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Comparison of file managers

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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 release date Date and number of latest stable version Cost Software license
A43 File Manager B.G. Miller 2001 2010-09-23 (3.30) Free Proprietary
Altap Salamander Altap 1997-08-15 2010-06-25 (2.53) US$ 30 Proprietary
Beesoft Commander Piotr Pszczolkowski 2005-11-28 2008-09-19 (4.1.0) Free GPL
CubicExplorer Marko Savolainen 2008? 2009-04-03 (0.90.0.1131) Free MPL
Directory Opus Jonathan Potter,
GPSoftware 		Amiga: v1 (1990-01-03)
Windows: v6 (2001-06-18) 		2011-04-30 (10.0) € 49.95 Proprietary
Dired integral part of Emacs,
part of the GNU project 		1978? 2002-04-12 (7.10) Free GPL
Disk Order LikeMac Group 2004-02 2008-02-xx (3.0) US$ 29.95 Proprietary
Dolphin KDE 2006-06-07 (0.5) 2010-02-09 (1.4)

KDE 4.4

Free GPL
Dos Navigator RITLabs 1991 (0.90) 1999 (1.51) Free Original BSD License
Double Commander Alexander Koblov 2007-12-26 2010-08-21 (0.4.5.2 only beta availble) Free GPL
emelFM2 tooar 2003-09-06 2009-07-13 (0.6.1) Free GPL
Explorer++ David Erceg 2008-01-06 2010-04-05 (1.1.0.0) Free GPL
F Duy Nguyen &
Michel Normand 		2000 or earlier 2002 (1.70 / 2.70) Free ?
FAR Manager Eugene Roshal (originally),
FAR Group 		1996 2010-02-25 (2.0) Free Revised BSD license
File Commander Brian Havard 1993 2011-03-03 (2.40) A$ 35.00 Proprietary
File Manager Microsoft (Ian Ellison-Taylor) 1990? 2000-08-06 (4.90.3000) Part of Windows Proprietary
FileAnt Will Wheelahan 1998 2010-12-19 (2010.00.626) Free Proprietary
FileQuest 7 PiQuest Software, Inc. 1998 2009-09-03 (5.7) US$ 39.95 Proprietary
Finder Apple Inc. 1984-01 2009-11-10 (10.6.2) Part of Mac OS X Proprietary
ForkLift binarynights.com 2007-03-24 2009-01-09 (1.6) US$ 44.95 Proprietary
FreeCommander Marek Jasinski 2004 (?) 2010-09-12 (2009.02b) Free Proprietary
FSViewer George Clernon, Guido Scholz 1998 2007-10-14 (0.2.6) Free ?
Gentoo file manager Emil Brink ? 2010-10-17 (0.19.3) Free GPL
GNOME Commander GNOME Commander 2001-09 2010-07-27 (1.2.8.7) Free GPL
Konqueror KDE October, 2000 2009-09-01 (4.3.1) Free GPL
Krusader Krusader Krew 2000-07-11 2009-04-11 (2.0.0) Free GPL
Magellan Explorer Enriva 1999 or earlier
(as Voyager 98) 		2005-10-07 (3.32) $39.95 Proprietary
Midnight Commander mc GNU Midnight Commander 2010-09-07 (4.7.0.9[1]) Free GPL
muCommander Maxence Bernard 2002-02-17 2010-02-23 (0.8.5) Free GPL
My Commander prof. Alex Averian 2008-08-28 2011-05-28 (v1.1) Free BSD
Nautilus Eazel 2001-04-11 2010-04-26 (2.30.1) Free GPL
NexusFile JungHoon Noh 2011-01-01 (5.2.4.5245) Free Proprietary
Nomad.NET Eugene Sichkar 2008 2011-03-31 (2.8.7.1740) Free Proprietary
Norton Commander Peter Norton Computing,
later Symantec corporation 		1986 1999-02-01 (2.01Windows
DOS: 1998-07-01 (5.51)) 		? Proprietary
Path Finder
(originally called SNAX) 		Cocoatech 2001-04 2009-03-26 (5.1) US$ 39.95 Proprietary
PathMinder Albert Nurick and
Brittain Fraley 		1984 1988 (4.11) US$ 39.95 Proprietary
PCManFM Hong Jen Yee 2006-01-09 2009-06-03 (0.5.1) Free GPL
PowerDesk Pro Avanquest Software ? 2010-07-06 (8) US$ $39.95 Proprietary
Q-Dir Nenad Hrg 2006-11 2011-03-23 (4.49) Free Proprietary
ROX-Filer Thomas Leonard et al. Before 2000-03-10 2008-05-17 (2.8) Free GPL
SpeedCommander SpeedProject 1993-05 2010-05-17 (13.20) € 39.95 Proprietary
SpeedRunner treetey, belintesa Corp. 2010-10-20 2010-11-16 (2.0.10.2360) Free CDDL
STDU Explorer STDUtility 2009-03-23 2009-11-16 (1.0.96) Free Proprietary
Thunar Xfce 2006-01-22 2011-01-16 (1.2.0[2]) Free GPL
Total Commander Christian Ghisler 1993-09-29 2010-12-17 (7.56a) CHF 40 / € 32 Proprietary
WinNc Dunes MultiMedia 1996-01-01 2011-05-26 (5.5) US$ 29 Proprietary
Volkov Commander Vsevolod Volkov circa 1992 2000 (4.05/4.99.08) shareware/freeware Proprietary
Windows Explorer Microsoft 1995-08-24 2010 Part of Windows Proprietary
WinSCP WinSCP ? 2010-09-23 (4.2.9) Free GPL
Xandros File Manager Xandros Corporation ? 2007-07-26 (4.2) Part of Xandros Desktop Proprietary
Xfe Roland Baudin 2002 2010-09-20 (1.32.2) Free GPL
Xfile Rixstep 2003-03-02 2007-02-19 (1.8.0) US$ 79.00
(with 80+ other apps) 		Proprietary
Xfm Simon Marlow, Albert Gräf, Robert Vogelgesang, Juan D. Martin, Till Straumann 1992 2001-09 (1.4.3) Free GPL
xplorer² Nikos Bozinis 2004-06-10 2009-06-07 (1.7.2.6) US$ 29.95
(lite is free) 		Proprietary
XYplorer Donald Lessau 1997 2010-11-30 (9.80.0000) $69.95 / €49.95 Full
$42.95 / €29.95 Home 		Proprietary
ZTreeWin Kim Henkel 1996 2010-01-30 (2.1.061) US$ 29.95 (1-4) Proprietary
File Manager Creator First public release date Latest stable version 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
Beesoft Commander No No ? Yes Yes Yes No No No
Directory Opus No Yes No No No No Yes[3] No No
Dired Yes[4] Yes[5] Yes[6] Yes Yes Yes Yes[7] Yes[8] Yes[9]
Dolphin No Needs KDE[10] Yes[11] Yes Yes Yes No No No
Dos Navigator Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No
Double Commander No Yes No Yes ? ? No No ?
emelFM2 No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No
F ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
File Commander No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
FSViewer No No ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
GNOME Commander No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Konqueror No Needs KDE[10] Yes[11] Yes Yes Yes No No No
Krusader No No Needs X Yes Yes Yes No No No
Magellan Explorer ? Yes No No No No No No No
Midnight Commander Yes Yes[12] Yes[13] Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
muCommander No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes
My Commander No Yes No No No No No No No
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
Xfile No No Yes No No No No No No
Xfm No Needs X Needs X Yes Yes Yes No Needs X Yes
ZTreeWin/ZTreeBold 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

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[18] Twin panel Favorites / Bookmark Panel tabs
Altap Salamander Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ? No
CubicExplorer Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? No Yes Yes
Demos Commander Orthodox Text ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Directory Opus Orthodox GUI Yes Yes No 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]
Disk Order Orthodox GUI ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
Dolphin Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Dos Navigator Orthodox Text ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Double Commander Orthodox GUI ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
emelFM2 Orthodox GUI No Yes No Yes[21] ? No No Yes ? No
Explorer++ Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes
FAR Manager Orthodox Text No Yes Yes No No 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
FileQuest 7 ? GUI Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Finder Spatial / Miller Columns GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, with Cover Flow Yes No No Yes No
FreeCommander Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
FSViewer Miller Columns GUI ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
gentoo Orthodox GUI ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
GNOME Commander Orthodox GUI No Yes No No ? No No Yes ? No
Konqueror Navigational/Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
Krusader Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Midnight Commander Orthodox Text ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Nautilus Spatial/Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Partial
NexusFile Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nomad.NET Hybrid Navigational/Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Path Finder Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
PCManFM Navigational GUI Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? No Yes Yes
PowerDesk ? GUI Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Q-Dir ? GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
ROX-Filer Spatial GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes No
SpeedCommander Orthodox GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
SpeedRunner Orthodox GUI No Yes Yes Partial Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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 ?
Volkov Commander Orthodox Text ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Windows Explorer Spatial/Navigational GUI Yes Yes Yes [m 2] Yes Partial [m 3] Yes Yes No Yes No
WinNc Hybrid Navigational/Orthodox GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
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[22] 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 Favs-panel Panel tabs
  1. ^ Via multi-panel plugins.
  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 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 ? No Yes Yes
CubicExplorer ? ? ? ? No ?
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (SFTP & SSL[23])
Disk Order ? ? ? ? Yes Yes (FTPS & SFTP)
Dolphin Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
emelFM2 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Explorer++ Yes Yes[n 1] ? No No 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 ? ? ? ? ? ?
FileQuest 7 Yes Yes[n 1] Partial[n 3] No Yes Partial[n 6]
Finder Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Partial[n 7] No
FreeCommander Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
FSViewer ? ? ? ? ? ?
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
Nautilus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
NexusFile No No No No Yes No
Nomad.NET Yes No Partial[n 3] No Yes No
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (Read Access) No
PCManFM ? ? ? ? ? ?
ROX-Filer Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7] Yes[n 7]
SpeedCommander Yes ? Partial[n 3] ? Yes Yes
SpeedRunner Yes[n 7] Yes[n 1] No No Yes No
Total Commander Yes Yes[n 4] Partial[n 3] No Yes Yes
Ultimate Commander Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes[n 8] No Yes No
WinNc No No Yes No Yes No
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfm ? ? ? ? ? ?
xplorer² Yes Yes[n 1] 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. ^ a b c d WebDAV is supported via Microsoft Windows' built-in Network Places/Mapped Drive functionality.
  2. ^ a b WebDAV support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or Webdrive.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h NFS support in these file managers requires the installation of Services for UNIX.
  4. ^ a b Support is provided via a free 3rd-party plugin.
  5. ^ a b c FTP support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or Webdrive.
  6. ^ a b c SSH support in these file managers requires the installation of SftpDrive or Webdrive.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Support is provided by the underlying operating system.
  8. ^ 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).

File features

Information on what basic file features the file managers support.

File Manager File compression File encryption Rename busy files File preview File coloring filter[24] File selection filter Paste clipboard as file File and folder reports ACL (Access control list) Mass Rename[25]
Altap Salamander Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes, multiple[26] ? Yes Yes[27] Yes
CubicExplorer ? Partial[28] ? Yes No Yes ? ? ? No
Directory Opus Yes Partial Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Disk Order Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dolphin Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? Partial
Double Commander Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
emelFM2 Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes No ? Yes ?
Explorer++ Yes Partial[28] No Partial[29] No Yes Partial [30] No Yes[31] Yes
FAR Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Plugin Yes
File Commander Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
FileQuest 7 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? Yes No
FreeCommander Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
FSViewer ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GNOME Commander Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? No Yes
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes[32]
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes[32]
Nautilus Yes No Yes Yes No No Partial[33] No Yes No
NexusFile Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes
Nomad.NET Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No
Path Finder Yes No[34] No Yes No Yes No Yes No No
PCManFM ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
ROX-Filer With helper apps Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes
SpeedCommander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SpeedRunner Partial Partial No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Partial Yes
STDU Explorer No No No Yes No No No No No No
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Log file Yes
Windows Explorer Yes Partial[28] No Yes No No Partial[35] No Yes[36] Partial
WinNc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfm ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
xplorer² Yes Partial[28] Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[37] Yes
XYplorer Yes Partial[28] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ZTreeWin Yes Partial[38] Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
File Manager 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 Browse compressed folders Slideshows Directory Sizes Branch Sizes Directory Compare Synchronizer Find as you type (Type-ahead find)
Altap Salamander Yes No Yes ? Yes Partial (for remote folders) Yes
CubicExplorer ? No No ? ? ? Partial
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Disk Order Yes ? Partial ? Yes ? ?
Dos Navigator / NDN Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ?
Dolphin Yes No Yes No No No Yes
emelFM2 ? No Partial ? Yes ? Yes
Explorer++ Yes No Yes No No No No
FAR Manager Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
File Commander Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Finder No Yes Yes ? No No Yes
FreeCommander Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
FSViewer ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GNOME Commander No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes(with konq-plugin) ? ? ? Yes
Krusader Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Midnight Commander Yes[39] ? Yes ? Yes Yes[40] Yes
Nautilus No No Yes No No No Yes
Nomad.NET Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Path Finder No Yes Partial ? No No Yes
PCManFM ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
ROX-Filer No No Yes ? No ? Yes, and browsing with tab completion
SpeedCommander Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SpeedRunner Yes No Yes ? No Partial Yes
Thunar No ? Yes ? No No Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes In plugin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes (in folder tooltips) Partial No Yes Yes
WinNc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfile ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfm ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
xplorer² Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XYplorer No No Yes Yes No Partial Yes
ZTreeWin Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
File manager Browse compressed folders Slideshows Directory Sizes Branch Sizes Directory Compare Synchronizer Find as you type (Type-ahead find)

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/content search Basic metadata search All metadata search RegExp Boolean (nesting levels) Fuzzy logic Save searches[41] Refined searches[42]
Altap Salamander Yes Yes ? Yes[43] Yes ? Yes Yes
CubicExplorer Yes No No No No ? No Yes
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Disk Order Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dolphin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
emelFM2 Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Partial ?
FAR Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes[s 1] Yes[s 1] Yes[s 1] Yes Yes
File Commander Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No
Finder Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
FreeCommander Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Yes[44] No No Yes Yes
Nautilus Yes Partial[s 2] Partial[s 2] ? ? ? Yes ?
Nomad.NET Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Partial[s 3]
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes No No ? No No
PCManFM Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ?
ROX-Filer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ?
SpeedCommander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Partial[s 3]
Windows Explorer Yes Yes No ? ? ? Yes Yes
WinNc Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial No Yes Partial
Xandros File Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Xfe No No No No No No No No
Xfile Yes 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[45]
ZTreeWin Yes Yes Partial Partial[46] Yes Yes Yes Yes
File manager File name/content search Basic metadata search All metadata search RegExp Boolean (nesting levels) Fuzzy logic Save searches Refined searches
  1. ^ a b c Via plugins
  2. ^ a b Can integrate with Beagle to provide more searching functionality.
  3. ^ a b Search intersection

Extensibility

What 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
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes ?
Disk Order Yes ? ? ? ?
Dolphin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
emelFM2 ? ? ? ? ?
Far Manager Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes[e 1] No
Finder Yes No Yes Yes Yes[e 2] Partial[e 3]
FreeCommander ? ? ? ? No ?
Konqueror ? ? Yes ? ?
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Partial ?
Midnight Commander Yes No No No Yes No
Nautilus Yes ? Yes ? Yes ?
Nomad.NET No Yes Yes[e 4] ? Yes Yes
Path Finder ? ? ? ? ?
PCManFM No No No No No No
ROX-Filer No Yes No ?
SpeedCommander Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes In search tool Yes[e 5] Partial[e 6]
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes Yes[47] Yes Partial[e 3]
WinNc No No No No No No
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 No Yes ? Yes No
File manager Filesystem support Attribute columns File previews Metadata indexing Unicode support Visual Themes
  1. ^ In Far 2.0
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b File and folder icons customizable on OS level and via folder properties
  4. ^ Via thumbnail column
  5. ^ Main change in Total Commander 7.50
  6. ^ User can change toolbar icons

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.midnight-commander.org/wiki/NEWS-4.7.0.9
  2. ^ Thunar git repository tag
  3. ^ a b Directory Opus 5.82 Magellan II is the last commercial version available for Amiga, and an unregistered (but fully functional) version has been released with the AmiKit distribution. Directory Opus 4 is maintained separately under an open source license.
  4. ^ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/info2www?(emacs)MS-DOS
  5. ^ http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
  6. ^ http://homepage.mac.com/zenitani/emacs-e.html
  7. ^ http://de5.aminet.net/util/gnu/em1934src.readme
  8. ^ http://home.snafu.de/ohei/emacs/emacs206-os2.html
  9. ^ http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsOnVMS
  10. ^ a b http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Windows/Installation
  11. ^ a b http://www.macports.org/ports.php?by=category&substr=kde4
  12. ^ Cygwin or unsupported native port
  13. ^ Runs in text mode inside Terminal window
  14. ^ http://www.explorerplusplus.com
  15. ^ a b Windows 95 and later
  16. ^ Capability to operate within a web browser either as Internet Explorer ActiveX component or Mozilla ActiveX Control
  17. ^ Windows Mobile
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ a b Activating Image-Dired command in the graphical interface.
  20. ^ Tab-bar mode can be activated to show the tab-bar (else it will be hidden).
  21. ^ Optional image thumbnailer plugin since v0.3.4 (24/5/2007)
  22. ^ Via "Mirrored Browsing" feature
  23. ^ Requires an additional licence (purchased separately)
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ 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 (eg. "date created"), path related fields (eg. "parent directory name"), regular expressions etc.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ a b c d e 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.
  29. ^ Only picture and PDF previews are supported by Explorer++.
  30. ^ Supported via OS support up to Windows XP only. Document scraps are not supported in Windows Vista and later.
  31. ^ Explorer++ supports ACLs via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only.
  32. ^ a b Needs KRename, an application that integrates into Konqueror and Krusader.
  33. ^ Only text which is dragged from another program and dropped into a folder in Nautilus can be pasted as a new file.
  34. ^ Path Finder apparently integrates with Knox, an encryption utility.
  35. ^ Supported up to Windows XP only. Document scraps are not supported in Windows Vista and later.
  36. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only. Must be enabled manually in Windows versions prior to Server 2003.
  37. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only.
  38. ^ Encryption is supported for Zip and Rar, other formats depend on the editable ARCHIVER.BB2 file
  39. ^ Extensible via compression plugins, supported formats list depends on distribution package maintainer
  40. ^ Can be done in two steps
  41. ^ Save searches: 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.
  42. ^ 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).
  43. ^ Altap Salamander Search offers RegExp for defining the file content.
  44. ^ Krusader - Twin Panel File Management For Your Desktop
  45. ^ After searching results, user can apply advanced visual filters to narrow down search.
  46. ^ ZTreeWin provides several context specific search syntaxes that are not pure regex
  47. ^ IFilters
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