Comparison of file managers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable file managers.

General information[]

Name Creator First public version
(date) 		Latest stable version
(date, number) 		Cost Software license
Altap Salamander Altap August 15, 1997 (1997-08-15) July 1, 2019; 2 years ago (2019-07-01) (4.0) No cost Proprietary
Commander One Eltima Software August 4, 2015 (2015-08-04) 2019; 2 years ago (2019) (2.3) US$29.95[1] Proprietary
Directory Opus Jonathan Potter,
GPSoftware 		Amiga: v1 (1990-01-03)
Windows: v6 (2001-06-18) 		October 15, 2020; 11 months ago (2020-10-15) (12.22) A$49 lite / A$89 pro Proprietary
Dired integral part of Emacs,
part of the GNU project 		1974? July 30, 2009; 12 years ago (2009-07-30) (7.17) No cost GPL
Readdle No cost Proprietary
Dolphin KDE June 7, 2006 (2006-06-07) (0.5) 21.08.1[2] Edit this on Wikidata 29 August 2021; 22 days ago (29 August 2021) No cost GPL
DOS Navigator 1991 (0.90) 1999 (1.51) No cost BSD-3-Clause
DOS Shell Microsoft / IBM 1988 1998 Part of MS-DOS/PC DOS (OS) Proprietary
Double Commander Alexander Koblov (alexx2000) and others 2007 January 10, 2021; 8 months ago (2021-01-10) (0.9.10) No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
emelFM2 tooar September 6, 2003 (2003-09-06) February 18, 2014; 7 years ago (2014-02-18) (0.9.1) No cost GPL-3.0-or-later
Explorer++ David Ercig January 8, 2008 (2008-01-08) February 3, 2013; 8 years ago (2013-02-03) (1.3.5) No cost GPL-3.0-only
Far Manager Eugene Roshal (original); Far Group 1996 3.0 build 5665 (12 September 2020; 12 months ago (2020-09-12)) No cost BSD-3-Clause
File Commander Brian Havard 1993 March 3, 2011; 10 years ago (2011-03-03) (2.40) A$35.00 Proprietary
File Explorer[3] Microsoft August 24, 1995 (1995-08-24) July 29, 2015; 6 years ago (2015-07-29) Part of Windows (OS) Proprietary
File Manager Microsoft (Ian Ellison-Taylor) 1990 January 7, 2019; 2 years ago (2019-01-07) (10.0.1901.1)[4] Part of Windows (OS) MIT[4]
Files (Apple) Apple Inc. September 19, 2017; 4 years ago (2017-09-19) Part of iOS (OS) Proprietary
Files by Google Google LLC 5 December 2017; 3 years ago (2017-12-05) No cost Proprietary
GeoManager ,[5] Breadbox Ensemble[6] 1990 2009 Part of PC/GEOS (OS) Proprietary
Finder Apple Inc. January 1984 (1984-01) August 13, 2015; 6 years ago (2015-08-13) (10.10.5) Part of macOS (OS) Proprietary
fman Michael Herrmann July 18, 2016 (2016-07-18) April 22, 2019; 2 years ago (2019-04-22) (1.5.8) US$18[1] Proprietary
ForkLift BinaryNights June 1, 2007 (2007-06-01) November 24, 2020; 9 months ago (2020-11-24) (3.4.4) US$29.95[1] Proprietary
gentoo Emil Brink ? March 18, 2012; 9 years ago (2012-03-18) (0.19.13) No cost GPL-2.0-only
GNOME Commander GNOME Commander September 2001 (2001-09) June 19, 2020; 15 months ago (2020-06-19) (1.10.3) No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
GNOME Files[7] Eazel April 11, 2001 (2001-04-11) 41.0[8] Edit this on Wikidata 17 September 2021; 3 days ago (17 September 2021) No cost GPL-3.0-or-later
Konqueror KDE October 2000 (2000-10) 4.14.38 (November 7, 2017; 3 years ago (2017-11-07)) [9] No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
Krusader Krusader Krew July 11, 2000 (2000-07-11) 2.7.2 "Peace of Mind" (August 25, 2019; 2 years ago (2019-08-25)[10]) No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
Midnight Commander[11] GNU Midnight Commander < May 1994[12] July 18, 2020; 14 months ago (2020-07-18) (4.8.25) No cost GPL-3.0-or-later
muCommander Maxence Bernard February 17, 2002 (2002-02-17) May 8, 2021; 4 months ago (2021-05-08) (0.9.7) No cost GPL-3.0-or-later
Nemo Linux Mint July 2012 (2012-07)
(1.0.0) 		December 11, 2018

(4.0.5)[13]

No cost[14] GPL-2.0-or-later
Nomad.NET Eugene Sichkar August 14, 2008 (2008-08-14)
(2.2.0.537 beta) 		June 13, 2016; 5 years ago (2016-06-13) (3.2.0.2890) No cost Proprietary
Norton Commander Peter Norton Computing,
later Symantec corporation 		1986 February 1, 1999 (1999-02-01) (2.01 Windows
DOS: 1998-07-01 (5.51)) 		? Proprietary

1997 August 10, 1997 (1997-08-10) (17.0 Windows)[15]
 shareware / freeware Proprietary
Path Finder[16] Cocoatech April 2001 (2001-04) March 24, 2020; 17 months ago (2020-03-24) (9.1) US$36.00 Proprietary
PathMinder Albert Nurick and
Brittain Fraley 		1984 1988 (4.11) US$39.95 Proprietary
PCManFM Hong Jen Yee January 9, 2006 (2006-01-09) February 21, 2016; 5 years ago (2016-02-21) (1.2.4) No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
PC Shell Central Point Software 1986 paid[17] Proprietary
ROX-Filer Thomas Leonard et al. Before March 10, 2000 (2000-03-10) October 9, 2011; 9 years ago (2011-10-09) (2.11) No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
SpaceFM IgnorantGuru January 13, 2012 (2012-01-13) (0.5.0) January 20, 2016; 5 years ago (2016-01-20) (1.0.5) No cost GPL-3.0-or-later
STDU Explorer STDUtility March 23, 2009 (2009-03-23) May 24, 2012; 9 years ago (2012-05-24) (1.0.465) No cost Proprietary
Tabbles Yellow blue soft UAB August 1, 2009 (2009-08-01) August 12, 2016; 5 years ago (2016-08-12) (3.1.29) US$29.95[1] Proprietary
Thunar Xfce January 22, 2006 (2006-01-22) [when?](4.15.2)[18] No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
Total Commander[19] Christian Ghisler September 25, 1993; 27 years ago (1993-09-25) (1.00d) June 10, 2021; 3 months ago (2021-06-10) (10.00) CHF40, €37, US$42[1] Proprietary
ViewMAX Digital Research / Novell 1990 (1.0) 1993 (3.0) Part of DR-DOS (OS) GPL[20]
Volkov Commander Vsevolod Volkov circa 1992 4.05 (February 21, 2001; 20 years ago (2001-02-21)) shareware / freeware Proprietary
WinSCP WinSCP September 30, 2000 (2000-09-30) 5.19.2[21] Edit this on Wikidata 21 July 2021; 1 month ago (21 July 2021) No cost GPL-3.0-only
Xandros File Manager Xandros Corporation ? July 26, 2007; 14 years ago (2007-07-26) (4.2) Part of Xandros Desktop Proprietary
Xfe Roland Baudin 2002 September 16, 2018; 3 years ago (2018-09-16) (1.43.1) No cost GPL
Xfile Rixstep March 2, 2003 (2003-03-02) February 19, 2007; 14 years ago (2007-02-19) (1.8.0) US$79.00[22] Proprietary
Xfm Simon Marlow, Albert Gräf, Till Straumann,
Robert Vogelgesang, Juan D. Martin 		1992 September 2001; 20 years ago (2001-09) (1.4.3) No cost GPL-2.0-or-later
xplorer² Nikos Bozinis June 10, 2004 (2004-06-10) February 28, 2021; 6 months ago (2021-02-28) (5.0.0.0) pro US$29.95, ultimate: US$49.95[1] Proprietary
XTree Jeffery C. Johnson April 1, 1985 (1985-04-01) 1992; 29 years ago (1992) (Xtree for Windows) US$39.95 Proprietary
XYplorer Donald Lessau 1997 February 13, 2020; 19 months ago (2020-02-13) (20.80.0100) Standard License Pro US$39.95,
Lifetime License Pro $79.95[1][23] 		Proprietary
ZTreeWin Kim Henkel 1996 May 27, 2012; 9 years ago (2012-05-27) (2.1.19)
May 26, 2013; 8 years ago (2013-05-26) (2.4.121 beta)
May 31, 2017; 4 years ago (2017-05-31) (2.4.172 zeta) 		US$29.95 (1-4) Proprietary

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 OS/2 & eCS Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix AmigaOS OpenVMS
Directory Opus No No Yes No No No No Yes[24] No
Dired Yes[25] Yes[26] Yes[27] Yes[28] Yes Yes Yes Yes[29] Yes[30]
Dolphin No No Needs KDE[31] Yes[32] Yes Yes Yes No No
Double Commander No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
DOS Navigator Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
emelFM2 No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
File Commander No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No
fman No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
GNOME Commander No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Konqueror No No Needs KDE[31] Yes[32] Yes Yes Yes No No
Krusader No No No Needs X Yes Yes Yes No No
Midnight Commander Yes No Yes[33] Yes[34] Yes Yes Yes Yes No
muCommander No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
nnn No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
GNOME Files (Nautilus) No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
Nemo No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
PathMinder Yes No Yes No No No No No No
PCManFM No Needs POSIX-compliant platform Needs POSIX-compliant platform Needs POSIX-compliant platform Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Ranger No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
ROX-Filer No No Yes Yes Yes No No
Thunar No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
Total Commander No No Yes No Yes No No No No
Volkov Commander Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
Xandros File Manager No No No No Yes ? ? No No
Xfe No Needs X Needs X Needs X Yes Yes Yes Needs X[35] Yes
Xfm No Needs X Needs X Needs X Yes Yes Yes No Yes
ZTreeWin No Yes Yes No No No No No No
File manager DOS OS/2 & eCS Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix AmigaOS OpenVMS

Mac-only file managers[]

*nix-only file managers[]

Windows-only file managers[]

iOS-only file managers[]

Android-only file managers[]

  • Files by Google
  • Ghost Commander

Manager views[]

Icon views represent files and folders as large icons.
Details + thumbnails views and favs-panel (bottom left)

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 [38] 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
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[39] Yes, on GUI[39] ? ? Yes, one or more Partial (bookmarks) Yes (show tab-bar optional) [40]
GUI Yes Yes
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[41] ? No No Yes ? No
FAR Manager Orthodox Text[42] Partial[43] Yes Yes Yes[44] Partial[43] 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
Files (Apple) GUI Yes Yes Yes
Files by Google GUI
Finder Spatial / Miller Columns GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, with Cover Flow Yes No No Yes Yes
ForkLift Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes No Yes Yes Yes
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
Nemo Navigational / Spatial GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes,press[F3] 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 Hybrid Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
Xfm Spatial GUI Yes No No No No ? ? No ? No
xplorer² Hybrid Navigational / Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[45] 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
  1. ^ Via multi-panel plugins or the ConEmu mod.
  2. ^ Column view is called Details view in Windows Explorer
  3. ^ Windows 7 introduces a Content view which shows details as well as thumbnails

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 macOS 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] Yes Yes[n 1] Yes[n 1] Yes Yes
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (SFTP & SSL[46])
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 ? ? ? ? No ?
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 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Files (Apple)
Files by Google
Finder Yes[n 1] Yes[n 1] Yes[n 1] Yes[n 1] Partial[n 1] No
ForkLift Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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
Nemo 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 Yes Yes Yes[n 8] No Yes No
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. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Support is provided by the underlying operating system.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b WebDAV support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or WebDrive.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e NFS support in these file managers requires the installation of Services for UNIX.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Support is provided via a free third-party plugin.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c FTP support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or WebDrive.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b SSH support in these file managers requires the installation of SftpDrive or WebDrive.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Support is provided by GVfs
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b 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).
  9. ^ 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 [47] File selection filter Paste clipboard as file File and folder reports ACL (Access control list) Mass rename [48] Run executable files
Altap Salamander ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes, multiple [49] ? Yes Yes [50] Yes Yes
Commander One ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? ? ?
Directory Opus Yes Yes Partial Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ?
Dired ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? No Yes Yes
Dolphin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Partial Yes
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 [51] Yes Plugin Plugin ?
File Commander ? Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ?
File Manager ? Yes ? ? No Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes
Files (Apple) Yes Yes
Files by Google
Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? Yes Yes Yes
ForkLift Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ?
GNOME Commander ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? No Yes ?
Konqueror Partial [52] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[53] Yes
Krusader ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes[53] Yes
Midnight Commander ? Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes Partial[54] ? ? Yes Yes
GNOME Files (Nautilus) Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Partial [55] No Yes No No [56]
Nemo Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? No Yes
Nomad.NET ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial ?
Path Finder ? Yes No [57] No Yes No Yes No Yes No No ?
PCManFM No Yes ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes
ROX-Filer ? With helper applications 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 Yes
Total Commander ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Log file Yes Yes
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Partial[58] No Yes No No Partial [59] No Yes [60] Partial Yes
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe Yes Yes No Yes No ? Yes No ? Yes No ?
Xfm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
xplorer² No Yes Partial [58] Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [61] Yes Yes
XYplorer Yes Yes Partial [58] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
ZTreeWin ? Yes Partial [62] 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 Run executable files

Browsing features[]

File manager Symbolic links Windows long path support 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 Yes ? No No Yes Yes, in the PRO Pack[63] DIR and total size including subdirectories
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DIR and total size including subdirectories
Dired ? ? Yes No No ? ? ? Yes Yes[64] Literal [browse 1]
?
DOS Navigator No ? Yes No Yes ? Yes ? Yes[65] Yes Total size including subdirectories
Dolphin ? ? Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes Number of entries
Double Commander Yes 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 [66] Yes Yes ?
File Commander ? ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Files (Apple) ?
Files by Google ?
Finder ? ? No Yes Yes ? No No Yes No Yes
ForkLift Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes DIR and total size including subdirectories
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[67] ? Yes ? Yes Yes[68] Yes Yes ?
muCommander No[69] ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Partial, command execution only ?
GNOME Files (Nautilus) ? ? No No Yes No No No Yes Yes, With Plugin[70][71] Number of entries
Nemo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes, with nemo-terminal extension
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[72] Yes
PCManFM ? ? Yes No Yes Yes No ? Yes No, but there is a fork attempt[73] 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[74] ? Yes Yes In plugin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DIR and total size including subdirectories
Windows Explorer Partial[75] Partial Yes Yes Yes (in folder tooltips) Partial No Yes Yes No ?
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No ?
Xfe Yes ? No No Yes ? Yes ? No No ?
Xfile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No[76] ?
Xfm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No ?
xplorer² Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[77] ?
XYplorer Yes Yes Yes Yes[78] Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes[79] Contents including subs
ZTreeWin ? ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Selectable: number of entries or size (optional: including subs)
File manager Symbolic links Windows long path support 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:
  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Literal - meaning the size of the directory file itself, not the number or sizes of the files it points to (commonly called its "contents"). Typically a few kilobytes.
  1. ^ Support is provided via a free third-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 Yes[s 2] Yes[s 2] Yes Yes ? No No
Directory Opus Yes 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
Files (Apple)
Files by Google
Finder Yes ? Yes Yes No ? ? Yes ?
ForkLift Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Krusader Yes ? Yes Yes Yes[80] No No Yes Yes
GNOME Files (Nautilus) Yes ? Partial [s 4] Partial [s 4] ? ? ? Yes ?
Nemo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 No Yes No No ? ? Yes Yes
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe Yes Yes[s 6] Yes 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 Yes
XYplorer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[s 7]
ZTreeWin Yes Yes Yes Partial Partial [s 8] 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. ^ Jump up to: a b using wildcards, subfolders
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b using wildcards, case match, whole word match
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b size, date, time, attributes (read only, hidden, archivable, etc.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b [clarification needed] what/where is additional metadata?
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b [clarification needed] what is fuzzy logic and how is it useful?
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b 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)

  1. ^ Altap Salamander Search offers RegExp for defining the file content.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Support is provided by the underlying operating system.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Support is provided via a free third-party plugin.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Can integrate with Beagle to provide more searching functionality.
  5. ^ Search intersection
  6. ^ One can search for file contents using the Text Contains field in the search window.
  7. ^ After searching results, user can apply advanced visual filters to narrow down results.
  8. ^ 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
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
Files (Apple) Yes Yes
Files by Google
Finder Yes No Yes Yes Yes[e 4] Partial[e 5]
ForkLift Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
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 ?
Nemo ? ? ? ? ? ?
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] Yes[e 6]
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes Yes[81] Yes Partial[e 5]
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe No Partial No No Partial Partial[e 7]
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. ^ Jump up to: a b Main change in Total Commander 7.50
  2. ^ User can change toolbar icons
  3. ^ In Far 2.0 & Far 3.0+
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b File and folder icons customizable on OS level and via folder properties
  6. ^ User can manually change icon themes including toolbar, file and folder icons. User can also change the color scheme to a pre-defined one or manually pick a color for each element in preferences.
  7. ^ User can change icon themes in preferences, which change the toolbar, file and folder icons. User can also change the color scheme to a pre-defined one or manually pick a color for each element (in preferences).

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Demo, trial or lite version available at no cost
  2. ^ https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/tags/v21.08.1.
  3. ^ previously known as Windows Explorer
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Original Windows File Manager (winfile) with enhancements: Microsoft/winfile, Microsoft, 2019-02-21, retrieved 2019-02-21
  5. ^ Later renamed to 'GeoWorks Corporation'
  6. ^ foundes as 'Breadbox Computer Company'
  7. ^ formerly and known as Nautilus
  8. ^ "nautilus 41.0".
  9. ^ "KDE Ships KDE Applications and Platform 4.14.3". KDE. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  10. ^ Melnichenko, Nikita (25 August 2019). "Krusader 2.7.2 "Peace of Mind" has been released!". kde-announce-apps (Mailing list). Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  11. ^ also known as mc
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ GitHub - linuxmint/nemo: File browser for Cinnamon., Linux Mint, 2018-12-11, retrieved 2018-12-11
  14. ^ part of Cinnamon (Desktop Environment)
  15. ^ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Center
  16. ^ originally known as 'SNAX'
  17. ^ Part of PC Tools for DOS
  18. ^ "Thunar File Manager". Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  19. ^ Originally known as 'Windows Commander'
  20. ^ originally proprietary
  21. ^ "Release 5.19.2". 21 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  22. ^ with 80+ other applications
  23. ^ "XYplorer Purchase". XYplorer Purchase. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
  25. ^ "Info Node: (emacs)Dired". cmu.edu.
  26. ^ "Emacs 20.6 under OS/2". Home.snafu.de. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  27. ^ "Emacs FAQ for MS Windows". Free Software Foundation. 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  28. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-01-25. Retrieved 2009-04-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2009-04-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  30. ^ Last edited 2010-05-28 22:59 UTC by AaronHawley (diff) (2010-05-28). "Emacs On VMS". EmacsWiki. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b "Projects/KDE on Windows/Installation - KDE TechBase". Techbase.kde.org. 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b "The MacPorts Project - Available Ports". MacPorts. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  33. ^ Cygwin or Win32 Native
  34. ^ Runs in text mode inside Terminal window
  35. ^ "Der Schwan-Clan".
  36. ^ Windows 95 and later
  37. ^ Windows Mobile
  38. ^ 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.
  39. ^ Jump up to: a b Activating Image-Dired command in the graphical interface.
  40. ^ Tab-bar mode can be activated to show the tab-bar (else it will be hidden).
  41. ^ Optional image thumbnailer plugin since v0.3.4 (24/5/2007)
  42. ^ 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.
  43. ^ Jump up to: a b With the ConEmu mod or plugins
  44. ^ With ConEmu Far Manager plugin conemu-maximus5
  45. ^ Via "Mirrored Browsing" feature
  46. ^ Requires an additional licence (purchased separately)
  47. ^ 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.
  48. ^ 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.
  49. ^ 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.
  50. ^ 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.
  51. ^ With plug-ins, or this can be implemented as a macros
  52. ^ Konqueror can undo, not redo.
  53. ^ Jump up to: a b Needs KRename, an application that integrates into Konqueror and Krusader.
  54. ^ Create new file with desired name, then paste contents.
  55. ^ Only text which is dragged from another program and dropped into a folder in GNOME Files (Nautilus) can be pasted as a new file.
  56. ^ Removed in version 3.29.
  57. ^ Path Finder apparently integrates with Knox Archived 2011-06-19 at the Library of Congress Web Archives, an encryption utility.
  58. ^ Jump up to: a b c 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.
  59. ^ Supported up to Windows XP only. Document scraps are not supported in Windows Vista and later.
  60. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only. Must be enabled manually Archived 2007-05-28 at the Wayback Machine in Windows versions prior to Server 2003.
  61. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only.
  62. ^ Encryption is supported for Zip and Rar, other formats depend on the editable ARCHIVER.BB2 file
  63. ^ "Dual-pane file manager for Mac - Commander One". mac.eltima.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  64. ^ "Shell Commands in Dired". www.gnu.org. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  65. ^ Press and release Alt
  66. ^ Via plugins, or manual with helping of the embedded Advanced Compare.
  67. ^ Extensible via compression plugins, supported formats list depends on distribution package maintainer
  68. ^ Can be done in two steps
  69. ^ "Two-pane file manager for Windows with symlink and large file support". stackexchange.com.
  70. ^ "Flogisoft - Nautilus Terminal". Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  71. ^ "Launchpad - Nautilus Terminal". Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  72. ^ "Path Finder 7 by Cocoatech". www.cocoatech.com. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  73. ^ "LXDE.org Forum - Try PCManFM with a tabbed terminal included". forum.lxde.org. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  74. ^ "Two-pane file manager for Windows with symlink and large file support". stackexchange.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  75. ^ Copying directory junctions across drives creates an empty directory in the target
  76. ^ "Xfile: The Standard Setter - Features". rixstep.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  77. ^ "xplorer² tour#6: external command console". zabkat.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  78. ^ via XYplorer script- SlideShow
  79. ^ "XYplorer - 9.90 Released". www.xyplorer.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  80. ^ "Krusader - Twin panel file management for your desktop". krusader.org. Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  81. ^ IFilters

External links[]

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