Help & FAQ

Open the Scan screen, then do any of the following:

• Drag a folder or file from Windows Explorer onto the drop zone;
• Click Add Folder or Add File;
• Or click Quick Privacy Check for a fast scan of common locations.

Optionally set include and exclude filters, toggle OCR, then click Start Scan. Results stream onto the Findings page as the scan runs.

Windows: Open the share once in File Explorer so Windows signs you in, then paste the UNC path (for example \\server\share\folder) into the network share field on the Scan screen. FileSentinel verifies access before adding the target.

Mac: Connect to the share in Finder first (Go → Connect to Server, e.g. smb://server/share), then add the mounted volume path in FileSentinel’s Scan screen.

The Dashboard summarizes your exposure at a glance: a Protection Score, total files scanned, total findings, Crown Jewels count, and the percentage of files that came back clean. Charts break down exposure by asset type, severity, the rules triggered most, and confidence. Recent scans and top findings are listed at the bottom.

Use include globs to limit a scan to certain patterns (for example **/*.docx, **/*.pdf) and exclude globs to skip folders like **/node_modules/** or build output. FileSentinel already excludes common Windows system folders, browser caches, and dev tooling by default.

Severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low) reflects how damaging the data would be if it leaked. Confidence (Verified, Likely, Possible, Lower) reflects how certain FileSentinel is that the match is real.

Use them together: sort by severity to triage impact, and raise the confidence floor to hide likely false positives. You can also show low-confidence findings when you want maximum coverage.

From the Findings page, pick a remediation action, such as Redact All Sensitive Data on This File or Strip Metadata to Copy. FileSentinel writes a cleaned copy rather than overwriting the original, and records the action in the Remediation History with the output path and result.

Use Mark False Positive or Ignore Finding on the row. Marking false positives helps you keep counts honest and focuses the list on what actually matters. You can also raise the confidence floor to filter out weak matches in bulk.

Open the Reports screen, choose a scan, set the confidence floor and which severities to include, then generate a CSV, HTML, or PDF report. Reports save locally (Windows: your AppData folder; Mac: the app’s sandbox container) and are listed under Past Reports for quick reopening.

Crown Jewels are the categories you care about most, such as personal identifiers, financial data, or health information. Choose them in Settings, and any matching findings are escalated so your most critical exposure rises to the top of the dashboard and findings list.

Toggle OCR on the Scan screen or in Settings. With it on, FileSentinel reads text inside JPG, PNG, TIFF, and WebP images and image-based PDFs, catching sensitive data in screenshots and scans.

Windows uses the bundled Tesseract engine, with nothing extra to install. Mac uses Apple’s built-in Vision framework, which is faster and requires no download. On both platforms, OCR adds processing time per image page, so enable it when you need thorough coverage and leave it off for the fastest scans of plain text and Office documents.

Choose a scan performance mode in Settings:

• Eco keeps the app light and responsive, ideal on battery;
• Balanced is the default and suits most machines;
• Turbo uses more cores for the fastest throughput on big scans.

You can also enable recursing into archive contents (for example .zip and .jar).

On the Rules screen, start from a template or build from scratch. Choose plain text (exact phrase) or regex matching, name the rule, set a category and severity, and optionally mark it as a Crown Jewel. Use the Test box with sample text to confirm it matches before saving.

Add a folder on the Watched Folders screen and FileSentinel runs an initial scan, then monitors it. New or changed files are batched and scanned automatically, with a toast confirming completion. Results appear on the Findings page like any other scan. Stop watching a folder at any time.

No. Scanning, OCR, and remediation run entirely on your device. File contents are never uploaded and there is no telemetry of your results. Reports stay local (Windows: AppData folder; Mac: app sandbox container) unless you move them. The Mac App Store privacy label is set to “Data Not Collected.” See the Privacy Policy for full detail.

Windows: Available now on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and Windows 11 — install in one click.

Mac: Available now on the Mac App Store for macOS 13 Ventura or later — install in one click.

Questions before you buy? Email info@vandien.io.

FileSentinel is $59.99, one-time — not a subscription.

• Windows: Purchase directly from the Microsoft Store. No free trial yet (coming soon).
• Mac: Free to download. The free tier allows 5 scans and 3 redactions. A one-time $59.99 in-app purchase unlocks Pro: unlimited scans, unlimited redactions, watched folders, and PDF reports.

Tap Restore Purchases on the upgrade screen. As long as you are signed into the same Apple ID that made the original purchase, Pro is restored at no charge. You will not be charged again.

Windows: Updates are delivered via the Microsoft Store. You will see an update prompt in the Store app, or FileSentinel may notify you directly.

Mac: Updates are delivered automatically through the Mac App Store, just like any other App Store app. Enable automatic updates in System Settings → App Store to stay current without any manual steps.

The Mac edition runs inside Apple’s App Sandbox, which limits the app to only the files and folders you explicitly grant access to. When you add a folder to scan or watch, macOS shows a permission prompt; this is normal and expected. FileSentinel uses Apple’s security-scoped bookmarks to remember your granted folders across restarts, so you won’t be re-prompted every time you open the app.