User guide

What ReachFS is

ReachFS puts your team's storage on a drive letter, usually R:, so Premiere, Resolve and Explorer open files there as if they were on a local disk. Files stream on demand: opening a 200 GB camera original reads only the parts you play, not the whole file.

• One drive, the whole team. Everyone in a workspace sees the same folders. A save on one computer appears on the others within seconds.
• Encrypted before it leaves your computer. Files and their names are encrypted on your device. ReachFS's servers store data they cannot read, and nobody at ReachFS can open your files.
• Safe with a team. A file open for editing on one computer is locked for everyone else, so two people never overwrite each other.
• Windows today. ReachFS runs on Windows. macOS and Linux are planned.

A workspace is one shared drive: its files, its members and its storage plan. You can belong to several, and each gets its own drive letter.

Getting started

Setup takes about three minutes and ends with your drive open in Explorer.

1. Install. Run ReachFS-Setup.exe. It installs WinFsp, the Windows component that makes the drive, and then ReachFS.
2. Sign in with your browser. One button opens the ReachFS website, where you sign in with email and a code, a passkey, Google or Microsoft. The browser hands you back to the app.
3. Create or join a workspace. Name a new one, or open the invite link from your email. The app picks the invite up by itself, even if you clicked it before signing in.
4. Get approved (joining only). Your first computer is approved at once. A later computer waits for approval on one of your other computers, or by a workspace admin. Only your own devices can unlock your files; not even ReachFS can do it for you.
5. Save your recovery phrase (new workspaces only). You see 24 words once. Download them as a text file or write them down, then tick "I saved it somewhere safe". The phrase is the only way back into your files if every approved computer is lost.
6. Pick a drive letter. R: by default.
7. Pick a cache size. 50 GB by default. A bigger cache keeps more files on this computer, so they open instantly and work offline.

ReachFS then mounts the drive and opens Explorer at R:\.

Adding another workspace later: open the app and choose + Add workspace. Each workspace gets its own drive letter.

Working with files on the drive

Use the drive as you would any disk: open, save, rename, move and delete in Explorer or any application.

Saving. A save lands on your computer at once and uploads in the background. Until it has uploaded, the tray icon turns amber: amber always means "data that exists only on this computer". While anything is amber, ReachFS keeps the computer awake and asks Windows to hold off shutting down.

Where a file is. Explorer marks each file with a small icon:

Icon	Meaning
Green check	On this computer. Opens instantly, also offline
Grey cloud	Online only. Downloads the parts you open
Blue arrow	Uploading your changes
Red padlock	Open on another computer. Read-only for you until they close it

The ReachFS menu. Right-click a file or folder on the drive and choose ReachFS (on Windows 11, first Show more options):

• Duplicate (no upload). Makes a copy instantly, without moving or storing any new bytes. Use this instead of Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V for big clips: a paste uploads nothing new either, but it has to read the whole source, which downloads it if it is not on this computer.
• Keep offline. Keeps the file or folder on this computer permanently, so it opens with no network.
• Share link… Shares the file or folder with someone outside the workspace (see The desktop app).
• Show history. Opens the file's earlier versions.

Deleting. A deleted file goes to the workspace's recycle bin for 30 days, and can be restored from the app.

Working with a team

One editor per file at a time. When someone opens a file for editing, it is locked for everyone else in the workspace. On your computer the file shows the red padlock and opens read-only, so Premiere or Resolve tells you up front that you cannot save over it. The app's Locks page and the tray popover say who has it and on which computer, for example Cut_v14.prproj — Maya, Studio PC.

A lock ends when the editor closes the file. If their computer crashes or loses its connection, the lock frees itself within about 30 seconds.

Conflicted copies. If two people change the same file while one of them is offline, nothing is thrown away. The later save is kept beside the original with a name like Cut_v14 (conflicted copy 2026-09-23 142501).prproj, and the app tells you. Open both, keep what you need, and delete the other.

Notifications. ReachFS tells you about locks, new devices waiting for approval, uploads that keep failing, conflicted copies and billing. Choose which ones pop up on your desktop or arrive by email in Settings › Notifications.

The desktop app

ReachFS lives in the Windows tray. Its icon answers one question at a glance: is everything safe?

Tray icon	Meaning
Plain logo	All synced
Blue badge, up arrow	Uploading your changes, with time left
Blue badge, down arrow	Downloading files you opened
Amber badge	Files exist only on this computer. Don't shut down
Empty ring	Offline. Files on this computer still open; changes upload when you reconnect
Red badge	Something needs you: signed out, a stopped drive, or a full workspace

With several workspaces the icon shows the worst state of them all.

The popover. Click the tray icon for one workspace at a time: its status, how much storage it uses, what is uploading or downloading, and which files others have locked. Switch workspaces from the name at the top.

Search. Press Ctrl+Shift+Space anywhere. Results appear as you type, because search runs on this computer. Press Enter to open, Shift+Enter to show the file in Explorer, Ctrl+Enter to copy its path. Narrow a search with filters: ext:mov, type:video, size>1gb, modified:2026-08, by:maya, and for media codec:prores, res:4k, dur>2m, reel: or camera:. Plain sentences work too: ProRes 4K over two minutes shot in August.

The main window. Open it from the popover. For each workspace:

• Files browses the drive, with previews, and lists conflicted copies beside their originals: keep theirs, keep yours, or keep both.
• Transfers shows the upload queue. Pause it, resume it, or move a file to the front.
• History and recycle bin. Past versions and deleted files are kept 30 days. Restoring is instant and uploads nothing.
• Share links. Share one file for review: the reviewer watches it in a browser, comments at a moment in the video, and approves or asks for changes. Or share one folder read-only with a guest. Neither needs an account, and both can have a password and an expiry. The link carries its own key, so ReachFS still cannot read what you share.
• Archived folders. Where archiving is enabled, an admin can move a finished project to cheaper storage. Archived files stay listed and searchable, but don't open until someone chooses Restore from archive and the restore finishes.

Editors and media

ReachFS is built for editing straight off the drive: point Premiere or Resolve at media on R: and work as usual.

• Projects warm their clips. When you open a Premiere .prproj, a Resolve .drp export or an .fcpxml timeline on the drive, ReachFS reads which clips the timeline uses and fetches the start and end of each in the background. Scrubbing then starts from your computer instead of the network. Resolve projects kept in Resolve's own database are not files on the drive, so they are not warmed.
• Have it here by… For a session you know is coming, keep a folder on this computer from now or from tonight, for a day to a week, then let it go automatically.
• Media details in search. ReachFS reads each clip's codec, resolution, frame rate, duration, timecode, reel, camera and shoot date (MOV, MP4, MXF, BRAW and RED R3D), so search can find every ProRes 4K clip from reel A001.
• Proxies. For big clips ReachFS can make small H.264 copies that everyone shares. Share links play the proxy and download the original.

Settings

Preferences apply to this computer and every workspace on it. Saving restarts the drives, after anything waiting has uploaded, so nothing is lost.

Setting	What it does	Default
Start with Windows	Mounts your drives at sign-in, quietly in the tray	On
Upload and download limits	Caps ReachFS in Mbit/s so it doesn't fill a shared office line	Unlimited
Bandwidth schedule	Different limits for quiet hours, such as overnight	Off
Team cache	Uses a ReachFS cache box on your office network, found automatically or by address	Off
Offline copy folder	Where files kept on this computer live; pick a fast disk	Inside ReachFS's own folder
Theme	System, Light or Dark	System

Per workspace, the drive's On this computer panel sets its drive letter and how much space its offline copies may use.

Updates. ReachFS checks for updates once a day and offers Update to … in the top bar and in Settings › About.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

You see	What it means	What to do
Amber tray icon, "files only on this computer"	Changes are still uploading	Leave the computer on until it turns back to the plain logo
"Offline — cached files available"	No connection to ReachFS	Keep working on files that are on this computer; changes upload when you reconnect
"Signed out — sign in to keep syncing"	Your session ended	Choose Sign in in the app; nothing waiting is lost
"The workspace is full"	Your workspace reached its storage plan and an admin set uploads to stop there	Ask an admin to free space or upgrade. Your changes stay safe on this computer and upload once there is room
A file opens read-only, with a red padlock	Someone else has it open	See who in Locks; it frees when they close it
"The file is offline" when opening	The file's folder is archived	Ask an admin to restore it from the app
The first open of a big clip is slow	It is online only and streaming in	Keep the folder offline, or use Have it here by… before the session

Is Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V on the drive safe? Yes, but for big clips use Duplicate (no upload): it is instant and needs no download.

I lost every computer that had my workspace. If any teammate still has an approved computer, they can approve your new one. If nobody does, the person who created the workspace can recover it on a new computer with its 24-word recovery phrase. Without the phrase and without an approved device, nobody can recover the files, ReachFS included. That is the price of encryption nobody else can read.

Can ReachFS staff see my files? No. Files, names and folders are encrypted on your computer before upload, and only your approved devices hold the keys. The security whitepaper explains how.