The desktop app

The desktop app adds Share2Us to your file manager: right-click a file or folder → s2u → Share, then pick where it goes. A public or private link, or a direct end-to-end encrypted send to one of your devices or a contact.

It is a front end, not a separate product. It uses the same service and the same library as the command line, so behaviour matches. It does not modify or replace s2u.

You may already have it

Installing Share2Us installs both. On Linux and macOS the install script adds the app whenever the machine has a desktop, and on Windows the installer includes it. This page is for installing the app on its own, or for fixing it when something did not land.

Platform support

Platform	App window	Right-click entry
Windows	Yes	Yes, Windows 10 and 11
Linux	Yes	KDE and Nemo, plus a universal “Open With”; Nautilus pending
macOS	Yes	Not yet, it needs a signed Finder extension

The window works everywhere today. Drag a file onto it, or use “Open with”. The file-manager entry lands per platform and its absence degrades gracefully.

Install

Windows. Open the releases page. The newest release is at the top and starts with a direct link to Share2Us-Setup-<version>.exe. Run it. It installs the app and the s2u command line together by default, adds a Start menu shortcut, and offers a desktop shortcut. Or use PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/share2us/gui/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Linux and macOS. The ordinary install brings the app with it:

curl -fsSL https://share2.us/install.sh | sh

On Linux that puts the app beside the CLI and adds it to your applications list. On macOS it goes to ~/Applications, and because the macOS build is unsigned the FIRST launch needs right-click → Open rather than a double-click; after that it opens normally.

Then right-click a file and look for s2u → Share. On Windows 11 it lives under “Show more options”. Sign in from the app the first time.

Linux: which build you need

The app is built against webkit2gtk, and there are two incompatible generations of it. The installer probes your system and picks the matching build, so you do not have to think about it — but if you download a tarball by hand, take _webkit41 on Ubuntu 24.04 or newer and the plain one on 22.04. The wrong one does not start at all, and the missing library cannot be installed on the other release. If neither is present, install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0.

Re-running the installer upgrades to the newest release. SHARE2US_GUI_VERSION and SHARE2US_GUI_INSTALL_DIR override the defaults.

The right-click entry did not appear

The installer registers it, so this usually means the file manager has not reloaded. Sign out and back in, or restart the file manager.

On Windows 11 it lives under Show more options rather than in the short menu, which is Windows’ own rule for entries added this way.

If it is still missing, register it by hand. This is per-user and needs no administrator:

share2us-gui.exe --install-shell
share2us-gui.exe --uninstall-shell

On GNOME there is no native submenu yet. Use Open With, or drag the file onto the app window.

What is in the window

• Send, to a link, to one of your devices, or to a nearby machine.
• Nearby devices, found on your network, each with a name you can change locally.
• Incoming, where files sent to this machine wait for you to place them.
• Settings, including your signed-in devices and whether this machine is discoverable.

Files sent to this device wait until you choose where they go, or land in the folder you picked. They do not appear in Downloads on their own.