Getting started
First start and your Keepfin folder
Keepfin keeps everything you save in one place, the Keepfin folder: your music, videos, photos, playlists and history. The first start sets it up.
The first pages#
Keepfin opens with a few short pages about what it does and how a download works. Skip intro jumps ahead to the first page that asks you something.
How will you use Keepfin?#
The first question is how you want to use Keepfin. You can change the answer any time in Settings → Library & playback → Keepfin mode.
- Keepfin Complete (recommended): download, then browse and play it all in Keepfin, with spaces, Search, synced lyrics and a queue.
- Just downloads: paste a link, pick a quality, and the file lands in your folder. There is no library and no player.
Where should your files live?#
The next page is needed: everything goes into one Keepfin folder, and Keepfin cannot be used without it. There is no way to skip it. Until the folder is set up, the app says "Set up your Keepfin folder first."
On Windows
Keepfin suggests a place in your user folder and shows how much space is free there. Pick another drive or folder with Change…, or go back to the suggestion with Use the suggested folder instead. The folder cannot be used if Keepfin cannot write to it. Then press Start using Keepfin.
If you pick a folder that already has files, Keepfin adds its own folders inside and leaves everything that is there alone. A folder inside a cloud app (such as Google Drive or Dropbox) works, but Keepfin warns you: a cloud app can lock or re-upload files while Keepfin uses them. Keeping the folder on the PC and adding a cloud copy later is safer.
There is a switch, Show my music in Windows Music. It adds a Keepfin shortcut to your Windows Music folder. The songs stay in the Keepfin folder.
On Android
Press Use Documents › Keepfin. Android then asks you to confirm: tap Use this folder and then Allow. To use another place, including a memory card, press Change and pick or create a folder there.
Android does not let apps use the top of the phone's storage, the Download folder itself or Android/data, so pick or create a folder of its own.
Once you pick the folder, Keepfin can read everything in it with no storage permission and no prompt per file. Keepfin adds Music, Videos and Downloads and its own hidden data inside it. A last page lets you allow notifications and, with Keepfin Complete, finding files from an earlier install. Both are optional. Press Start using Keepfin to finish.
You already have a Keepfin folder#
On the folder page choose I already have a Keepfin folder. It can come from another computer, a phone or a backup drive. Pick it and Keepfin shows Found a Keepfin folder. Open it brings your library, playlists and history back.
If the folder was made by a newer Keepfin, Keepfin says Made by a newer Keepfin and offers Open read-only. Update the app to change it.
Advanced setup#
Advanced setup on the folder page shows every storage step in detail.
On Windows
It asks New to Keepfin, or bringing a Keepfin folder? (Start fresh or Choose the folder…), then where the folder goes, then Keep extra copies?. There is nothing to decide about copies now: you can add one later in Settings → Storage & copies. Press Create my Keepfin folder to finish.
On Android
It starts with Create my Keepfin folder, and Other options lets you choose another place or an existing Keepfin folder.
You used Keepfin before: the setup window#
If Keepfin finds files or history from an earlier version, it opens a setup window instead of the plain folder page. It brings everything into one Keepfin folder.
On Windows
- Welcome: what the Keepfin folder gives you. Press Get started.
- Your files: every source with its number of files and size, plus what comes with them (playlists, favourites, tags, history).
- Where: where the Keepfin folder goes.
- How: for each source, Move (copy and check every file, then send the old ones to the Recycle Bin), Copy (keep the originals where they are, no longer managed by Keepfin) or Leave where it is (keep the folder as a linked folder).
- Review: a plan to read. Nothing happens until you press Start.
- Bring over: progress with the file being copied. You can keep using your PC or close Keepfin; it continues next time.
- Report: counts before and after for songs, history and playlists, and anything that needs attention. Save report keeps a copy.
On Android
- Earlier files or Welcome: Keepfin can look in Music, Movies and Download for files an earlier Keepfin saved. Android asks to let Keepfin read your music and videos, only to find them.
- Your plan: where the folder goes and, for each space, Move (copy, check, then remove the old copies) or Keep (leave it where it is). Nothing happens until you press Start.
- Bringing it over: Copy, Check, Save, Tidy. You can close Keepfin and come back; it carries on where it stopped.
- Done: counts before and after, and anything that needs attention.
Why moving is safe#
- Each file is copied and checked to be identical before the old one is removed. On Windows, removed files go to the Recycle Bin.
- A crash, a power cut or a closed window never leaves things half-moved. The next start continues from the last file.
- Downloads and edits pause while files come over, so nothing is written to an old place in the middle of a move.
- A file that cannot be moved is listed with what you can do (retry, locate it or leave it). Nothing is skipped silently.
- If the drive runs out of space, setup stops with your originals untouched, and you can change the plan.
- On Windows, your earlier library and settings stay on the PC as a backup. They never go into the Keepfin folder, because they include private sign-in references.
How it works
Before starting, Keepfin counts everything it will bring: media, subtitles, lyrics, covers, history, playlists, favourites, play counts, playback positions, tags, collections, followed playlists and your music match choices. The report at the end counts them again so you can compare the numbers.
Restoring the old library file would bring back the old library but not the old file locations. The window says so.
Android: files from before a reinstall#
On Android
Keepfin's own files in Music, Movies and Download are copied into the picked folder, checked, then removed. Keepfin made them, so there are no prompts.
Files from an earlier install are different: Android treats them as another app's. Keepfin asks once for permission to read them, copies them, and then Android asks once for your OK before they are removed. If you say no, nothing is lost: the old copies stay and the report lists them. Choosing the new folder does not by itself give Keepfin access to old files elsewhere.