Comparison of file managers

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

Contents

[edit] 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 File Manager B.G. Miller 2001 2.52 Free Proprietary
Freeware
Altap Salamander Altap 1997-08-15 v2.51 (2008-03-19) US$ 30 Proprietary
Beesoft Commander Piotr Pszczolkowski,
http://www.beesoft.pl		 2005-11-28 4.1.0 (2008-09-19) Free GPL
Dos Navigator RITLabs v0.90 (1991) v1.51 (1999) Free open source
Directory Opus Jonathan Potter,
GPSoftware		 Amiga: v1 (1990-01-03)
Windows: v6 (2001-06-18)		 v9.1.1.0 (2008-09-06) € 49.95 Proprietary
Dired integral part of Emacs,
part of the GNU project		 1978? 7.10 (2002-04-12) Free GPL
Disk Order LikeMac Group 2004-02 v2.3 (2006-05-31) $22.57 USD Proprietary
Dolphin KDE ? 1.1 (2008-07-29)

KDE 4.1

 Free GPL
emelFM2 tooar 2003-09-06 v0.4.1 (2008-05-22) Free GPL
Explorer++ David Erceg 2008-01-06 Alpha 2 (2008-08-10) Free Proprietary
F Duy Nguyen &
Michel Normand		 2000 or earlier v1.70 / 2.70 (2002) Free
FAR Manager Eugene Roshal (originally),
FAR Group		 1996 v1.70 (2006-03-29) Free open source
File Commander Brian Havard 199x (?) v2.30 (2008-10-07) $25.00 USD Proprietary
File Manager Microsoft 1990? v3.1 Part of Windows Proprietary
Finder Apple Inc. 1984-01 v10.5.3 (2008-02-11) Part of Mac OS X Proprietary
ForkLift binarynights.com 2007-03-24 v1.6 (2009-01-09) $44.95 USD Proprietary
FreeCommander Marek Jasinski 2004 (?) v2009.02 (2009-02-17) Free Proprietary
Gentoo file manager Gentoo ? v0.11.55 (2005-06-04) Free GPL
GNOME Commander GNOME Commander 2001-08 v1.2.7 (2008-07-28) Free GPL
KFM Kae Verens 2006-07 v1.3.1 (2008-10-13) Free BSD
Konqueror KDE October, 2000 v3.5.7 (2007-05-22) Free GPL
Krusader Krusader Krew 2000-07-11 v1.80.0 (2007-07-21) Free GPL
Magellan Explorer Enriva 1999 or earlier
(as Voyager 98)		 v3.32 (2005-10-07) $39.95 Proprietary
Midnight Commander mc GNU Midnight Commander v4.6.1 (2005-07-23) Free GPL
muCommander Maxence Bernard 2002-02-17 v0.8.2 (2008-04-16) Free GPL
Nautilus Eazel 2001-04-11 v2.18.0.1 (2007-03-12) Free GPL
Nexusfile JungHoon Noh v5.1.2 (2008-11-30) Free Proprietary
Norton Commander Peter Norton Computing,
later Symantec corporation		 1986 DOS: v5.51 (1998-07-01)
Windows: v2.01 (1999-02-01)		  ? Proprietary
Path Finder
(originally called SNAX)		 Cocoatech 2001-04 v5.1 (2009-03-26) US$ 39.95 Proprietary
PathMinder Albert Nurick and
Brittain Fraley		 1984 v4.11 (1988) US$ 39.95 Proprietary
PowerDesk VCOM ? v6.04 US$ $39.95 Proprietary
ROX-Filer Thomas Leonard et al Before 2000-03-10 v2.5 (2006-07-07) Free GPL
SpeedCommander SpeedProject 1993-05 v12.21 (2008-07-04) € 37.95 Proprietary
Thunar Xfce 2006-01-22 v1.0.0 (2009-02-26) Free GPL
Total Commander Christian Ghisler 1993-09-29 v7.04a (2008-08-08) CHF 40 / € 26 Proprietary
UltraExplorer Jim Kueneman 2006-12-17 v1.5.0.3 (2007-12-26) Free GPL
Unreal Commander Max Diesel 2006 v0.95 (2009-01-03) Free Proprietary
Volkov Commander Vsevolod Volkov circa 1992 v4.05/4.99.08 (2000) shareware/freeware Proprietary
Windows Explorer Microsoft 1995-08-24 v6.0 Part of Windows Proprietary
WinSCP WinSCP ? v4.1.5 (2008-07-12) Free GPL
Worker Ralf Hoffmann 1999-03-06 v2.17.1 (2008-12-18) Free GPL
Xfile Rixstep 2003-03-02 v1.8.0 (2007-02-19) US$ 79.00
(with 80+ other apps)		 Proprietary
xplorer² Nikos Bozinis 2004-06-10 v1.7.1.4 (2008-07-03) US$ 29.95
(lite is free)		 Proprietary
XYplorer Donald Lessau 1997 v7.90.0120 (2009-02-12) US$ 24.95 Proprietary
ZTreeWin Kim Henkel 1996 v1.74 (2008-10-10) US$ 29.95 Proprietary
bugFile 1Scripts 2006-08 v2.0 (2007-06) Free Proprietary
FileAnt Will Wheelahan 1998 20080003 (2008-06) Free Proprietary

[edit] Operating system support

[edit] Cross-platform file managers

The operating systems 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[1] No No
Dired Yes[2] Yes[3] Yes[4] Yes Yes Yes Yes[5] Yes[6] Yes[7]
Dos Navigator Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No
Dolphin No Yes[8] Yes[9] Yes Yes Yes No No No
emelFM2 No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No
Explorer++ No Yes No No No No No No No
F ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
File Commander No Yes No No No No No Yes No
GNOME Commander No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
KFM ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? No No No
Konqueror No Yes[10] Yes[11] Yes Yes Yes No No No
Krusader No No Yes[12] Yes Yes Yes No No No
Magellan Explorer ? Yes No No No No No No No
Midnight Commander Yes Yes[13] Yes[14] Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
muCommander No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No
Nautilus No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
PathMinder Yes Yes No No No No No No No
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
bugFile (web-based) No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
ZTreeWin/ZTreeBold No Yes No No No No No Yes No

[edit] Mac-only file managers

[edit] Windows-only file managers

[edit] Web-based file managers

Further information: List of web based file managers

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/info2www?(emacs)MS-DOS
  3. ^ http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
  4. ^ http://homepage.mac.com/zenitani/emacs-e.html
  5. ^ http://de5.aminet.net/util/gnu/em1934src.readme
  6. ^ http://home.snafu.de/ohei/emacs/emacs206-os2.html
  7. ^ http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsOnVMS
  8. ^ http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Windows/Installation#Package_status_and_contents
  9. ^ http://www.macports.org/ports.php?by=category&substr=kde4
  10. ^ http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Windows/Installation#Package_status_and_contents
  11. ^ http://www.macports.org/ports.php?by=category&substr=kde4
  12. ^ Runs under X Window System
  13. ^ Cygwin or unsupported native port [1]
  14. ^ Runs in text mode inside Terminal window
  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

[edit] Manager views

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

File manager UI Icon view List view[1] Column view[1] Thumbnails[1] Details + Thumbs[1] Grouping[1] Content dependent[2] Twin panel Favs-panel[1] Panel tabs
Altap Salamander GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ? No
Directory Opus GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dired Text ? Yes ? Yes, on GUI[3] Yes, on GUI[3] ? ? Yes, one or more Partial (bookmarks) Yes (show tab-bar optional)[4]
Disk Order GUI ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
Dos Navigator Text ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Dolphin GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
emelFM2 GUI No Yes No Yes[5] ? No No Yes ? No
FAR Manager Text No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial†
File Commander Text No Yes Yes No Partial Yes No Yes No No
File Manager GUI Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes No No
Finder GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, with Cover Flow Yes No No Yes No
FreeCommander GUI Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
GNOME Commander GUI No Yes No No ? No No Yes ? No
KFM GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No
Konqueror GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes* Yes Yes
Krusader GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes ? Yes
Midnight Commander Text ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Nautilus GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Partial
Path Finder GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes
PowerDesk GUI Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
ROX-Filer GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes No
SpeedCommander GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Total Commander GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes In viewing Yes Yes Yes
Thunar GUI Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No ? ? Yes ?
UltraExplorer GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Volkov Commander Text ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Windows Explorer GUI Yes Yes Yes † Yes Partial † Yes Yes No Yes Yes, with optional plugin [6]
xplorer² GUI Yes Yes No Yes Yes[7] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XYplorer GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes
ZTreeWin Text No Yes Yes No Partial Yes No Yes Yes No
NexusFile GUI Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes ? Yes
bugFile GUI No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No

^ Via multi-panel plugins. ^  Column view is called Details view in Windows Explorer ^  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).

[edit] 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
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (SFTP & SSL[8])
Disk Order ? ? ? ? Yes Yes (FTPS & SFTP)
Dolphin Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
emelFM2 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Far Manager Yes Partial† Partial† No Yes Yes†
File Commander Yes Partial† Partial† No Partial† Partial†
Finder Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes† Partial† No
FreeCommander Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
GNOME Commander Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
KFM Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes†
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Krusader Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Midnight Commander Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
Nautilus Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (Read Access) No
ROX-Filer Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes†
SpeedCommander Yes ? Partial† ? Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes† Partial† No Yes Yes
Ultimate Commander Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes† No Yes No
xplorer² Yes Yes† Partial† No Yes No
ZTreeWin Yes Partial† Partial† No Partial† Partial†
NexusFile No No No No Yes No

^ Support is provided by the underlying operating system.
^ NFS support in these file managers requires the installation of Services for UNIX.
^  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).
^ FTP support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or Webdrive.
^ SSH support in these file managers requires the installation of SftpDrive or Webdrive.
^ WebDAV support in these file managers requires the installation of NetDrive or Webdrive.
^ WebDAV is supported via Microsoft's Network Places.
^ Support is provided via a free 3rd-party plugin.

[edit] 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[9][1] File selection filter[1] Paste clipboard as file File and folder reports[1] ACL (Access control list) Mass Rename[10]
Altap Salamander Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes, multiple[11] ? Yes Yes[12] Yes
Directory Opus Yes Partial† Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Disk Order Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dolphin Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? ?
emelFM2 Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes No ? 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
Finder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? Yes No
FreeCommander Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
GNOME Commander Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? No Yes
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Partial[13] ? Yes Yes[14]
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes[14]
Nautilus Yes No Yes Yes No No Partial[15] No Yes No
Path Finder Yes No[16] No Yes No Yes No Yes No No
ROX-Filer With helper apps Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes
SpeedCommander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Log file Yes
Windows Explorer Yes Partial[17] No Yes No No Yes No Yes[18] Partial
xplorer² Yes Partial[17] Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[19] Yes
XYplorer Yes Partial[17] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ZTreeWin Yes Partial[20] Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
NexusFile Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes

[edit] 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
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Disk Order Yes ? Partial ? Yes ? ?
Dos Navigator / NDN Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ?
Dolphin ? ? Yes No No No Yes
emelFM2 ? No Partial ? Yes ? Yes
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
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[21] ? Yes ? Yes Yes[22] Yes
Nautilus No No Yes No No No Yes
Path Finder No Yes Partial ? No No Yes
ROX-Filer No No Yes ? No ? Yes, and browsing with tab completion
SpeedCommander Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes In plugin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Windows Explorer Yes Yes No Partial No Yes Yes
xplorer² Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XYplorer No No Yes Yes No No Yes
ZTreeWin Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes

[edit] 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[23] Refined searches[24]
Altap Salamander Yes Yes ? Yes[25] ? ? Yes Yes
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Disk Order Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dolphin Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
emelFM2 Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Partial ?
FAR Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes† Yes† Yes† Yes Yes
File Commander Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No
Finder Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ?
FreeCommander Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Yes[26] No No Yes Yes
Nautilus Yes Partial† Partial† ? ? ? Yes ?
Path Finder Yes Yes Yes No No ? No No
ROX-Filer Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ?
SpeedCommander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Partial†
Windows Explorer Yes Yes No ? ? ? Yes Yes
X-file Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
xplorer² Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
XYplorer Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[27]
ZTreeWin Yes Yes Partial Partial[28] Yes Yes Yes Yes

^ Can integrate with Beagle to provide more searching functionality.
^ Via plugins
^ Search intersection

[edit] Extensibility

What parts of the application can be extended by plugins?

File manager Filesystem support Attribute columns File previews Metadata indexing Unicode support
Altap Salamander Yes No Yes ? 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†
Finder Yes No Yes Yes
FreeCommander ? ? ? ? No
Konqueror ? ? Yes ?
Krusader Yes Yes Yes Partial
Midnight Commander Yes No No No
Nautilus Yes ? Yes ?
Path Finder ? ? ? ?
ROX-Filer No Yes No
SpeedCommander Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes In search tool Partial By unicode fonts
Windows Explorer Yes Yes Yes Yes[29] Yes
xplorer² Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
ZTreeWin Yes No Yes ? Yes†

†In an early alpha version 1.80 as of Feb 2008 †in beta version v2.0.136 as of Dec 16 2008

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Manager views" and "File feature" examples gallery:

    Icon views represent files and folders as large icons
    Windows Explorer on Windows XP.png

    List views display items in a sortable list

    Details + Thumbnails views and Favs-panel (bottom left)
  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. ^ a b Activating Image-Dired command in the graphical interface.
  4. ^ Tab-bar mode can be activated to show the tab-bar (else it will be hidden).
  5. ^ Optional image thumbnailer plugin since v0.3.4 (24/5/2007)
  6. ^ QTTabBar plugin
  7. ^ Via "Mirrored Browsing" feature
  8. ^ Requires an additional licence (purchased separately)
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Mass Rename is a feature to rename big amounts of files in a convenient way and including a preview, see
    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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Only text can be pasted as a new file.
  14. ^ a b Needs KRename, an application that integrates into Konqueror and Krusader.
  15. ^ Only text which is dragged from another program and dropped into a folder in Nautilus can be pasted as a new file.
  16. ^ Path Finder apparently integrates with Knox, an encryption utility.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only. Must be enabled manually in Windows versions prior to Server 2003.
  19. ^ Via system File Properties dialog, NTFS-only.
  20. ^ Encryption is supported for Zip and Rar, other formats depend on the editable ARCHIVER.BB2 file
  21. ^ Extensible via compression plugins, supported formats list depends on distribution package maintainer
  22. ^ Can be done in two steps
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ 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).
  25. ^ Altap Salamander Search offers RegExp for defining the file content.
  26. ^ Krusader - Twin Panel File Management For Your Desktop
  27. ^ After searching results, user can apply advanced visual filters to narrow down search.
  28. ^ ZTreeWin provides several context specific search syntaxes that are not pure regex
  29. ^ IFilters

[edit] External links

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