync installed with "sudo apt install freefilesync", i had version 13.3 with dark mode
(I couldn't edit my previous post, so I created this one.)

[Sander Bouwhuis]

This is one of the last applications with an old-fashioned 'stare at the sun on my 4k monitor' interface. How is there no dark mode?!?

[moongate]

For me the lack of this feature personally has
- the stare at the sun problem
- the inability to make use of energy saving and hardware conservation on oled

When I was running into this I consulted this forum to understand if it was just me.
Turned out the number of threads and posts make up the top contributions in this forum even outnumbering many bug threads.

So I started advertising for this feature request and had good conversations with the voluntary moderators about it.
Being a donor already I made a couple of extra contributions specifically stating they are for dark mode.

All of this not even triggered a reaction by the product owner.
A statement not leaving us in the dark along the lines of
- its technically complicated
- I don't have time at the moment but maybe later
- etc

would have been nice but did not appear.

Instead update after update followed concentrating on many things but not the most asked feature from the userbase.

For myself I made the decision to move on and find an alternative solution.

[xCSxXenon]

All of this not even triggered a reaction by the product owner.
A statement not leaving us in the dark along the lines of
- its technically complicated
- I don't have time at the moment but maybe later
- etc

would have been nice but did not appear.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I also really want dark mode. But literally in the earlier pages of this thread you replied to, the developer has shared exactly what you claim to be missing...

[moongate]

All of this not even triggered a reaction by the product owner.
A statement not leaving us in the dark along the lines of
- its technically complicated
- I don't have time at the moment but maybe later
- etc

would have been nice but did not appear.

Instead update after update followed concentrating on many things but not the most asked feature from the userbase.

I have to correct myself on my comment, specifically on the above portion.

@xCSxXenon: I knew we could count on you and I would've been disappointed otherwise. As always, thank you for your suppport.

You refreshing my memory made me realize that the site admin did indeed comment on the technical limitations of being able to implement dark mode into a WIN32 application (simplky following the OS theme seems to be a 64Bit only feature on purpose) and the additional challenges of making this a seemless experience across the other platforms FFS supports.

I get it know that as long as FSS will be 32bit it cannot simply follow the OS theme.
So the request is wrong.

When will FSS move to 64bit? :-P

[SonicRings]

Couldn't FFS also just include its own dark theme, or even let us customize the element colours ourselves? The Soulseek-qt client is 32-bit and allows you to customize any colours you want, resulting in us being able to set our own dark mode ourselves. Just because FFS cannot use the Windows theme doesn't mean it can't have a dark mode.

[Zenju]

dark.png (486.12 KiB) Viewed 27628 times

[SonicRings]

dark.png

Beautiful! How did you do it?

[Zenju]

It's a combination of the latest wxWidgets development snapshot, additional hacking of this code, and custom colors. Not exactly a simple solution, but it seems doable.

[Zenju]

Windows:


macOS:


Ubuntu:


"Dark Mode" will be the major feature of FreeFileSync 14.0.

[SonicRings]

Oh my god, it's finally happening! Thank you!!!!!!!!

[Hersir]

Looks smashing 🤓👍

[SonicRings]

An AMOLED/black version would be very welcome if it isn't too much trouble to include as an additional theme! I find black themes to look considerably nicer, even though I don't have an AMOLED display.

[xCSxXenon]

By the grace of God, my eyeballs feel the relief immediately just looking at the screenshots.
Yay
Next is dark mode for the forum XD

[SonicRings]

By the grace of God, my eyeballs feel the relief immediately just looking at the screenshots.
Yay
Next is dark mode for the forum XD

The forum doesn't need dark mode, just use a browser addon like Dark Reader to make any site you visit dark mode. I'm accessing this forum in dark mode as we speak!

[cdubzserver]

Zenju, I am so excited to see a dark mode version happen finally! Is there an expected release date for v14?

[FileSynchroncity]

"Dark Mode" will be the major feature of FreeFileSync 14.0.

1st Time Poster, Proud Donator

Wow, Huge, HUGE News!

Thank You!!! for this and all your time and efforts.

Any chance that user changeable font size(and color) on Windows be part of the changes. I only ask as my eyesight is kind of bad and changing on per app/program basis works much better for me than via OS.

Apologies if any of what I've mentioned is totally out scope or possibility - figured it would be OK to ask.

[ffsbobluck]

Just updated Donation addition to 14 Dark mode is nice, looks like a couple of spots were missed. When first launched the Top Title "Compare" still looks like the non dark mode version. Stands out like a sore thumb. Thanks

[SonicRings]

Omg, it's out!!! It looks GLORIOUS! Thank you for adding dark mode!

[Zenju]

Just updated Donation addition to 14 Dark mode is nice, looks like a couple of spots were missed. When first launched the Top Title "Compare" still looks like the non dark mode version. Stands out like a sore thumb. Thanks

Wasn't sure whether changing this highlight was needed, but now that I've tested, it definitively looks better:

button-highlight.png (22.11 KiB) Viewed 27342 times

[Zenju]

Omg, it's out!!! It looks GLORIOUS! Thank you for adding dark mode!

You're very welcome! :D Let me know if there are any oversights.

[woody]

Is FFS dark mode available in Windows 7 as well or only in Windows 10?

[Luis2025]

By the grace of God, my eyeballs feel the relief immediately just looking at the screenshots.
Yay
Next is dark mode for the forum XD

The forum doesn't need dark mode, just use a browser addon like Dark Reader to make any site you visit dark mode. I'm accessing this forum in dark mode as we speak!

Great advice! Now my eyes can really relax.

[Luis2025]

Great job the dark mode in FreeFileSync!
Anyway, I noted that the Compare button has initially a white background, unlike the other features.
A similar thing happens to the Synchronize button (light green background), after a comparison.

[Tactilis]

I noted that the Compare button has initially a white background, unlike the other features.

See the comments just a few posts above yours.

[KevCarrico]

dark mode looks great — thank you!!!

[paulstenning]

We don't have the option to select dark mode in Linux Mint currently. The icon is in Options but there is no selector next to it. I assume it is not currently possible to add it?

It works and looks great in Windows. Thank you.

[Zenju]

We don't have the option to select dark mode in Linux Mint currently. The icon is in Options but there is no selector next to it. I assume it is not currently possible to add it?

It works and looks great in Windows. Thank you.

On Linux there is no explicit option to select dark mode ("at this time"). The icon is shown in options accidentally. To get dark mode you need to select a dark theme for your OS and FFS will follow suit, e.g. "Adwaita dark" on Ubuntu.

[revan335]

On Linux there is no explicit option to select dark mode ("at this time"). The icon is shown in options accidentally. To get dark mode you need to select a dark theme for your OS and FFS will follow suit, e.g. "Adwaita dark" on Ubuntu.

Not Working under KDE/Kubuntu and Breeze Dark.

[therube]

Is FFS dark mode available in Windows 7 as well or only in Windows 10?

Win 10 20H1 & up.

[PotatoConfluence]

Just updated Donation addition to 14 Dark mode is nice, looks like a couple of spots were missed. When first launched the Top Title "Compare" still looks like the non dark mode version. Stands out like a sore thumb. Thanks

Wasn't sure whether changing this highlight was needed, but now that I've tested, it definitively looks better:
button-highlight.png

Yes, please! I'm happy with the introduction of dark mode, but the rest of the UI elements need to match it. Darker buttons are great as proposed, but also folder pairs that have background colours set! Currently it just clashes with the rest.

[Zenju]

Yes, please! I'm happy with the introduction of dark mode, but the rest of the UI elements need to match it. Darker buttons are great as proposed, but also folder pairs that have background colours set! Currently it just clashes with the rest.

You mean the config panel background. The color is customized, so you need to change it yourself.

[xCSxXenon]

You mean the config panel background. The color is customized, so you need to change it yourself.

I can confirm this. The pre-defined colors look fine in dark mode. Excited for the highlights to also update!

[PotatoConfluence]

Yes, please! I'm happy with the introduction of dark mode, but the rest of the UI elements need to match it. Darker buttons are great as proposed, but also folder pairs that have background colours set! Currently it just clashes with the rest.

You mean the config panel background. The color is customized, so you need to change it yourself.

I mean the pre-set background colour options.


There doesn't seem to be a mode-adapting highlight colour, instead it turns default options into custom ones as I change the mode. It would be nice if I could pick a "red", and it remains light red in light mode, and becomes dark red in dark mode along with the rest of the UI.

[Zenju]

I don't know. Arguably the dark-mode default colors look better even for light mode. It's probably best to keep whatever the user chose for the colors. Changing them manually takes about 10 seconds.

[PotatoConfluence]

My concern was more along that now that I have the app set to follow the OS's light/dark mode, I would have to change them twice a day, but I guess I'll just set them manually to a middle tone.

[SonicRings]

My concern was more along that now that I have the app set to follow the OS's light/dark mode, I would have to change them twice a day, but I guess I'll just set them manually to a middle tone.

This is actually a very valid use case. If the dark mode is set at night and light mode during the day, the colours would have to keep getting changed manually 1 by 1, or a compromise would have to be made. I think at the very least having a separate config that's loaded for dark mode would allow for the user's individually set colours to be separate from light mode.

[Zenju]

I would have to change them twice a day, but I guess I'll just set them manually to a middle tone.

This is actually a very valid use case.

Really? AFAIK automatic light/dark mode switching is not available on Windows (by default).

[SonicRings]

I would have to change them twice a day, but I guess I'll just set them manually to a middle tone.

This is actually a very valid use case.

Really? AFAIK automatic light/dark mode switching is not available on Windows (by default).

Oh, interesting. I never needed this feature myself, but I assumed it was a feature in Windows. Looks like the best we can do is make a couple tasks in the task scheduler to switch themes. I also found a program on GitHub called AutoDarkMode that does this. I thought it would be like Android where Windows has a built-in mode that switches based on the time of day.

[PotatoConfluence]

Indeed I use Auto Dark Mode :) Btw I couldn't find a highlight tint that would work nicely with both light and dark modes, so for now I just set FFS to never switch to dark 🤷‍♂️ (I use it more often during the day.)

[SonicRings]

I think an elegant solution would be to create an offset for dark mode (perhaps even let that be user adjustable) that darkens whatever colours are set in light mode by a certain amount.

A simple yet just as effective solution would be to make a separate config that's loaded for dark mode like I mentioned earlier. This would require more work on the user's part, but it would allow them to choose completely different colours on top of simply darkening them.

Heck, I feel the separate config would be useful to have even if the first suggestion is implemented!

[zdenek]

Any tips on getting dark mode working in Ubuntu plucky, on the Donation (standalone, non-packaged) version? I'm using the Yaru-dark theme but FFS starts in all-white theme. Main window and file pickers.

Alternatively, where do I get a more recent version (14.0+) than what's in the default repo (13.7-1), which has functioning dark mode/theme matching?

[Zenju]

I'm really crossing my fingers for a native toggle for Windows soon. It would really make an already amazing tool feel modern!

Enable it via menu->tools: options.