🪣 Bucket

Ever opened five File Explorer windows just to gather a handful of files?
There's a calmer way to do it — and almost nobody knows this kind of tool exists.

Be honest — this is how moving files actually goes

You're collecting files for a USB drive, archive, or email.

One file is on your Desktop. Another is in Downloads. A few more are scattered across different folders.

So you open File Explorer. Then another window. Then another.

Now you're dragging files between windows, trying not to drop them in the wrong place. Halfway through, you forget which window is the destination. You find another file and think, "Where was I putting these again?"

By the time you're finished, your screen is cluttered with Explorer windows, you've revisited the same folders multiple times, and you're still not completely sure you collected everything.

We've all accepted this workflow. We shouldn't have to.

Meet Bucket — the shelf your desktop was always missing

Bucket is a tiny window that floats on top of everything, like a sticky note you can drop files into.

See something you want? Toss it in the bucket and keep going. A file, a folder, a screenshot, a paragraph of text, a link — anything. It waits there in a neat little pile while you get on with what you were doing. When you're ready, send the whole pile somewhere in one move: copy it to a folder, zip it up, or drag it straight into an email or chat.

No more window-juggling. No more dragging across the screen holding your breath. You collect at your own pace; Bucket holds everything until you decide what's next.

💬 On Mac, people happily pay for tools like Yoink or Dropover. On Windows, it’s a different story—some paid tools exist but with very limited functionality, while most free ones are outdated. So I built one myself: native, portable, and free to use.

🛟 …and it never touches your files

Dropping something into a bucket just creates a little pointer to it — nothing is copied, moved, renamed, or deleted unless you ask. Change your mind? Empty the bucket and your files never moved an inch. (Which means it's completely safe to try.)

🌈 One pile per job, each its own colour — this is the difference

Every other drop-shelf hands you one pile, and everything you grab lands in the same heap. Bucket gives you a whole set of colour-coded buckets, side by side.

Run a blue bucket for "email to Sarah", a green one for "back up to the NAS", an orange one for "this week's photos" — all on screen at the same time. The colour is the label: you know at a glance which pile is which, and things from different jobs never get mixed together. Give each one a name too, and jump straight to any open bucket from the system tray.

Need another? One click spins up a fresh bucket in the next colour:

🔵 Blue → 🟢 Green → 🟠 Orange → 🟣 Purple → 🔴 Red

💡 Mid-collect and a new idea hits?

You're busy filling one bucket when you spot a completely different batch you need to grab — right now, before it slips your mind. Don't break your flow to deal with it: just open another bucket, drop the new things in, and carry on. Your job is to spot and grab; the buckets hold on to everything else. One idea, one bucket — as many as the moment needs.

It turns "I'm juggling files" into "I have a tidy, colour-coded station for each thing I'm doing."

"Wait… is this me?"

If any of these sound familiar, Bucket will feel like it read your mind:

• 📎 You attach files to emails and end up with a dozen windows open just to find them
• 🗂️ You're forever shuffling files between folders, drives, or a network/NAS
• 🖼️ You sort photos and screenshots into the right places
• 🔎 You research on the web and collect bits as you go — images, links, quotes
• 🎒 You back things up by hand and want everything gathered first
• 🎬 You make videos, docs, or slide decks and pull assets from all over

You don't need to be "techy." If you use Windows and you move files, this is for you.

What else it does (once you're hooked)

🧺 Collect from anywhere

Drag things in, or paste them (Ctrl+V). Bucket takes files, folders, text, images, and links — and quietly turns loose text, images, and links into real files you can reuse. Need a bucket right now? Give your mouse a shake and one appears under your cursor, or press Ctrl+Shift+B from any app.

📤 Send it wherever — your way

• Copy or move the whole pile to any folder, with a progress bar and no surprises
• Drag the pile out to Explorer or any app — drop to copy, hold Shift to move
• Pin your favourite folders as one-click destinations
• Or transform on the way out: pack everything into a .zip, flatten a mess of subfolders into one place, or rename them in sequence as you copy

🫥 Stays out of your way

Bucket lives quietly in the system tray. Close the last window and it simply tucks away instead of quitting — your piles are right where you left them when you come back. It's portable, installs in seconds without admin rights, and never phones home.

Try it in 30 seconds

1. Download the latest release and run the installer.
2. It installs just for you — no admin prompt, no fuss.
3. Open Bucket from the Start menu and drag your first file in. 🎉

💡 Because Bucket is a free indie app (not signed with a paid certificate), Windows may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" screen the first time. Click More info → Run anyway — it's safe.

Questions you might be asking

Is it safe? Will it mess up my files? Completely safe. Bucket only stores pointers to your files — it never moves, copies, renames, or deletes anything until you choose an action. Empty a bucket and nothing happened to the originals.

Is it really free? Yes — free and open-source (MIT). No account, no subscription, no upsell, ever.

Will it slow down my PC? No. It's a small native app that sits quietly in the tray and does nothing until you use it. No background services, no telemetry, no calling home.

Do I have to learn anything? If you can drag a file, you already know how to use it. Everything else is a bonus you'll stumble onto.

I've never needed something like this — do I? Almost no one knows they need it… until about a week in, when going back to juggling Explorer windows feels unthinkable. It's free — give it a day.

git clone https://github.com/aungkokomm/Bucket.git
cd Bucket

# Run it (debug): open Bucket.csproj in Visual Studio and press F5, or:
msbuild Bucket.csproj /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64 /t:Build

# Build the portable installer (needs Inno Setup 6):
pwsh -File tools\build_installer.ps1   # → dist\Bucket-Setup-1.0.0.exe

Stop juggling windows. Start dropping things in a bucket.
⬇ Download Bucket — free & open-source
_{MIT licensed · © 2026 Aung Ko Ko · more of my apps}