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

file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...

General information

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XTree XTree is a file manager program originally designed for use under DOS. It was published by Underwear Systems, later Executive Systems, Inc. (ESI) and first released on 1 April 1985, and became highly popular. The program uses a character-mode i ...

, rowspan="2" , Jeffery C. Johnson , , 1985-04-01 , DOS , , 1992 , rowspan="2" , rowspan="2" , - , , 1992 , Windows , , 1992 , - ! ,

XYplorer XYplorer (pronounced ''X-Y-plorer'' or ''Zai-plorer'', formerly known as TrackerV3) is a file manager for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11. XYplorer is a hybrid file manager that combines features found in navigational and orthodox file manag ...

, Donald Lessau , , 1997 , Windows , 20.80.0100 , 2020-02-13 , , , - ! ,

ZTreeWin ZTreeWin, an orthodox file manager for Microsoft Windows, is a (heavily improved) clone of XTree. Like XTree, it logs (preloads) filenames and attributes into memory so that search and sort operations are extremely fast. By making use of the l ...

, Kim Henkel , , 1996 , Windows , 2.2.19 , 2011-05-27 , , , - ! rowspan="2" , Name ! rowspan="2" , Developer ! colspan="2" data-sort-type="date" , Initial release ! rowspan="2" , Platform ! colspan="2" data-sort-type="date" , Latest release ! rowspan="2" ,

License A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

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Operating system support

Cross-platform file managers

This table shows the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

s that the file managers can run on, without emulation.

Mac-only file managers

* Finder *

ForkLift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...

Path Finder Path Finder (originally SNAX) is a Macintosh file browser developed by Cocoatech. First released in 2001 simultaneously with the public release of Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah), it replicates or integrates most of the features of the Finder, but in ...

Xfile Xfile is a file manager developed by Rixstep, built as a Finder replacement for the Mac OS X operating system. Its features are mostly congruent with those accessible by generic Unix systems. Some examples of the more advanced features are a c ...

* Commander One

*nix-only file managers

emelFM2 emelFM2 is an orthodox file manager which uses the GTK+ 2 widget toolkit for X11 on Unix-like operating systems. The default window layout is two filesystem directories in the left and right panes similar to that found in Norton Commander, a str ...

Gentoo file manager gentoo is a free file manager for Linux and other Unix-like computer systems created by Emil Brink. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License. gentoo is written in C using the GTK+ toolkit, and the "two-pane" concept. What makes ge ...

Konqueror Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems (such as local files, files on a remote FTP server and files in a disk image). It forms a core part of ...

Krusader Krusader is an advanced orthodox file manager for KDE and other desktops in the Unix world. It is similar to the console-based GNU Midnight Commander, GNOME Commander for the GNOME desktop environment, or Total Commander for Windows, all of wh ...

* nnn *

Nautilus The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in t ...

Nemo Nemo may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Games * ''Nemo'' (arcade game), a 1990 arcade game by Capcom based on ''Little Nemo'' * NEMO (video game console), an unreleased console Music * Nemo (American band), an indie rock band * Nemo ...

PCMan File Manager PCMan File Manager (PCManFM) is a file manager application, developed by Hong Jen Yee () from Taiwan, which is meant to be a replacement for GNOME Files, Dolphin (file manager), Dolphin and Thunar. PCManFM is the standard file manager in LXDE, als ...

Ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

* ROX-Filer *

Thunar Thunar is a file manager for Linux and other Unix-like systems, initially written using the GTK+ 2 toolkit and later ported to the GTK+ 3 toolkit. It started to ship with Xfce in version 4.4 RC1 and later. Thunar is developed by Benedikt Meu ...

SpaceFM SpaceFM was a desktop-independent, multi-panel, tabbed file manager for Linux. SpaceFM is built using the GTK+ toolkit. Available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, SpaceFM is free software. Features *Panels: each window can ...

Windows-only file managers

Altap Salamander Altap Salamander (formerly known as ''Servant Salamander'') is a freeware orthodox file manager for Microsoft Windows, originally inspired by Norton Commander. In contrast to several other file managers, it has a ''context aware'' user interface h ...

Directory Opus Directory Opus (or "DOpus" as its users tend to call it) is a File manager, file manager program, originally written for the Amiga computer system in the early to mid-1990s. Commercial development on the version for the Amiga ceased in 1997. Direct ...

Explorer++ Explorer++ is a free and open-source navigational file manager for Microsoft Windows. It features multi-tabbed panes, bookmarks menu, and a customizable user interface. It can be configured to run portably or use the registry. It can also be se ...

File Manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...

* Nomad.NET * SE-Explorer *

STDU Explorer STDU Explorer is a file manager for previewing and managing PDF, DjVu, Comic Book Archive (CBR or CBZ), XPS and image file formats such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PSD and WMF. It works under Microsoft Windows, and is free for non-commercia ...

* TablacusExplorerhttps://tablacus.github.io/ *

Total Commander __NOTOC__ Total Commander (formerly Windows Commander) is a shareware orthodox file manager for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile/Windows CE and Android, developed by Christian Ghisler. Originally coded using Delphi, latest Windows 64-b ...

File Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...

* xplorer² *

iOS-only file managers

Files (Apple) Files is a file management app developed by Apple Inc. for devices that run iOS 11 and later releases of iOS and devices that run iPadOS. Discovered as a placeholder title in the App Store just prior to the company's 2017, Worldwide Developers ...

Android-only file managers

Files by Google Files (formerly known as Files Go) is a file management app developed by Google for file browsing, media consumption, storage clean-up and offline file transfer. It was released by Google on December 5, 2017 with a custom version for China being ...

* Ghost Commander

Manager views

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 Miller columns (also known as cascading lists) are a browsing/visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures. The columns allow multiple levels of the hierarchy to be open at once, and provide a visual representation of the curren ...

browsing / visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures / folders. 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 macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

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 features

Information on what basic file features the file managers support.

Browsing features

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. Column Definitions (D) Entry Notes (s)

Extensibility

Information on which parts of the application can be extended by plugins.

Notes

External links

''What's the best file manager for Ubuntu Gnome 14.04 Trusty?''
by Rich Lott, May 2014
Softpanorama Orthodox File Managers page (Home of the OFM standard)

Comparison of some "light" File Managers in GNU/Linux (in spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comparison of file managers

File managers A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...