Comparison of file managers
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable file managers.
General information
Basic general information about the managers: creator/company etc.
File manager | Creator | First public version (date) |
Latest stable version (date, number) |
Cost | Software license |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | Altap | August 15, 1997 | June 29, 2016 (3.07) | US$30 | Proprietary |
Commander One | Eltima Software | August 4, 2015 | September 29, 2015 (1.1) | US$29.95 (lite: free) |
Proprietary |
CRAX Commander | Soft4U2 | September 1, 2013 | January 17, 2016 (1.10.8) | US$19.99 (demo: free) |
Proprietary |
Directory Opus | Jonathan Potter, GPSoftware |
Amiga: v1 (1990-01-03) Windows: v6 (2001-06-18) |
July 7, 2015 (11.15) | A$49 lite / A$89 pro | Proprietary |
Dired | integral part of Emacs, part of the GNU project |
1974? | July 30, 2009 (7.17) | Free | GPL |
Dolphin | KDE | June 7, 2006 (0.5) | November 15, 2015 (15.08.3) | Free | GPL |
Double Commander | alexx2000 | 2007 | July 2, 2016 (0.7.3 beta) | Free | GPL |
DOS Navigator | Ritlabs | 1991 (0.90) | 1999 (1.51) | Free | BSD original |
emelFM2 | tooar | September 6, 2003 | February 18, 2014 (0.9.1) | Free | GPL |
Far Manager | Eugene Roshal (original); Far Group | 1996 | 3.0 build 4774 (2 September 2016 ) [±] | Free | BSD revised |
File Commander | Brian Havard | 1993 | March 3, 2011 (2.40) | A$35.00 | Proprietary |
File Manager | Microsoft (Ian Ellison-Taylor) | 1990 | November 30, 1999 (4.0.1381.318) | Part of Windows | Proprietary |
Finder | Apple Inc. | January 1984 | August 13, 2015 (10.10.5) | Part of OS X | Proprietary |
Explorer++ | David Ercig | January 8, 2008 | February 3, 2013 (1.3.5) | Free | GPL |
Gentoo (file manager) | Emil Brink | ? | March 18, 2012 (0.19.13) | Free | GPL |
GNOME Commander | GNOME Commander | September 2001 | April 5, 2014 (1.4.1) | Free | GPL |
Konqueror | KDE | October 2000 | 4.14.3 (November 11, 2014 ) [±][1] | Free | GPL |
Krusader | Krusader Krew | July 11, 2000 | 2.0.0 "Mars Pathfinder" for KDE4 (April 26, 2009 ) [±] | Free | GPL |
Midnight Commander (mc) | GNU Midnight Commander | < May 1994[2] | March 12, 2016 (4.8.16) | Free | GPL |
muCommander | Maxence Bernard | February 17, 2002 | August 5, 2012 (0.9.0) | Free | GPL |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Eazel | April 11, 2001 | 3.22.2 (9 November 2016[3]) [±] | Free | GPL |
Nomad.NET | Eugene Sichkar | August 14, 2008 (2.2.0.537 beta) |
June 13, 2016 (3.2.0.2890) | Free | Proprietary |
Norton Commander | Peter Norton Computing, later Symantec corporation |
1986 | February 1, 1999 (2.01 Windows DOS: 1998-07-01 (5.51)) |
? | Proprietary |
Path Finder (originally named SNAX) |
Cocoatech | April 2001 | September 2, 2014 (7) | US$39.95 | Proprietary |
PathMinder | Albert Nurick and Brittain Fraley |
1984 | 1988 (4.11) | US$39.95 | Proprietary |
PCManFM | Hong Jen Yee | January 9, 2006 | February 21, 2016 (1.2.4) | Free | GPL |
ROX-Filer | Thomas Leonard et al. | Before March 10, 2000 | October 9, 2011 (2.11) | Free | GPL |
SpaceFM | IgnorantGuru | January 13, 2012 (0.5.0) | January 20, 2016 (1.0.5) | Free | GPL |
STDU Explorer | STDUtility | March 23, 2009 | May 24, 2012 (1.0.465) | Free | Proprietary |
Tabbles | Yellow blue soft UAB | August 1, 2009 | August 12, 2016 (3.1.29) | US$29.95 (lite: free) |
Proprietary |
Thunar | Xfce | January 22, 2006 | May 22, 2015 (1.6.10) | Free | GPL |
Total Commander (originally named 'Windows Commander') |
Christian Ghisler | September 25, 1993 (1.00d) | November 23, 2016 (9.00) | CHF40, €37, US$42 | Proprietary |
Volkov Commander | Vsevolod Volkov | circa 1992 | 4.05 (February 21, 2001 ) [±] | shareware / freeware | Proprietary |
Windows Explorer (now 'File Explorer') |
Microsoft | August 24, 1995 | July 29, 2015 | Part of Windows | Proprietary |
WinSCP | WinSCP | September 30, 2000 | 5.9.3 (November 30, 2016[4]) [±] | Free | GPL |
Xandros File Manager | Xandros Corporation | ? | July 26, 2007 (4.2) | Part of Xandros Desktop | Proprietary |
Xfe | Roland Baudin | 2002 | November 28, 2015 (1.41) | Free | GPL |
Xfile | Rixstep | March 2, 2003 | February 19, 2007 (1.8.0) | US$79.00 (with 80+ other apps) |
Proprietary |
Xfm | Simon Marlow, Albert Gräf, Robert Vogelgesang, Juan D. Martin, Till Straumann | 1992 | September 2001 (1.4.3) | Free | GPL |
xplorer² | Nikos Bozinis | June 10, 2004 | February 25, 2015 (3.0.0.3) | US$29.95 (lite: free) |
Proprietary |
XTree | Jeffery C. Johnson | April 1, 1985 | 1992 (Xtree for Windows) | US$39.95 | Proprietary |
XYplorer | Donald Lessau | 1997 | February 23, 2016 (16.30.0000) | US$39.95 (lite: free) |
Proprietary |
ZTreeWin | Kim Henkel | 1996 | May 27, 2012 (2.1.19) May 26, 2013 (2.4.121 beta) |
US$29.95 (1-4) | Proprietary |
File manager | Creator | First public version (date) |
Latest stable version (date, number) |
Cost | Software license |
Operating system support
Cross-platform file managers
This table shows the operating systems that the file managers can run on, without emulation.
File manager | DOS | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | AmigaOS | OS/2 & eCS | OpenVMS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Directory Opus | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes[5] | No | No |
Dired | Yes[6] | Yes[7] | Yes[8] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[9] | Yes[10] | Yes[11] |
Dolphin | No | Needs KDE[12] | Yes[13] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Double Commander | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
DOS Navigator | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
emelFM2 | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
File Commander | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
GNOME Commander | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Konqueror | No | Needs KDE[12] | Yes[13] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Krusader | No | No | Needs X | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Midnight Commander | Yes | Yes[14] | Yes[15] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
muCommander | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
PathMinder | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
PCManFM | No | Needs POSIX-compliant platform | Needs POSIX-compliant platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Needs POSIX-compliant platform | Yes |
ROX-Filer | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ||
Thunar | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Volkov Commander | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Xandros File Manager | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No |
Xfe | No | Needs X | Needs X | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Needs X | Yes |
Xfm | No | Needs X | Needs X | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Needs X | Yes |
ZTreeWin | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
File manager | DOS | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | AmigaOS | OS/2 & eCS | OpenVMS |
Mac-only file managers
*nix-only file managers
Windows-only file managers
- Altap Salamander
- Directory Opus[5]
- Explorer++
- FAR Manager
- File Manager
- Nomad.NET
- PowerDesk
- SE-Explorer
- STDU Explorer
- Total Commander[16][17]
- Windows Explorer
- xplorer²
- XYplorer
- ZTreeWin
Manager views
![](../I/m/Konqueror_large.png)
![](../I/m/Details%26thumbs.jpg)
Information about what common file manager views are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).
Note that the "Column View" does not refer to the Miller Columns browsing / visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures / folders.
File manager | Family | UI | Icon view | List view | Column view | Thumbnails | Details + Thumbs | Grouping | Content dependent [18] | Twin panel | Favorites / Bookmark | Panel tabs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Partial | No |
Commander One | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes |
CRAX Commander | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Demos Commander | Orthodox | Text | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Directory Opus | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dired | Orthodox | Text | ? | Yes | ? | Yes, on GUI[19] | Yes, on GUI[19] | ? | ? | Yes, one or more | Partial (bookmarks) | Yes (show tab-bar optional) [20] |
Dolphin | Navigational | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Double Commander | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
DOS Navigator | Orthodox | Text | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
emelFM2 | Orthodox | GUI | No | Yes | No | Yes[21] | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | No |
FAR Manager | Orthodox | Text [22] | Partial[23] | Yes | Yes | Yes[24] | Partial[23] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial [m 1] |
File Commander | Orthodox | Text | No | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
File Manager | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No |
Finder | Spatial / Miller Columns | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with Cover Flow | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
gentoo | Orthodox | GUI | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
GNOME Commander | Orthodox | GUI | No | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes |
Konqueror | Navigational / Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Krusader | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Midnight Commander | Orthodox | Text | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Navigational / Spatial | GUI | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Nomad.NET | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial, Manual | Yes | Yes | Yes, Shared |
Path Finder | Navigational | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PCManFM | Navigational | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ROX-Filer | Spatial | GUI | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
STDU Explorer | Navigational | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Total Commander | Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes In viewing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Thunar | Navigational | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes |
Volkov Commander | Orthodox | Text | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Windows Explorer | Navigational / Spatial | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes [m 2] | Yes | Partial [m 3] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Xandros File Manager | Navigational | GUI | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfe | Navigational | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Xfm | Spatial | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | ? | No |
xplorer² | Hybrid Navigational / Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[25] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XYplorer | Hybrid Navigational / Orthodox | GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ZTreeWin | Orthodox | Text | No | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
File manager | Family | UI | Icon view | List view | Column view | Thumbnails | Details + Thumbs | Grouping | Content dependent | Twin panel | Favorites / Bookmark | Panel tabs |
Twin-panel file managers have obligatory connected panels where action in one panel results in reaction in the second. Konqueror supports multiple panels divided horizontally, vertically or both, but these panels do not act as twin panels by default (the user has to mark the panels he wants to act as twin-panels).
Network protocols
Information on what networking protocols the file managers support. Note that many of these protocols might be supported, in part or in whole, by software layers below the file manager, rather than by the file manager itself; for example, the Mac OS X Finder doesn't implement those protocols, and the Windows Explorer doesn't implement most of them, they just make ordinary file system calls to access remote files, and Konqueror either uses ordinary file system calls or KIO slave calls to access remote files. Some functions, such as browsing for servers or shares, might be implemented in the file manager even if most functions are implemented below the file manager.
File manager | SMB/CIFS | WebDAV | NFS | AFP | FTP | FISH/SSH |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Commander One | Yes[n 1] | No | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes | Yes |
CRAX Commander | Yes[n 1] | No | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes | Yes |
Directory Opus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (SFTP & SSL[26]) |
Dired | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | No | Yes | Yes[n 1] |
Dolphin | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Double Commander | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
emelFM2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Far Manager | Yes | Partial[n 2] | Partial[n 3] | No | Yes | Yes[n 4] |
File Commander | Yes | Partial[n 2] | Partial[n 3] | No | Partial[n 5] | Partial[n 6] |
File Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Finder | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Partial[n 1] | No |
GNOME Commander | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Konqueror | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Krusader | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
muCommander | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Midnight Commander | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Nomad.NET | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Path Finder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Read Access) | No |
PCManFM | Yes[n 7] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ROX-Filer | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] | Yes[n 1] |
Total Commander | Yes | Yes[n 4] | Partial[n 3] | No | Yes | Yes |
Thunar | Yes[n 7] | Yes[n 7] | Yes[n 7] | No | Yes[n 7] | Yes[n 7] |
Windows Explorer | Yes | Yes | Yes[n 8] | No | Yes | No |
Xandros File Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfe | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
xplorer² | Yes | Yes[n 9] | Partial[n 3] | No | Yes | No |
XYplorer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ZTreeWin | Yes | Partial[n 5] | Partial[n 3] | No | Partial[n 5] | Partial[n 6] |
File manager | SMB/CIFS | WebDAV | NFS | AFP | FTP | FISH/SSH |
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Support is provided by the underlying operating system.
- 1 2 WebDAV support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or Webdrive.
- 1 2 3 4 5 NFS support in these file managers requires the installation of Services for UNIX.
- 1 2 Support is provided via a free 3rd-party plugin.
- 1 2 3 FTP support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or Webdrive.
- 1 2 SSH support in these file managers requires the installation of SftpDrive or Webdrive.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Support is provided by GVFS
- ↑ NFS support requires either the freely downloadable Windows Services for UNIX or is built-in starting with Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate editions as Subsystem for Unix-based applications (SUA).
- ↑ WebDAV is supported via Microsoft Windows' built-in Network Places/Mapped Drive functionality.
File features
Information on what basic file features the file managers support.
File Manager | Undo/redo file operation | File compression | File encryption | Rename busy files | File preview | File coloring filter [27] | File selection filter | Paste clipboard as file | File and folder reports | ACL (Access control list) | Mass Rename [28] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes, multiple [29] | ? | Yes | Yes [30] | Yes |
Commander One | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | |
CRAX Commander | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
Directory Opus | ? | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
Dired | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes |
Dolphin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial |
Double Commander | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
emelFM2 | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? |
FAR Manager | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial [31] | Yes | Plugin | Plugin |
File Commander | ? | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
File Manager | ? | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes |
Finder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | Yes | No |
GNOME Commander | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes |
Konqueror | Partial [32] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[33] |
Krusader | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes[33] |
Midnight Commander | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Partial[34] | ? | ? | Yes |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial [35] | No | Yes | No |
Nomad.NET | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
Path Finder | ? | Yes | No [36] | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
PCManFM | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ROX-Filer | ? | With helper apps | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | |
STDU Explorer | ? | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Thunar | No | No | No | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
Total Commander | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Log file | Yes |
Windows Explorer | Yes | Yes | Partial[37] | No | Yes | No | No | Partial [38] | No | Yes [39] | Partial |
Xandros File Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfe | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
xplorer² | No | Yes | Partial [37] | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [40] | Yes |
XYplorer | Yes | Yes | Partial [37] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ZTreeWin | ? | Yes | Partial [41] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
File Manager | Undo/redo file operation | File compression | File encryption | Rename busy files | File preview | File coloring filter | File selection filter | Paste clipboard as file | File and folder reports | ACL (Access control list) | Mass Rename |
Browsing features
File manager | Symbolic links | Browse compressed folders | Slideshows | Shows combined Size of Selected Directories | Branch Sizes | Directory Compare | Synchronizer | Find as you type (Type-ahead find) | Embedded/Integrated Terminal | For Directories, size column shows: |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial (for remote folders) | Yes | Yes | DIR |
Commander One | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes, in the PRO Pack[42] | DIR and Total size including subdirectories |
CRAX Commander | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | DIR and Total size including subdirectories |
Dired | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes[43] | literal [browse 1] |
DOS Navigator | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes[44] | Yes | Total size including subdirectories |
Dolphin | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | number of entries |
Double Commander | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | DIR |
emelFM2 | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | literal [browse 1] |
FAR Manager | Yes | Yes | Partial [n 1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial [45] | Yes | Yes | ? |
File Commander | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Finder | ? | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
GNOME Commander | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Konqueror | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes(with konq-plugin) | Yes | Yes(with kdiff3 plugin) | Yes(with kdiff3 plugin) | Yes | Yes | folder only size (default) selectable to file count/total size |
Krusader | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Midnight Commander | Yes | Yes[46] | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes[47] | Yes | Yes | ? |
muCommander | No[48] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Partial, command execution only | ? |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | ? | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes, With Plugin[49][50] | number of entries |
Nomad.NET | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, via Plugin | DIR and Total size including subdirectories |
Path Finder | ? | No | Yes | Partial | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes[51] | Yes |
PCManFM | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No, but there is a fork attempt[52] | nothing |
ROX-Filer | ? | No | No | Yes | ? | No | ? | Yes, and browsing with tab completion | No | nothing |
Thunar | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No | literal* |
Total Commander | Yes[53] | Yes | Yes In plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | DIR and Total size including subdirectories |
Windows Explorer | Partial[54] | Yes | Yes | Yes (in folder tooltips) | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Xandros File Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
Xfe | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
Xfile | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No[55] | ? |
Xfm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
xplorer² | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[56] | ? |
XYplorer | ? | Yes | Yes[57] | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | Yes[58] | Contents including subs |
ZTreeWin | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | number of entries |
File manager | Symbolic links | Browse compressed folders | Slideshows | Shows combined Size of Selected Directories | Branch Sizes | Directory Compare | Synchronizer | Find as you type (Type-ahead find) | Embedded/Integrated Terminal | For Directories, size column shows: |
- ↑ Support is provided via a free 3rd-party plugin.
Search features
Information on what file searching features the file managers support. RegExp include the possibilities of nested Boolean searches, thus implicitly all file managers supporting RegExp search support also Boolean searches.
File manager | File Name [D 1] | File Contents [D 2] | Basic metadata search [D 3] | All metadata search [D 4] | RegExp for Contents | Boolean (nesting levels) | Fuzzy logic [D 5] | Save searches [D 6] | Refined searches [D 7] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes[s 1] | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Commander One | Yes | ? | Yes[s 2] | Yes[s 2] | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No |
CRAX Commander | Yes | ? | Yes[s 2] | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No |
Directory Opus | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dired | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Dolphin | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
Double Commander | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
emelFM2 | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Partial | ? |
FAR Manager | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes[s 3] | Yes[s 3] | Yes[s 3] | Yes | Yes |
File Commander | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Finder | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Konqueror | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Krusader | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes[59] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Yes | ? | Partial [s 4] | Partial [s 4] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Nomad.NET | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Path Finder | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No |
PCManFM | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
ROX-Filer | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? |
Total Commander | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial [s 5] |
Windows Explorer | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Xandros File Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfe | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Xfile | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Xfm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
xplorer² | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XYplorer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[s 6] |
ZTreeWin | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial | Partial [s 7] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
File manager | File Name [D 1] | File Contents [D 2] | Basic metadata search [D 3] | All metadata search [D 4] | RegExp for Contents | Boolean (nesting levels) | Fuzzy logic [D 5] | Save searches [D 6] | Refined searches [D 7] |
Column Definitions (D)
- 1 2 using wildcards, subfolders
- 1 2 using wildcards, case match, whole word match
- 1 2 size, date, time, attributes (read only, hidden, archivable, etc.
- 1 2 what/where is additional metadata?
- 1 2 what is fuzzy logic and how is it useful?
- 1 2 Ability to save templates containing all search settings (file filter, metadata requirements etc.). Results of saves searches are always live, so not the results but the search conditions are saved.
- 1 2 Also known as iterative searches. For example the ability to finish one search and then perform a new search a) only within these results (intersect the two result sets / the requirements of both searches have to be met), 2) adding to these results (combine both result sets to a bigger set) or 3) subtract from those results (original result set reduced by intersection of result sets).
Entry Notes (s)
- ↑ Altap Salamander Search offers RegExp for defining the file content.
- 1 2 3 Support is provided by the underlying operating system.
- 1 2 3 Support is provided via a free 3rd-party plugin.
- 1 2 Can integrate with Beagle to provide more searching functionality.
- ↑ Search intersection
- ↑ After searching results, user can apply advanced visual filters to narrow down results.
- ↑ ZTreeWin provides several context specific search syntaxes that are not pure regex
Extensibility
Information on which parts of the application can be extended by plugins.
File manager | Filesystem support | Attribute columns | File previews | Metadata indexing | Unicode support | Visual Themes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altap Salamander | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Partial | No |
Commander One | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
CRAX Commander | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial |
Directory Opus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
Dired | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Dolphin | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Double Commander | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes[e 1] | Partial[e 2] |
emelFM2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Far Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes[e 3] | No |
Finder | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[e 4] | Partial[e 5] |
Konqueror | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Krusader | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | ? | |
Midnight Commander | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
GNOME Files (Nautilus) | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
Nomad.NET | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
Path Finder | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
PCManFM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
ROX-Filer | No | Yes | No | ? | ||
Total Commander | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes In search tool | Yes[e 1] | Partial[e 2] |
Windows Explorer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[60] | Yes | Partial[e 5] |
Xandros File Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfe | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Xfile | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xfm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
xplorer² | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
XYplorer | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
ZTreeWin | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No |
File manager | Filesystem support | Attribute columns | File previews | Metadata indexing | Unicode support | Visual Themes |
- 1 2 Main change in Total Commander 7.50
- 1 2 User can change toolbar icons
- ↑ In Far 2.0 & Far 3.0+
- ↑ Unicode support depends on Mac OS version. Mac OS X's Finder includes full Unicode support, while Mac OS 8 and earlier does not. May be supported in >=8.1 and <=9.2 if using unicode filesystems.
- 1 2 File and folder icons customizable on OS level and via folder properties
Notes
- ↑ "KDE Ships KDE Applications and Platform 4.14.3". KDE. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
- ↑ The exact history is unknown. This date comes from changelog entries in the src/TODO file in the Git repository (SHA1: eb6b3842a). But it is probably earlier than that. Dec 1997 was release v4.1 already.
- ↑ Clasen, Matthias (21 September 2016). "GNOME 3.22". gnome-announce-list (Mailing list). Retrieved 21 September 2016.
- ↑ "Recent Version History :: WinSCP". Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- 1 2 Directory Opus 5.82 Magellan II is the last commercial version available for Amiga. Full and registered version has been released for free with the AmiKit distribution. Directory Opus 4 is maintained separately under an open source license.
- ↑ "Info Node: (emacs)Dired". cmu.edu.
- ↑ "Emacs FAQ for MS Windows". Free Software Foundation. 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
- ↑ http://homepage.mac.com/zenitani/emacs-e.html
- ↑ http://de5.aminet.net/util/gnu/em1934src.readme
- ↑ "Emacs 20.6 under OS/2". Home.snafu.de. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
- ↑ Last edited 2010-05-28 22:59 UTC by AaronHawley (diff) (2010-05-28). "Emacs On VMS". EmacsWiki. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
- 1 2 "Projects/KDE on Windows/Installation - KDE TechBase". Techbase.kde.org. 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
- 1 2 "The MacPorts Project - Available Ports". MacPorts. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
- ↑ Cygwin or unsupported native port
- ↑ Runs in text mode inside Terminal window
- ↑ Windows 95 and later
- ↑ Windows Mobile
- ↑ Content Dependent (System) refers to a system which attempts to detect the dominant type of files in that folder and then select the most appropriate view mode for you automatically.
- 1 2 Activating Image-Dired command in the graphical interface.
- ↑ Tab-bar mode can be activated to show the tab-bar (else it will be hidden).
- ↑ Optional image thumbnailer plugin since v0.3.4 (24/5/2007)
- ↑ The text interface, which can be partially graphical with some plugins, such as embedded image/video viewers, for example. But the text interface is only emulated with the ConEmu mod - it is graphical and TrueColor in reality.
- 1 2 With the ConEmu mod or plugins
- ↑ With ConEmu Far Manager plugin conemu-maximus5
- ↑ Via "Mirrored Browsing" feature
- ↑ Requires an additional licence (purchased separately)
- ↑ Files matching certain user defined criteria (e.g. name pattern, attributes) are displayed in another color. Example: Since Windows 2000, the UI guide requires NTFS compressed files and folders displayed in blue, whereas uncompressed ones are black.
- ↑ Mass Rename is a feature to rename large number of files in a convenient way and including a preview, see the screenshot for an example. Common options are subdirectory inclusion, wildcards, manual mode (offering to edit names as text files in editors), counters, time related fields (e.g. "date created"), path related fields (e.g. "parent directory name"), regular expressions etc. See also: Batch renaming.
- ↑ Altap Salamander offers to show only selected files and hide unselected ones, also in picture viewer etc. For selection, the usual wildcards and add/subtract/intersect with 1...N stored selections are offered.
- ↑ ACL is dependent on the type and version of file- and operating system. Altap Salamander offers quick access to owner, auditing and permission settings in WinXP with NTFS 5.
- ↑ With plug-ins, or this can be implemented as a macros
- ↑ Konqueror can undo, not redo.
- 1 2 Needs KRename, an application that integrates into Konqueror and Krusader.
- ↑ Create new file with desired name, then paste contents.
- ↑ Only text which is dragged from another program and dropped into a folder in GNOME Files (Nautilus) can be pasted as a new file.
- ↑ Path Finder apparently integrates with Knox, an encryption utility.
- 1 2 3 The encryption feature in Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Server 2003 is in fact a user-transparent filesystem-level encryption feature for NTFS. The file manager merely enables or disables it.
- ↑ Supported up to Windows XP only. Document scraps are not supported in Windows Vista and later.
- ↑ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only. Must be enabled manually in Windows versions prior to Server 2003.
- ↑ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only.
- ↑ Encryption is supported for Zip and Rar, other formats depend on the editable ARCHIVER.BB2 file
- ↑ "Dual-pane file manager for Mac - Commander One". mac.eltima.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "Shell Commands in Dired". www.gnu.org. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ Press and release Alt
- ↑ Via plugins, or manual with helping of the embedded Advanced Compare.
- ↑ Extensible via compression plugins, supported formats list depends on distribution package maintainer
- ↑ Can be done in two steps
- ↑ "Two-pane file manager for Windows with symlink and large file support". stackexchange.com.
- ↑ "Flogisoft - Nautilus Terminal". Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "Launchpad - Nautilus Terminal". Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "Path Finder 7 by Cocoatech". www.cocoatech.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "LXDE.org Forum - Try PCManFM with a tabbed terminal included". forum.lxde.org. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "Two-pane file manager for Windows with symlink and large file support". stackexchange.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ Copying directory junctions across drives creates an empty directory in the target
- ↑ "Xfile: The Standard Setter - Features". rixstep.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "xplorer² tour#6: external command console". zabkat.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ via XYplorer script- SlideShow
- ↑ "XYplorer - 9.90 Released". www.xyplorer.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ↑ "Krusader - Twin panel file management for your desktop". krusader.org.
- ↑ IFilters
External links
- Comparison of Linux file managers: Dolphin, Nautilus, Nemo, PCManFM and Thunar, May 2014
- Softpanorama Orthodox File Managers page (Home of the OFM standard)
- Comparison of some "light" File Managers in GNU/Linux (in spanish)