Home screen, Settings, languages and Help and feedback

#Octoolo's home screen at a glance

The home screen is what Octoolo shows when it opens, and where every app's back button (All apps) leads. From top to bottom:

• A greeting that follows the time of day ("Good morning", "Good afternoon", "Good evening", "Working late") and the note "Files stay on this computer".
• The heading What do you want to do? and one search box (placeholder: "Try “trim a video”, “sign a PDF” or “budget”"), which finds every app and every task inside the apps.
• Quick actions under the search box: Record your screen, Write a letter, Translate text, Merge PDFs, Word to PDF, Unzip a file, Keep your passwords, Set a reminder and Resize a photo. Each opens its app on that task.
• Pick up where you left off: the tasks and apps opened last.
• Your apps: the apps in five groups (Create, Documents, Convert, Every day, Utilities), with a Customize button to pin, reorder and hide them.
• On the left, the sidebar with the apps, the plan box, Settings and Feedback.

The first time, a note about usage statistics shows above the greeting, with Settings and OK (see "The usage statistics note on the home screen").

#Searching for an app or task on the home screen

Type in the home screen's search box what you want to do: an app ("pdf editor"), a task ("merge pdf", "trim a video", "remove background"), a format ("mp4 to mp3", "heic") or a competitor's name ("photoshop", "winrar", "vlc"). Results appear as you type.

• Ctrl+K puts the cursor in the search box from anywhere on the home screen. Escape clears it. Up and Down move through the results, Enter opens the one marked.
• Each result shows its name, one line about it and where it is: App, or "in <app name>" for a task. Clicking a task opens its app on that task.
• Up to 24 results show, best matches first.
• A task that is not built yet shows Soon. A task of an app you hid from the home screen shows Hidden from home: search still finds hidden apps and opens them.
• Search understands the app's language and English at the same time, and ignores accents: in Spanish, "vídeo", "video" and "trim video" all work.
• When nothing matches: "Nothing for “<words>” yet. Try another word, such as “compress”, “convert” or “pdf”."

What a search can find is the catalog of tasks in All apps and tasks. If usage statistics are on, the words typed in this search box are part of them (see Privacy and data).

#Pick up where you left off

Pick up where you left off on the home screen lists up to six things opened recently: up to four tasks (shown as "<task> in <app>") and then the apps opened last. Apps hidden from the home screen are left out. It does not show while you customize the home screen.

Settings > Your home screen > Forget what I opened last clears the remembered tasks. The list is kept in Octoolo's window storage on this PC only.

#The app groups on the home screen

Each app's tile shows its name, one line about it, and "<number> tools inside". Without an active Octoolo Cloud subscription, the free apps' tiles say Free instead (Prices and limits lists the free apps). Opening a paid app without the subscription shows the Octoolo Cloud page (License and account).

#Customizing the home screen: pin, reorder and hide apps

1. On the home screen, click Customize (next to Your apps). The heading becomes Arrange your home and each tile gets buttons.
2. Pin to the top puts an app in a Pinned row above the groups (and at the top of the sidebar). A pinned app has ← and → to move it earlier or later among the pinned apps, and Unpin.
3. Hide takes an app off the home screen and the sidebar. Hidden apps are listed under Hidden while customizing; click one to show it again.
4. Show everything again undoes every pin and hide.
5. Click Done.

• Only pinned apps can be reordered. The groups and the order of apps inside them are fixed.
• Hidden apps still open from the search box, from links and from File Explorer's menu.
• The same choices are in Settings > Your home screen.
• The arrangement is kept on this PC only; another PC, or a reinstall with Delete the application data, starts with the default home screen.

#The sidebar

The sidebar on the left of the home screen, Settings and Help and feedback holds:

• The Octoolo logo at the top: it is the way back to the home screen (tooltip "Home").
• The apps: a Pinned group first (if any), then the five groups. Apps hidden from the home screen are not in the sidebar. The Convert group lists each converter: Document converter, Spreadsheet converter, Presentation converter, Image converter, Video converter, Audio converter; each opens Converters on that one.
• The plan box at the bottom (see the next section).
• Settings (gear icon, tooltip "Settings (Ctrl ,)"). A dot on it means an update is ready to install ("An update is ready").
• Feedback (bug icon), which opens Help and feedback (tooltip "Help and feedback: report a bug, ask for a feature, suggest an idea"). A dot on it means the team replied and you have not read it yet ("1 new reply" or "<number> new replies").

The sidebar is not shown inside an app: an app takes the whole window, with its own title bar.

#The plan box and the version tag in the sidebar

At the bottom of the sidebar:

• Octoolo Cloud and the version tag (for example "v0.8.0"). The version tag is a button: clicking it checks for updates at once ("Checking for updates…", then "Octoolo is up to date." or the download's progress, or why it failed).
• A colored bar and the line "<number> apps, <number> tools inside, more every update".
• A line with the subscription's state on this PC (for example "Free week, 5 days left" or "Renews <date>"), with a button when something is needed: Start your free week (no subscription yet), Subscribe (it ended) or Update your card (a payment failed). While a checkout is open in the browser: "Waiting for your browser…". See License and account.
• When an update is downloaded: "Octoolo <version> is ready", "Restart Octoolo to finish updating." and Restart to update (see Install and update).

#App title bars and getting back to the home screen

Every app opens in the whole window with a title bar at the top:

• On the left, a back arrow (tooltip All apps) returns to the home screen.
• The app's icon and name, or the name of the open file, with a line under it.
• The app's own buttons, if any.
• On the right, a speech-bubble button (tooltip Help and feedback) opens Help and feedback with that app already chosen under Which app.

Apps made of several tools (Passwords, Dev Toolbox, Calculator, Productivity and others) list their tools down the left; with many tools there is a Find box above the list. A tool that is not built yet shows Soon, and opening it says "<tool> is on its way." and "It arrives in a free update, included in Octoolo Cloud."

While an app loads, the window shows "Opening <app name>…". If an app breaks, Octoolo shows an error screen instead of closing (see Troubleshooting).

#Keyboard shortcuts that work everywhere in Octoolo

Settings > Keyboard shortcuts lists the common ones of the apps: Ctrl K (find any app or task, on the home screen), Ctrl , (Settings), Ctrl Z and Ctrl Y (undo and redo, in every editor), Ctrl S and Ctrl O (save and open, in every editor), Space (play and pause, in the video and audio editors), S and Delete (split at the playhead, delete what is selected), Ctrl E (export, in the video and audio editors) and Ctrl F (find and replace, in Text Studio). Each app's own shortcuts are in its own document (the app documents are listed in What Octoolo is).

Octoolo's shortcuts cannot be changed. In German, some labels write Strg for Ctrl (for example "Strg+Enter sendet" in Help and feedback); others, such as the Keyboard shortcuts card, keep Ctrl.

#Changing Octoolo's language

Octoolo speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and German.

1. Open Settings (gear in the sidebar, or Ctrl+,).
2. In the Language card, pick from the list: Same as Windows (<language>), English, Español, Português (Brasil) or Deutsch.
3. Octoolo reloads its window in that language at once ("Octoolo restarts its window in the language you pick. Your files, notes and lists stay as you wrote them.").

• Same as Windows (the default) uses Windows' display language when it is Spanish, Portuguese or German, and English for every other language.
• The choice is kept on this PC. Reinstalling with Delete the application data goes back to Same as Windows.
• Other languages (French, Italian, Turkish, and so on) are not available for the app. The translator in Text Studio translates text between many more languages; that is separate (Text Studio).

#What is translated in Octoolo and what stays in English

Translated, when another language is chosen:

• Every label, button, menu, tooltip, message and placeholder the app shows, in every app.
• The search: apps and tasks are found by their translated names and their English names.
• The tray icon's menu, Windows notifications (reminders, alarms, timers), the titles of Windows' folder pickers that Octoolo opens, File Explorer's right-click menu items and the Files window's title.
• Productivity's reminders understand times written in that language.
• New documents made from a template start with the template's text in that language.
• The checkout page that Start your free week opens in the browser.

Stays as it is:

• What you made or typed: documents, cells, slides, notes, to-dos, passwords, file names, messages in Help and feedback. Octoolo never translates them.
• Any text that has no translation yet shows in English.
• Text Studio's thesaurus, word unscrambler, Wordle helper and spelling and grammar check work on English words.
• The installer and uninstaller follow Windows' language, not the language chosen in Octoolo.
• This support knowledge base is in English.

#Settings and labels in Spanish, Portuguese and German

The main labels as the app shows them in each language (from Octoolo's own translation files):

The home screen's groups: Create = Crear / Criar / Erstellen; Documents = Documentos / Documentos / Dokumente; Convert = Convertir / Converter / Umwandeln; Every day = Día a día / Dia a dia / Alltag; Utilities = Utilidades / Utilitários / Dienstprogramme.

#Opening Settings and what is in it

Open Settings with the Settings gear at the bottom of the home screen's sidebar, or Ctrl+, from anywhere in Octoolo. Its heading says "Your copy of Octoolo, its updates, and what it does with your files: they never leave this computer." The cards, top to bottom:

1. Your plan: Octoolo Cloud on this PC.
2. Language.
3. Updates.
4. Your home screen.
5. Reminders and the background.
6. File Explorer.
7. Downloaded parts.
8. What leaves this computer, with the usage statistics switch.
9. Keyboard shortcuts.
10. About.

Every change in Settings applies at once; there is no Save button. Settings has no dark mode, window size or font size options.

#Settings: Your plan

The Your plan card shows Octoolo Cloud on this PC: a line with its state (for example "Free week, 5 days left", "Renews <date>", "Payment failed: update your card" or "Your subscription has ended"), Check now to ask octoolo.com at once (not shown when there is no subscription or it has ended), and, when known, Account (the email), Plan, Free week, Renews or Ends, and License key (only its last characters).

• With an account: Manage billing, Your account and Remove this PC.
• Without one: Start your free week, Enter a license key, and Sign in on octoolo.com, which opens the account page in the browser (it does not sign the app in; the app turns on only with a license key or a checkout started from it).

Everything about the subscription, keys, PCs and the paywall is in License and account; prices and the trial are in Prices and limits.

#Settings: Language

The Language card has one list: Same as Windows (<language>), English, Español, Português (Brasil), Deutsch. Picking one reloads Octoolo's window in that language. See "Changing Octoolo's language" above.

#Settings: Updates

The Updates card shows "Octoolo <version>" and a status line, with Check now (or Restart to update when a new version is downloaded, and then What is new with the list of changes).

• Download new versions on their own (on by default): "A little after Octoolo starts and every four hours, it asks octoolo.com for a newer version, downloads it in the background and installs it when you restart. Each one is checked against Octoolo's signature first." Turned off, Octoolo only checks when you click Check now or the version tag in the sidebar.
• While a version downloads, a progress bar shows.

The status lines and error messages are explained in Install and update.

#Settings: Your home screen

The Your home screen card ("Not everyone needs every app. Turn off the ones you do not use: they leave the home screen and the sidebar, and search still finds them. Pinned apps come first.") lists every app by group, each with:

• a switch: on shows the app on the home screen and in the sidebar, off hides it;
• Pin (or Pinned when pinned), to put it in the Pinned row. A hidden app cannot be pinned.

Under the list: "<number> of <number> apps on the home screen." and Forget what I opened last, which clears the tasks in Pick up where you left off. Show everything again (top right, once something is changed) undoes every pin and hide.

#Settings: Reminders and the background

The Reminders and the background card is about what the Productivity app needs to ring on time:

• Keep running after the window closes, while something is planned (on by default): "Reminders, alarms, timers, the shutdown timer and screen time need Octoolo running. With this on, closing the window leaves Octoolo in the corner of the taskbar while any of them is set; quit it from there. With nothing planned, closing the window closes Octoolo as usual."
• Start Octoolo when you sign in to Windows (off by default): "It starts without its window, so reminders and screen time work after a restart. If nothing is planned, it closes again after two minutes."
• A line saying whether Windows shows Octoolo's notifications ("Windows shows Octoolo's notifications." or why not, for example "Octoolo's notifications are turned off in Windows' settings."), with Test a notification (then "Sent: did it show?") and Windows' notification settings, which opens Windows' Notifications settings page.

More in Productivity and Install and update.

#Settings: File Explorer

The File Explorer card has one switch, Octoolo in the right-click menu of files and folders (on by default): "Compress to ZIP, Extract here, Lock with a password and Unlock, from File Explorer. On Windows 11 they are under Show more options. Locked files (.olock) open in Octoolo with a double-click, and archives list Octoolo under Open with; what opens them by default stays as it is."

Turning it off removes the menu at once and keeps it off; turning it on adds it again. The Files app has the same switch. Details: Files.

#Settings: Downloaded parts

The Downloaded parts card lists what Octoolo downloads the first time a tool needs it:

• FFmpeg: "For the video and audio editors, the Media Player, the converters and the screen recorder." It cannot be removed here.
• AI on this computer ("Runs on this computer. Nothing is uploaded. Each part downloads the first time a tool needs it, and can be removed here; it downloads again when needed."): AI runtime, Background remover, Object selection, Object remover, Upscaler, Depth and Vocal remover.
• Translator languages: each language direction downloaded for Text Studio's translator, or "None downloaded yet."

Each row shows Ready · <size on disk> with Remove (except FFmpeg), or Download · <size>, or the download's percentage. Remove "Deletes its files. It downloads again when a tool needs it." Sizes and sources: Downloads on first use.

#Settings: What leaves this computer and usage statistics

The What leaves this computer card lists every place Octoolo talks to and what goes there: Your files (never), octoolo.com, Octoolo Cloud, Usage statistics, Help and feedback, Have I Been Pwned, The sites you download from, GitHub, Microsoft (NuGet) and Hugging Face. Each is explained in Privacy and data.

Under the list:

• Send anonymous usage statistics (on by default): "They tell us which tools people use and which ones break, so we know what to improve. Every few minutes, in one request to octoolo.com." Turning it off stops them at once and deletes the ones waiting to be sent.
• See what is sent shows the next request exactly as it would go: "<number> events wait to be sent. The next request:" (with "the first 30 of them" when more are waiting) followed by the data. When the switch is off: "Nothing is sent while this is off." Hide what is sent closes it.

#Settings: Keyboard shortcuts

The Keyboard shortcuts card lists: Ctrl K "Find any app or task, on the home screen"; Ctrl , "Settings"; Ctrl Z · Ctrl Y "Undo and redo, in every editor"; Ctrl S · Ctrl O "Save and open, in every editor"; Space "Play and pause, in the video and audio editors"; S · Delete "Split at the playhead · delete what is selected"; Ctrl E "Export, in the video and audio editors"; Ctrl F "Find and replace, in Text Studio". It is a list only; shortcuts cannot be changed.

#Settings: About and open-source credits

The About card says "Octoolo <version> · 17 apps in one. Made by Getiket Technologies.", links to octoolo.com, and lists under Built with the open-source software and models Octoolo uses, each with its license (clicking a name opens its website): Tauri, React, FFmpeg (LGPL 2.1, BtbN's build), ONNX Runtime, DirectML, BiRefNet, SAM 2.1, MI-GAN, Real-ESRGAN, Depth Anything V2 Small, Demucs, RustFFT and RealFFT, the Opus-MT translation models (CC-BY 4.0), VTracer, pdf.js, pdf-lib, TipTap, docx, ExcelJS, PptxGenJS, Formula.js, JSZip, JsBarcode, Harper, WordNet 3.1, the ENABLE word list, zxcvbn, UnRAR, zip-rs, sevenz-rust2 and lzma-rust2, tar-rs, flate2 and bzip2-rs, Zstandard, RustCrypto (Argon2, XChaCha20-Poly1305), and the fonts Funnel Display, Funnel Sans and DM Mono.

The version number here is the one to give support. The newest version is in Prices and limits.

#The usage statistics note on the home screen

The first time the home screen opens, Octoolo shows: "Octoolo counts which apps and tools are used, without knowing who you are, so we know what to improve. Never your files or their names."

• OK closes the note; it does not come back.
• Settings closes it and opens Settings, where Send anonymous usage statistics (in What leaves this computer) turns them off.

Usage statistics are on until turned off. What they contain: Privacy and data.

#Help and feedback: writing to the Octoolo team

Help and feedback is how to reach Octoolo's team from the app. Open it with Feedback at the bottom of the home screen's sidebar, or the speech-bubble button (Help and feedback) at the right of any app's title bar.

1. In the Write to us card, pick one of the four buttons at the top: Report a problem, Ask for a feature, Suggest an idea or Ask a question.
2. Which app: Octoolo in general or an app (already chosen when opened from an app).
3. Write the message in the box (named Problem, Feature request, Suggestion or Question). For a problem it suggests: "What happened, and what did you expect? The steps that lead to it help most." Up to 8,000 characters.
4. Your email, if you like: optional. "To hear back by email too. Answers always show here."
5. Include technical details (on by default): see the next section.
6. Click Send (or press Ctrl+Enter).

After sending: "Thank you. We have it." and "The team answers here, under Your messages, and by email to <address> [if one was given]. A dot by Help and feedback says when a reply arrives." with Write another. Despite that wording, replies are not emailed automatically: they always show in Help and feedback, and the team may also write to the address from its own email.

Help and feedback cannot attach files or screenshots. To send a file (for example the log file), email hello@octoolo.com (see Troubleshooting).

#Help and feedback: what is sent with a message

Always sent with a message: the kind (problem, feature, idea, question), the app chosen, the text, your email if you gave one, and Octoolo's and Windows' versions.

With Include technical details on (the default), also: the PC's memory (total and free) and number of processors, the screen size and scaling, the window's size, the language and time zone, the view you were on (for example #/app/pdf), the last errors Octoolo showed (up to eight, with file names, paths, links, emails and names taken out), and this copy's random id, so the team can see which apps it used and what went wrong. What they are under the switch explains this in the app.

Never sent: your files, their names or their contents. Messages and the team's answers are kept by Octoolo so the team can follow up; write to hello@octoolo.com to have yours deleted (see Privacy and data).

#Help and feedback: replies, the dot and conversation status

• Messages and replies show under Your messages in Help and feedback, newest first. Each shows its first line, its kind, app and date, and its status: Sent, Being looked at, Answered, Planned, Done or Closed.
• A reply not read yet shows New reply (or "<number> new replies") on the conversation, and a dot on Feedback in the sidebar. Opening the conversation marks it read.
• Click a conversation to read it: your messages show as "You", the team's as "<name> from Octoolo". Answer in Write a reply and click Reply. A Closed conversation cannot be answered; start a new one.
• Octoolo looks for replies a minute after it starts, then every 30 minutes while it runs, and each time Help and feedback opens. It only asks when there are conversations on this PC.
• Replies are not emailed automatically, even when an email address was given. The team may write to that address from its own email when it matters; the reply in Help and feedback is the one to look for.

#Help and feedback without an internet connection

• Sending needs a connection to octoolo.com. Without one, Help and feedback says "Could not reach octoolo.com. Check the internet connection and try again." The message is not sent and is not queued: it stays in the box, so Send can be clicked again later.
• "Write a few words first." means the message has fewer than 3 characters.
• "octoolo.com did not take the message. Try again." means octoolo.com refused or did not confirm it.
• When octoolo.com cannot be reached while opening Help and feedback, the conversations already on this PC still show, with the reason and "Showing what is on this computer."
• Conversations are kept on the PC they were sent from. They do not show on another PC or after a reinstall with Delete the application data. Email hello@octoolo.com to continue one from elsewhere.

#Limits and what the home screen and Settings cannot do

• There is no dark mode and no setting for the size of text or the window's zoom.
• Keyboard shortcuts cannot be changed.
• The groups on the home screen cannot be renamed or reordered, and apps cannot be moved between groups; only pinned apps can be put in order.
• Octoolo's language list has only English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and German.
• Help and feedback cannot attach files, and cannot send while offline.
• The home screen arrangement, language and other Settings are kept per PC; they do not follow an account.