The files places sidebar, which is shown in Files and in open and save dialogs, has been reworked for 3.18. A new location, called Other Locations, has been added, which provides a useful overview of local and network locations. Many of these locations are no longer automatically shown in the places sidebar, which helps to avoid clutter.

Long-running operations (such as copying or moving large numbers of files) have also been improved: a button shows progress information in the header bar, which shows more detailed information when pressed. This allows you to easily see progress at a glance, and avoids progress windows getting in the way.

There have also been a huge number of smaller improvements to the files experience during the 3.18 cycle. Here are some of them: