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Comparison of file managers: Difference between revisions

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Image:Details&thumbs.jpg|Details + Thumbnails views and Favs-panel (bottom left)
Image:Details&thumbs.jpg|Details + Thumbnails views and Favs-panel (bottom left)
Image:Csv-report.png|Folder and File reporting. Here is an example of reporting to CSV file in XYplorer.
Image:Csv-report.png|Folder and File reporting. Here is an example of reporting to CSV file in XYplorer.
Image:Selectionfilter.png| File selection filter. Example of file selection in XYplorer by typing a part of a file name or extension.
Image:Colorfilter.png|Color filters make viewing of files easier. Example of colorfilters in XYplorer.
Image:Colorfilter.png|Color filters make viewing of files easier. Example of colorfilters in XYplorer.
Image:Spotlight Grouping.png|Grouping allows similar files to be grouped together
Image:Spotlight Grouping.png|Grouping allows similar files to be grouped together

Revision as of 14:36, 22 November 2006

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of file managers. Please see the individual products articles for further information.

General information

Basic general information about the managers: creator/company etc.

File manager Creator First public release date Latest stable version Cost Software license
A43 B. G. Miller ? 2.49 (2006) Free Closed source
DOS Command Center

Windows Command Center

Daniel Pantke circa 1990? 5.1 DCC / WCC 2.1 (1998/2004?) € 19/29 Shareware
Dos Navigator RITLabs circa 1992 1.51/6.4.0 (circa 2005?) Free open source
Directory Opus Jonathan Potter, GPSoftware Amiga vs 1 January 3 1990, Windows vs 6 June 18 2001 8.2.2.5 (Oct, 2006) AUD$ 85 Proprietary
Disk Order LikeMac Group February, 2004 2.3 (May 31, 2006) $22.57 USD Proprietary
EF Commander EFSoftware ? 4.51 (January 12, 2006) ? Proprietary
emelFM2 tooar September 6, 2003 0.2 (August 26, 2006) Free GPL
F Duy Nguyen, Michel Normand 2000 or earlier 1.70 / 2.70 (2002) Free
FreeCommander Marek Jasinski ? 2006.06b (September 17, 2006) Free Closed source
Finder Apple Computer January, 1984 10.4.6 (Mac OS X v10.4.7, 2006) Part of Mac OS X Proprietary
Magellan Explorer Enriva 1999 or earlier (as Voyager 98) Version 3.32 / 7 October 2005 $39.95 Proprietary
Gentoo file manager Gentoo ? 0.11.55 (June 4, 2005) Free GPL
GNOME Commander GNOME Commander August, 2001 1.2.1 (October 16, 2006) Free GPL
Konqueror KDE October, 2000 3.5.3 Free GPL
Krusader Krusader Krew (July 11, 2000) 1.70.0 (February 12, 2006) Free GPL
Macintosh Explorer Macintosh Explorer (April, 2000) 4.4 (March 15, 2006) US$ 15.95 Proprietary
MeeSoft Commander MeeSoft Commander January, 2003 1.2.8 (March 26, 2006) Free Closed source
Midnight Commander mc GNU Midnight Commander 4.6.1 (July 23, 2005) Free GPL
MuCommander Maxence Bernard ? 0.8 beta2 (February 27, 2006) Free Closed source
Nautilus Eazel April 11, 2001 2.16.2 (7 November, 2006) Free GPL
Path Finder Cocoatech April, 2001 (originally called Snax) 4.1.1 (April 24, 2006) US$ 34.95 Proprietary
RageWork Softrage ? 2.6 (March 20, 2006) US$ 34 Proprietary
ROX-Filer Thomas Leonard et al. Before 10 March 2000 2.5 (7 July 2006) Free GPL
Servant Salamander Altap August 15, 1997 2.5 RC2 (October 27, 2006) US$ 30 Proprietary
Total Commander Christian Ghisler ? 6.55 (July 28, 2006) CHF 40 Proprietary
Turbo Navigator Marko Vodopija ? 1.47 Free Closed source
Tux Commander Tux Commander ? 0.4.101 (February 10, 2004) Free GPL
Volkov Commander Vsevolod Volkov circa 1992 4.05/4.99.08 (2000) shareware/freeware Proprietary
Windows Explorer Microsoft August 24, 1995 5.1 (server 5.2) Part of Windows Proprietary
WinSCP WinSCP ? 3.8 beta (December 12, 2005) Free GPL
XionDE.fm XionDE TEAM December 08, 2005 0.2.1 Free GPL
Xffm Xfce ? 4.2.3.2 / 4.4 beta 1 (4.3.90.1) Free GPL
xplorer² Nikos Bozinis June 10, 2004 1.5.0.0 (February 9, 2006) US$ 25.07 Proprietary
XYplorer Donald Lessau January 4, 1998 5.40.0025, (November 22, 2006) € 29.95; US$ 37.95 Proprietary
ZTreeWin Kim Henkel 1996 1.50 (January 1, 2006) US$ 29.95 Proprietary
File manager Creator First public release date Latest stable version Cost Software license

Operating system support

The operating systems the file managers can run on without emulation.

File manager DOS Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix
A43 No Yes No No No No
DOS Command Center Yes Yes No No No No
Directory Opus Yes No No No No
Disk Order No Yes No No No
Dos Navigator Yes Yes No No No No
emelFM2 No No Yes Yes Yes
F Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Finder No Yes No No No
freeCommander No Yes No No No No
GNOME Commander No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Konqueror Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
Krusader No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Macintosh Explorer No Yes No No No
Magellan Explorer Yes No No No No
MeeSoft Commander No Yes No No No No
Midnight Commander no? Yes [1] Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nautilus No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Path Finder No Yes No No No
RageWork No Yes [2] Yes [2] Yes [2] Yes [2] Yes [2]
ROX-Filer No Yes Yes Yes
Servant Salamander Yes No No No No
Total Commander Yes [3] No No No No
Tux Commander No No Yes Yes Yes
Volkov Commander Yes Yes No No No No
Windows Explorer No Yes No No No No
XionDE.fm No No No Yes Yes Yes
Xffm No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
xplorer² Yes No No No No
XYplorer No Yes No No No No
ZTreeWin Partial [4] Yes No Partial [5] No Partial [6]
File manager DOS Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix
  1. ^ Cygwin
  2. ^ a b c d e It's a cross-platform orthodox file manager written in Java
  3. ^ Windows 95 and later; also Windows Mobile.
  4. ^ XTreeGold
  5. ^ UnixTree
  6. ^ UnixTree

Manager views

Information about what common file manager views are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

File manager Icon view [1] List view [1] Column view [1] Thumbnails [1] Details + Thumbs [1] Grouping [1] Content dependent [2] Twin-panel (OFM) [1] Favs-panel [1] Panel tabs
A43 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No ? No
Beesoft Commander ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Disk Order ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
DOS Command Center ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dos Navigator ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
emelFM2 No Yes No No ? No No Yes ? No
Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? No ? ?
freeCommander Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ?
GNOME Commander No Yes No No ? No No Yes ? No
Konqueror Yes Yes ? Yes ? Partial ? No ? Yes
Krusader Yes Yes No Yes ? No Yes Yes ? Yes
Macintosh Explorer Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No No ? Yes
MeeSoft Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes ? No
Midnight Commander ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Nautilus Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes Partial
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? No ? Yes
RageWork No Yes Yes No ? ? No Yes ? Yes
ROX-Filer Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No n/a Yes ?
Servant Salamander Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes ? No
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes ? Yes
Tux Commander ? Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Volkov Commander ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes No ? No
XionDE.fm Yes Yes No No No No No No ? No
xplorer² Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [3] Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
XYplorer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes
ZTreeWin No Yes Yes No ? Yes No Yes ? ?
File manager Icon view List view Column view Thumbnails Details + Thumbs Groups Content dependent Twin-panel (OFM) Favs-panel Panel tabs

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
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes SFTP & SSL
Disk Order ? ? ? ? Yes Yes (FTPS & SFTP)
emelFM2 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial No
GNOME Commander Yes No Yes No Yes ?
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Krusader Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Nautilus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
RageWork Yes No No No Yes Yes
ROX-Filer Based on underlying operating system support
Servant Salamander Yes No ? No Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes ? PartialTemplate:Refun ? Yes ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes PartialTemplate:Refun No Yes No
XionDE.fm Based on underlying operating system support
Xffm Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
xplorer² Yes YesTemplate:Refun PartialTemplate:Refun No Yes No
ZTreeWin Yes PartialTemplate:Refun PartialTemplate:Refun No PartialTemplate:Refun ?
File manager SMB/CIFS WebDAV NFS AFP FTP FISH/SSH
  • ^ NFS support in these file managers require the installation of Services for UNIX.
  • ^ FTP support in these file managers require the installation of NetDrive.
  • ^ WebDAV is supported via Microsoft Explorer's Network Places.

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 [4] [1] File selection filter [1] Paste clipboard as file File and folder reports [1] ACL (Access control list) Mass Rename [5]
A43 Yes No No No ? ? ? Yes No No
Directory Opus Yes PartialTemplate:Refun Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Disk Order Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
emelFM2 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GNOME Commander Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? No Yes
Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? No
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Partial [6] ? Yes Yes[7]
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Nautilus Yes No Yes Yes No No Partial [8] No Yes No
Path Finder Yes No [9] ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
RageWork Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
ROX-Filer With helper apps Yes Yes No Yes No No ? ?
Servant Salamander Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes, multiple[10] ? Yes Yes [11] Yes
Total Commander Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Tux Commander ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Explorer Yes Partial [12] No No ? ? Yes ? ? No
XionDE.fm No No ? No No No ? No No No
Xffm ? ? ? Partial [13] ? ? ? ? ? ?
XYplorer Yes [14] Partial [12] Partial Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes
xplorer² Yes Partial [12] Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes [15] Yes
ZTreeWin Yes Partial [16] Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? ?
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

Browse Features

File manager Browse compressed folders Slideshows Directory Sizes Branch Sizes Directory Compare Synchronizer Find as you type (Type-ahead find)
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Disk Order Yes ? Partial ? Yes ? ?
Dos Navigator / NDN ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
emelFM2 ? No Partial ? Yes ? Yes
Finder No Yes Partial ? No No Yes
Konqueror Yes ? Yes(with konq-plugin) ? ? ? Yes
Krusader Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Midnight Commander Partial [17] ? Yes ? Yes Yes[18]
Nautilus No No Yes No No No Yes
Path Finder No Yes Partial ? ? ? Yes
RageWork Yes No ? Yes No ?
ROX-Filer No No Yes ? No ? Yes, and browsing with tab completion
Servant Salamander Yes No Yes ? Yes Partial (for remote folders) Yes
Total Commander Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Tux Commander ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes No Partial No No Yes
XionDE.fm No No Yes No No No No
Xffm Partial [19] ? ? ? ? ? ?
xplorer² Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XYplorer No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
ZTreeWin Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
File manager Browse compressed folders Slideshows Directory Sizes Branch Sizes Directory compare Synchronizer 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 [20] Refined searches [21]
A43 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Disk Order Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
emelFM2 Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Partial ?
Finder Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Krusader Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
Nautilus Yes PartialTemplate:Refun PartialTemplate:Refun ? ? ? Yes ?
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
RageWork Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
ROX-Filer Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ?
Servant Salamander Yes Yes ? Yes[22] ? ? Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
Tux Commander ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes No ? ? ? Yes No
XionDE.fm No No No No No No No No
xplorer² Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XYplorer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (256) Yes Yes ?
ZTreeWin Yes Yes Partial ? ? ? Yes ?
File manager File name/content search Basic metadata search All metadata search RegExp Boolean (nesting levels) Fuzzy logic Save searches Refined searches

^ Can integrate with Beagle to provide more searching functionality.

Extensibility

What parts of the application can be extended by plugins?

File manager Filesystem support Attribute columns File previews Metadata indexing
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Partial
Disk Order Yes ? ? ?
emelFM2 ? ? ? ?
Finder Yes No Yes Yes
Konqueror ? ? ? ?
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Partial
Nautilus Yes ? Yes ?
Path Finder ? ? ? ?
RageWork Yes ? ? ?
ROX-Filer No Yes No
Servant Salamander Yes No Yes ?
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes ?
Tux Commander ? ? ? ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes ?
XionDE.fm No No No No
xplorer² Yes Yes Yes ?
ZTreeWin Yes No Yes ?
File manager Filesystem support Attribute columns File previews Metadata indexing

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Manager views" and "File feature" examples:
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Via "Mirrored Browsing" feature
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Mass Rename is a feature to rename big amounts of files in a convenient way and including a preview, see
    File:Servant Salamander 2.5RC batch renamer screenshot.png
    Example screenshot of mass rename
    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.
  6. ^ Only text can be pasted as a new file.
  7. ^ Needs KRename, an application that integrates into Konqueror and Krusader.
  8. ^ Only text which is dragged from another program and dropped into a folder in Nautilus can be pasted as a new file.
  9. ^ Path Finder apparently integrates with Knox, an encryption utility.
  10. ^ Servant Salamander offers to show only selected files and hide unselected ones, also in picture viewer etc. For selection, the usual wildcards and add/substract/intersect with 1...N stored selections are offered.
  11. ^ ACL is dependent on the type and version of file- and operating system. Servant Salamander offers quick access to owner, auditing and permission settings in WinXP with NTFS 5.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Can automatically generate image previews.
  14. ^ Via shell context menu.
  15. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only.
  16. ^ Encryption is supported for Zip and Rar, other formats depend on the editable ARCHIVER.BB2 file
  17. ^ Can browse .rpm .tar, .tar.gz, and .tgz files.
  18. ^ Can be done in two steps
  19. ^ Can browse compressed tar files.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 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) substract from those results (original result set reduced by intersection of result sets).
  22. ^ Servant Salamander Search offers RegExp for defining the file content.

See also

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