Ferdium places several web communication services inside one Electron desktop window. Each configured service runs in its own WebView partition. The provider’s website and account continue to handle the service’s message data.
A service recipe connects a website to Ferdium and can calculate unread counts, add service-specific dark mode or set a required user agent. Workspaces group service instances, while quick switching moves among them. A per-service proxy can change the connection path for one configured instance.
A website URL is not the same as a recipe
Custom Website can add an unlisted site through a URL and icon. That entry lacks the integration code that supplies unread counts or service-specific behavior.
A maintained recipe can inspect the service for notification state and apply its own fixes. Ferdium cannot invent those rules from the URL alone. A custom entry therefore answers the need to open a site, not the promise that every desktop integration will work.
A wrong service user agent can force the website into a mobile layout. The documented repair changes that service’s User Agent setting. The User Agent setting controls the documented repair.
Accountless mode needs manual backups
Ferdium can use an embedded local API without an account. That mode has no hosted configuration synchronization. The user’s services, workspaces and settings depend on manual backups rather than appearing automatically on another computer.
Self-hosted synchronization requires Ferdium Server and an account on that server. Moving between an account or server is not a transparent address change. The documented workflow creates a backup and then signs out. The import restores service entries and workspaces in the new context. It also restores the supported configuration data.
Skipping the backup can leave the destination account without the local arrangement even though each underlying website account still exists. The provider messages and the Ferdium configuration are different objects.
Release channels overwrite one another
The ordinary release channels share the same executable path. Installing a beta build over the ordinary release replaces that application channel while retaining the configuration. A nightly build uses the same replacement path. Ferdium does not support them as normal side-by-side installations.
This makes channel testing different from opening two independent programs. Returning from a nightly build to the ordinary release requires installing that release channel again rather than selecting another shortcut.
Portable storage changes the backup location
The Windows automatic installer keeps application data under AppData. The portable build stores its configuration next to the executable. The two installation routes therefore place configuration in different locations.
The artifact must also match the system architecture. The Windows signature may show the individual maintainer name Ambroise Grau instead of the Ferdium project name, so that signer text alone does not identify an unrelated package.
Pressing Alt reveals the hidden menu bar, and the View menu can disable auto-hide. This behavior can look like missing controls on a fresh installation even though the menu still exists.
