Everything Dhito can do

Getting Started

The first time you open Dhito, it asks you to pick the folders holding your photos, videos, and documents. Click Add Folders to choose as many as you like — you don't have to add everything right away, just a few to start with. Once you've picked at least one, click Start Indexing and Dhito begins building its search index in the background. Results fill in as indexing runs, so you can start searching before it finishes.

Two options appear on this first screen, both on by default:

• Start Dhito automatically on login — launches Dhito silently whenever you start your Mac, so it's always ready behind the summon shortcut.
• Include installed applications in search results — lets Dhito surface apps alongside files, so it can double as a launcher.

You can add, remove, or change either of these anytime from ⚙️ Settings, in the top-right corner of the app.

The Summon Shortcut

Press ⌥ Space anywhere on your Mac to bring Dhito to the front — press it again and Dhito hides, the same way Spotlight works. It's deliberately not ⌘ Space, since that already belongs to Spotlight; ⌥Space is unclaimed on a stock macOS install and works even while Dhito is running quietly in the background.

To use a different combination, open Settings → Summon Shortcut, click the button showing your current combo, and press any new key combination — it needs at least one modifier key (⌘, ⌥, ⌃, or ⇧) so it doesn't swallow an ordinary key system-wide. Press Esc while recording to cancel. A Reset button appears whenever your shortcut differs from the default, to put it back to ⌥Space in one click. If another app already owns the combination you pick, Dhito tells you and leaves your previous shortcut in place.

Searching

Start typing in the search bar and results update as you type — no need to press Enter. Use the filter pills above the results to narrow what you're looking at: All, 🚀 Apps, 📸 Snaps (images), 🎞️ Clips (videos), 🎵 Tunes (audio), and 📝 Text (documents). The Apps pill only appears if you've turned on app indexing.

A small LITE / PRO badge sits next to the filters. Pro mode enables Dhito's AI features — smart query understanding, chat, and AI rename. Lite mode turns those off to save RAM and CPU, while plain file search keeps working either way.

You never have to leave the search box to browse results:

• ↑ / ↓ — move the selection up or down
• ⇧ + ↑/↓ — extend the selection into a range
• Enter — open the selected result, or launch it if it's an app
• ⌘A — select every result
• ⌘K or → — open the action menu for the selected row
• Esc — cancel a rename in progress, or clear the current selection

Double-clicking a row opens or launches it, and right-clicking opens its menu at the cursor. Selecting a result also opens a side panel showing its file path (with a copy button) and match score.

Working with Results

Right-click any result — or select it and press ⌘K — to open its menu. For a regular file, that's Chat with File and Rename with AI (both Pro), then Open, Open With, Share…, Copy Name, Copy Path, Copy File, Rename…, and Show in Folder. Copying a file puts the actual file on your clipboard, so ⌘V into Finder, Mail, or Slack pastes the file itself. Apps get a shorter menu — just open, copy name/path, and show in Finder, since renaming or chatting with an app doesn't make sense.

Select multiple results and right-click for bulk actions — Open With, Share N Files…, Copy N Paths/Names/Files, and Clear Selection. A lightweight selection bar also appears at the bottom with quick Copy paths, Copy names, and Clear buttons (Esc also clears).

Chat with a File

Pick Chat with File from a file's menu to ask questions about that specific document, video, or audio file — chat is always scoped to the one file you opened it from, never a whole folder. For video, Dhito combines the audio transcript with a visual timeline of what's on screen, so it can answer questions about both what was said and what was shown.

Type your question and press Enter or click Send. Close the panel with the × button in its header. As with any AI feature, double-check anything important it tells you — Dhito says as much right under the input box.

Smart Rename

Choose Rename with AI from a file's menu and Dhito reads the file and suggests a descriptive name for it. While it thinks, the row shows Finding a name…; once a suggestion arrives it fills the rename field automatically, and you can edit it before accepting. Click Save (or press Enter) to commit the rename, Try again for a fresh suggestion without committing, or Cancel (or Esc) to discard it and keep the original name. A plain Rename… option is also available if you'd rather type the name yourself.

Video & Audio Timestamps

When Dhito indexes a video or audio file, it transcribes the audio and — for video — also reads what's visually on screen. Search for something said or shown inside a recording, and the result panel shows a row of Matched Times pills — one per moment that matched. Click a pill to jump the player straight to that point. The same idea applies to PDFs: a matched pill jumps you to the exact page.

Settings & License

Open ⚙️ Settings from the top-right corner of the app for:

• Indexed Folders — add or remove folders Dhito searches; removing one purges its memories from the index. Also toggles whether installed applications appear in search.
• System Identifier — the hardware ID pairing this Mac with your subscription. It's hidden by default (click Reveal to view it) — treat it like a password.
• Summon Shortcut — see above.
• Index Management — the ↻ Refresh Data Index button forces a full re-scan and rebuild of the search index. It can take several minutes on a large library, so Dhito confirms before starting.
• Support & Diagnostics — 📋 Save Locally exports sidecar and crash logs, useful if you ever need to send Dhito support something to debug.
• Auto-Start on Boot — the same login-launch toggle from onboarding, always available here.

Trial & Subscription

Dhito runs as a free trial before you activate a license. A small card appears in the corner as your trial winds down, letting you add your email so Dhito can remind you before it ends and let you move to a new Mac without losing your license — it's only ever used for that.

To activate, open Settings and choose Subscribe or Lifetime Access (when offered). Enter your email, then the one-time code Dhito sends you to verify this Mac. A lifetime license is a single purchase with nothing to renew; a subscription is managed from the same Settings panel via Manage Subscription.