Opening files from the conversation

When Claude names a file, or you click a file in Changed files, the file opens in the project’s Files tab, at the line that’s named. Claude’s replies, a tool call’s details and Changed files all reach the editor this way.

Where a file opens from

A file named in Claude’s replies (Files and links in replies).
Open in Changed files, and in the diff window, which then closes so it doesn’t hide the editor (The diff view). Settings → Files and diffs → Open in the diff window can send the diff window’s elsewhere.
Open in the details of a Read, Edit, Write or NotebookEdit call’s tile, beside Open diff (Tool calls).

Each of their menus keeps Open in the OS’s app.

At the line

A line named in a reply (Player.cpp:42, :42:7 or #L42-L51) is gone to, and a range is selected. An Edit call’s file opens at the first line its change touched.

Which Files tab

The Files tab of the group whose folder holds the file, or the deepest group when one’s folder is inside another’s. A file in no group’s folder, such as ~/.claude/settings.json, opens in the Files tab of the tab you clicked in. Its file tab shows its whole path, and the explorer doesn’t list it.

Where it shows

A click in a conversation opens the Files tab beside it, as Open beside does (Split panes), unless it’s on screen already. The Files tab takes the focus, so the keyboard goes to the editor.

Settings → Files and diffs → Show a file clicked in a conversation can change that to In its place: the Files tab then takes the conversation’s pane, as selecting it in the sidebar does.

When the Files tab opens beside the conversation for its first file, it starts with its explorer hidden, so the file has the pane. That’s this Files tab alone, and it’s kept with it: the other Files tabs keep theirs. The explorer’s button, Find file and Reveal in the explorer bring it back, and so do a folder named in a reply and the group’s Project files button (The explorer).

Close the file when you’re done with it, and the Files tab closes too: the conversation has its width back. If you showed the explorer meanwhile, the Files tab stays beside the conversation (File tabs).

What still goes elsewhere

A program or shortcut that isn’t text (.exe, .lnk, .app, .desktop) still shows in its folder, since opening it would run it.
Binary files, and files over 10 MB, open in the OS’s app.
An image opens in Claudette’s image window, as Settings → Files and diffs → Open images in says (Images).
A folder in the project shows in the explorer, expanded and selected. One elsewhere opens in Explorer, Finder or your file manager.
A script (.bat, .ps1, .sh, .py, .js) opens in the editor as text, since showing its text doesn’t run it.

Using the OS’s app instead

Settings → Files and diffs → Open files in has two choices, Claudette’s editor, at the line named (the default) and The app the OS uses for the file. With the second, every file goes where it went before the Files tab existed, and Show a file clicked in a conversation turns off, since it only applies to the editor.

Settings

Setting	Default	Where
Open files in	Claudette’s editor, at the line named	Settings → Files and diffs
Show a file clicked in a conversation	Beside the conversation (or In its place)	Settings → Files and diffs
Open images in	Claudette’s image viewer (or The app the OS uses for the file)	Settings → Files and diffs, explained in Images

Shortcuts

Ctrl/Cmd+P opens the project’s Files tab with a search ready, beside the conversation or in its place by the same setting (Finding a file by name).