Frequently asked questions
Account
What payments methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit cards, like Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Union Pay and JCB. You can also pay with PayPal and electronic transfer.
Do you store my credit card details?
No, all credit card details for your subscription is managed securely by reputable FastSpring.
How do I cancel or change my subscription?
You can at any time cancel your subscription through the account management page. Your account is then downgraded to the 'Free' plan.
How does the billing work?
Billing is managed securely by reputable Fastspring. Subscriptions are automatically renewed. You will get a payment notification through email one week before next payment with instructions on how to cancel the subscription.
My free credits have run out - How do I get new ones?
On the 'Free' plan you get 10 conversions per month. It is automatically refilled each month and you get an email notification once that has been done. If you want to use Filestar more than that you can upgrade your account to the paid plan. The paid plans give you unlimited file conversions and support batch conversions. You can upgrade by navigating to the 'Help' menu and selecting 'Plans'.
You can always check your currently selected plan and credit balance in the desktop application if you click on 'Help' and then 'About' in the menu.
Consumption Credits
How do I know how many cloud credits I have left?
You can check your cloud credit balance in the About window under Help.
What happens if I don't use all of my cloud credits within a given period?
Any unused cloud credits typically expire at the end of the billing cycle or subscription period. It's important to use them within the specified timeframe to avoid losing them.
Purchased credits expire after a year.
How do I obtain cloud credits?
Every subscription comes with a set amount of cloud credits included. If you find that you need more credits, you can easily purchase additional credits as needed.
Credits are purchased directly in the application. Filestar will prompt for a refill when required.
Note that most skills that require cloud credits also require an active subscription.
What are cloud credits?
Cloud credits are a virtual currency that we use to charge for our advanced AI skills. Each skill is priced differently and can be based on factors such as the number of seconds of video footage proceeds or the number of images processed. This way, you only pay for what you use and can easily scale up or down depending on your needs. It's an efficient and cost-effective way to harness the power of AI for your file processing needs.
General
Why do I need to download a software?
Our mission is to make it as easy as possible to use Filestar with your daily tasks. Having a desktop app increases the usability and accessibility enormously for you. For instance, to convert a file you can just right-click on it at your desktop, find 'Convert with Filestar' in the menu and select it. The software will smoothly open and the file appears ready-to-go in the app. You also save time from not having to log in each time or finding the location of the software. And you don't have to upload or download your files to a cloud server.
Why do I have to register?
To give Filestar a try is free and there is no need to register initially. At first, you get 5 free conversions. After that, when you register you get 10 more free of charge per month. Once you have used all your free credits you can sign up for a subscription.
You need to register at Filestar for two main reasons.
First, you need to have an account in order to get your second batch with the 10 free conversions stored somewhere. Your account will also help you keep track of current conversion credit status so that you know how many you have left.
Secondly, we always strive to give you the best experience with Filestar. And we aspire to help you explore how to take your desktop productivity further. To do so we are happy to occasionally send you emails with tailor-made content or software updates. But don't worry, we won't bother you unless we think you will really benefit from it.
How big are the files that I can convert?
We strive to be able to handle any file, no matter the size or format. For most file conversions or skills, there is no file size limit in Filestar. Neither regarding the size of a single file nor the number of files that you can convert in one operation. However, for some file conversions in the cloud, the limit is 200 Mb.
What is Filestar?
We have built Filestar to make your daily work with all sorts of files easier. It is a software for file conversions and other things you’d want to do to files. You can convert, merge, split, transform, compress, or extract one or many files with just a few simple clicks. Our desktop app has more than 30 000 skills available.
We work towards the ambitious mission to do anything with any file.
Installation
I use a Mac, can I use Filestar?
Yes! We're now also offering a macOS version of Filestar.
Is there an app available for Filestar?
Yes, there is a desktop application available for download at https://filestar.com/download/ for Windows and macOS.
There is no Filestar mobile phone app available today.
Is it possible to download Filestar on both my home and work computer?
Yes, with a professional plan you are allowed to install Filestar on two computers.
I am already a customer - How do I access the software?
Simply go to the download page and follow the instructions. Install it on your device and use your already existing credentials to authenticate. If you are a client you should have gotten a license key to the email address linked to your account.
How do I uninstall Filestar from my computer?
Go to your desktop and open your 'Control panel'. Select 'Programs', then under 'Programs and Features', click on 'Uninstall a program'. From your program list, select 'Filestar' and click 'Uninstall'.
How do I get my license key?
Your license key will be delivered to the email address that you used when registering at Filestar. If you have lost your registration key you can request it to be re-sent to the email address associated with your Filestar account, once you open the login window in the desktop application. If you can't find the mail in your inbox, please check the spam folder too.
How do I install Filestar?
First download the Filestar software. Then open your 'Downloads' folder on your computer, double click Filestar.exe file. Select 'Run as administrator' and then 'Yes' when asked if you want the application to make changes into your computer. After this, the software will automatically be installed on your computer.
Privacy & Security
I have files with delicate information. How safe are my files?
Data privacy and security is number one at the top of our list over what we value the most at Filestar. Your files are not stored anywhere, nor manually monitored by anyone. The files used in Filestar are deleted as soon as your files are done and downloaded. We store no record of the files that you process, such as filenames, content or other metadata. All traffic is encrypted to and from our servers.
We hope that this assures you that we do everything we can to keep delicate information safe and private. In return, we trust that you do not use our services to process any documents with illegal content.
Do you store the files that I use or convert in Filestar?
Data privacy and security is number one at the top of our list over what we value the most at Filestar. Your files are neither stored anywhere, nor manually monitored by anyone. The files are deleted as soon as you are done. We store no record of the files you process, such as filenames, content or other metadata. All traffic is encrypted to and from our servers.
We hope that this assures you that we do everything we can to keep delicate information safe and private. In return, we trust that you do not use our services to process any illegal documents.
What happens to my file when I use Filestar?
At Filestar we value your data privacy and security highly. Your files are neither stored anywhere, nor manually monitored by anyone. The files are deleted as soon as you are done. We store no record of the files you process, such as filenames, content or other metadata. All traffic is encrypted to and from our servers.
We hope that this assures you that we do everything we can to keep delicate information safe and private. In return, we trust that you do not use our services to process any documents with illegal content.
Skills
I am missing a skill - What to do?
Let us know! We are dedicated to our mission to help you do anything with any file, so tell us what you are missing. Send us an e-mail at info@filestar.com with your wish and we will try to help you!
What is a skill?
A skill is a task that you want Filestar to do to one or more files. You send in a file, order a task - like a file conversion - and get a result - your file in a new format. A very common skill that many can relate to as an example is converting a .pdf file into a .doc file.
Subscription
How do I activate my Filestar subscription?
Have you purchased a Filestar subscription, but not sure how to activate it? Follow these easy steps and you'll be done in a minute!
- Open the Filestar app on your desktop.
- Go to Help, then Plan.
- Find the link Restore Purchase and click it.
- Fill in your email and verification code, that has been sent to your email address.
There you go, now you can use Filestar unlimited!