Free for Windows 10 and 11
Set it down.
Pick it up anywhere.
Cairn gives you a place to put things at the edge of your screen. Drop in files, text or links while you work, then drag them into any app when you need them.
How it works
Three moves, no setup
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01
Drag it to the edge
Drag a file, some text, a link or a picture from a web page to the side of your screen. A drop zone appears. Let go, and it's kept.
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02
Carry on
Switch apps, close windows, even restart your PC. Everything waits in your stack until you remove it.
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03
Drag it where it goes
Open your stack with a click or Ctrl Alt C, pick one item or several, and drag them into an email, a folder, a chat or a document.
Features
Made to stay out of your way
A small app that waits at the edge of your screen. No account, no cloud and nothing to learn: drag in, drag out.
Works with your apps
If you can drop something into an app, you can drop it from Cairn: Explorer, your browser, email, chat and more. That includes email attachments and files inside a zip.
Several at once
Gather files from different folders as you go, then drag them all out together in one move.
Your files stay put
Cairn remembers where your files are. It never moves or copies them behind your back.
Private
Everything stays on your PC. There's no account, no cloud and nothing to sign up for.
Light as a feather
A small app that starts with Windows if you like, and you won't notice it running until you need it.
Never in the way
It tucks itself away while you play a game, watch a video full screen or give a presentation.
A stack for each job
Keep separate stacks, like "Invoices" or "Trip photos". Hold a drag on the edge tab and the stack opens, so you can drop straight into the right one.
Right-click actions
Copy paths or Markdown links with their page titles, save items as a zip, or copy them to a folder in one step.
Grab the clipboard
Press Ctrl Alt V to add whatever you just copied.
Knows what you dropped
A color shows as a swatch, code keeps its spacing, and an email address opens a new message.
Take a closer look
Press Space on an item to see it bigger, without opening another app.
A note beside your files
Press Ctrl Shift N to type a short note right in the stack, so the reminder stays with the things it's about.
Is Cairn free?
Yes. Cairn is free and open source under the GPL-3.0 license. There are no ads, trials or nag screens.
Does it move or copy my files?
It never moves them. Cairn remembers where a file is, and when you drag it out, the app you drop it on decides what to do, just as if you had dragged it from a folder. Cairn keeps its own copy only of things that had no file of their own, like a screenshot, an email attachment or a picture dragged from a web page, and, if you turn it on in the tray menu, of files from USB sticks and network drives.
Can I drop a file's path instead of the file?
Yes. Hold Alt as you start dragging an item out. A file goes as its path, an image as a picture, text as a .txt file and a link as a shortcut.
Does text keep its formatting?
Yes. Text from a web page, Word or an email keeps its links and formatting when you drag it into an app that supports them. Apps that only take plain text get plain text.
Can I drop something without going to the screen edge?
Yes. Right-click the tray icon and turn on "Shake while dragging to show a drop zone". Then, while dragging, shake the mouse left and right and a drop zone opens next to the cursor.
Will my stack still be there after a restart?
Yes. Items stay until you remove them. If a file was moved, Cairn usually finds it again. If it can't, the tile says Missing: right-click it to point to the file, or remove it.
Windows warned me when I opened it. Is it safe?
Cairn is new and not signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC". Choose More info, then Run anyway. The full source code is on GitHub for anyone to check.
Which versions of Windows does it run on?
Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Does it work with more than one monitor?
Yes. Each monitor gets its own tab, and the stack opens on the one you're using. Right-click the tray icon and use "Show tab on" to pick monitors. You can also drag a tab up or down the edge.
Can I use it with a screen reader?
Yes. Narrator and NVDA read each item's name and kind, and whether it's selected. Open the stack with Ctrl+Alt+C and use the arrow keys.
How do I close or remove it?
Right-click the Cairn icon in the system tray and choose Quit Cairn. To remove it, delete the file you downloaded.
Download
Give it a try
Download the latest version from GitHub. No installer and no account: open it and drag something to the edge of your screen.
- Download size
- Under 1 MB
- Works on
- Windows 10 and 11
- Account
- None needed
- License
- Free, GPL-3.0