Comparison of file managers
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable file managers.
Operating system support
Cross-platform file managers
This table shows the operating systems that the file managers can run on, without emulation.Mac-only file managers
*nix-only file managers
- Demos Commander
- emelFM2
- Gentoo file manager
- Konqueror
- Krusader
- nnn
- Nautilus
- Nemo
- PCMan File Manager
- Ranger
- ROX-Filer
- Thunar
- SpaceFM
- Worker
Windows-only file managers
- Altap Salamander
- Directory Opus
- Explorer++
- File Manager (Windows)
- Nomad.NET
- STDU Explorer
- Total Commander
- File Explorer
- xplorer²
- XYplorer
- ZTreeWin
iOS-only file managers
Android-only file managers
- Files by Google
- Ghost Commander
Manager views
Information about what common file manager views are implemented natively.Note that the "Column View" does not refer to the Miller Columns 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.
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 features
Information on what basic file features the file managers support.Browsing features
| File manager | Symbolic links | 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 | DIR | ||||||||||
| Commander One | , in the PRO Pack | DIR and total size including subdirectories | |||||||||
| Directory Opus | DIR and total size including subdirectories | ||||||||||
| Dired | Literal | ||||||||||
| DOS Navigator | Total size including subdirectories | ||||||||||
| Dolphin | Number of entries | ||||||||||
| Double Commander | DIR | ||||||||||
| emelFM2 | Literal | ||||||||||
| FAR Manager | |||||||||||
| Files (Apple) | |||||||||||
| Files by Google | |||||||||||
| Finder | |||||||||||
| ForkLift | DIR and total size including subdirectories | ||||||||||
| GNOME Commander | |||||||||||
| Konqueror | Folder only size selectable to file count/total size | ||||||||||
| Krusader | |||||||||||
| Midnight Commander | |||||||||||
| muCommander | , command execution only | ||||||||||
| GNOME Files (Nautilus) | , With Plugin | Number of entries | |||||||||
| Nemo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | , with nemo-terminal extension | - | |
| Nomad.NET | , via Plugin | DIR and total size including subdirectories | |||||||||
| Path Finder | |||||||||||
| PCManFM | , but there is a fork attempt | Nothing | |||||||||
| ROX-Filer | , and browsing with tab completion | Nothing | |||||||||
| Thunar | Configurable | ||||||||||
| Total Commander | In plugin | DIR and total size including subdirectories | |||||||||
| Windows Explorer | |||||||||||
| Worker | - | ||||||||||
| Xandros File Manager | |||||||||||
| Xfe | |||||||||||
| Xfile | |||||||||||
| Xfm | |||||||||||
| xplorer² | |||||||||||
| XYplorer | Contents including subs | ||||||||||
| ZTreeWin | Selectable: number of entries or size | ||||||||||
| File manager | Symbolic links | 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: |
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 | File contents | Basic metadata search | All metadata search | RegExp for contents | Boolean | Fuzzy logic | Save searches | Refined searches |
| Altap Salamander | |||||||||
| Commander One | |||||||||
| Directory Opus | |||||||||
| Dired | |||||||||
| Dolphin | |||||||||
| Double Commander | |||||||||
| emelFM2 | |||||||||
| FAR Manager | |||||||||
| Files (Apple) | |||||||||
| Files by Google | |||||||||
| Finder | |||||||||
| ForkLift | |||||||||
| Konqueror | |||||||||
| Krusader | |||||||||
| GNOME Files (Nautilus) | |||||||||
| Nemo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Nomad.NET | |||||||||
| Path Finder | |||||||||
| PCManFM | |||||||||
| ROX-Filer | |||||||||
| Total Commander | |||||||||
| Windows Explorer | |||||||||
| Worker | |||||||||
| Xandros File Manager | |||||||||
| Xfe | |||||||||
| Xfile | |||||||||
| Xfm | |||||||||
| xplorer² | |||||||||
| XYplorer | |||||||||
| ZTreeWin | |||||||||
| File manager | File name | File contents | Basic metadata search | All metadata search | RegExp for contents | Boolean | Fuzzy logic | Save searches | Refined searches |
Column Definitions
Entry Notes
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 | ||||||
| Commander One | ||||||
| Directory Opus | ||||||
| Dired | ||||||
| Dolphin | ||||||
| Double Commander | ||||||
| emelFM2 | ||||||
| Far Manager | ||||||
| Files (Apple) | ||||||
| Files by Google | ||||||
| Finder | ||||||
| ForkLift | ||||||
| Konqueror | ||||||
| Krusader | ||||||
| Midnight Commander | ||||||
| GNOME Files (Nautilus) | ||||||
| Nemo | ||||||
| Nomad.NET | ||||||
| Path Finder | ||||||
| PCManFM | ||||||
| ROX-Filer | ||||||
| Total Commander | In search tool | |||||
| Windows Explorer | ||||||
| Worker | ||||||
| Xandros File Manager | ||||||
| Xfe | ||||||
| Xfile | ||||||
| Xfm | ||||||
| xplorer² | ||||||
| XYplorer | ||||||
| ZTreeWin | ||||||
| File manager | Filesystem support | Attribute columns | File previews | Metadata indexing | Unicode support | Visual themes |