You can see there is a list of files and some configurable icons at the top for fast operations like select/copy/move/rename. It has built in scripting, support for archives (so they can be treated like directories), a decent image viewer, and of course unlimited windows with source/destination designation.
I’ve looked at Sunflower, Thunar, Midnight Commander, SpaceFM, Vifm, Dolphin, PCManFM, nnn, Nemo and ranger.
Thanks, I had a look at Krusader. It’s another dual-pane one.
All of these seem to be dual-pane like from back in the DOS days, kinda weird that none of them have joined the 21st century. Actually multi-window goes back further than that I think, I’m sure Opus 5 for AmigaOS was before 2000.
The only other style is a Windows 95 Explorer rip-off and those all suck for file management.
Dolphin is probably the most configurable option but I think a lot of Linux users tend to go with whatever comes with their DE. Or if they do switch, it’s to something minimal like Pcmanfm or ranger.
I’m a little surprised, file management is so essential and I’d have thought someone would have scratched that itch by now. The gap between Opus and everything else is a gaping chasm.
I use nnn, I like simple programs. For image previews, I just open a folder with sxiv from within nnn, then hit Enter to enter preview mode of all the folder. I also like programs to be separated (do one-ish thing and do it well).
Bonus, you can use fzf (fuzzy finder) to find more things, albeit the search may not be as accurate, like for example, if you type “epyc” in fzf, it will search for files containing “epyc,” but it will also show you in your search a file called “ExPlore Your Career.txt” which which contains all the letters from “epyc” in that order (oh, please, I beg you, don’t use capital letters and spaces when naming files and folders).
It’s not about finding stuff recursively it’s just all the little things that make actions faster. Krusader copies the old total commander UI which was nice but DOpus, imo, takes it a bit further.
It’s a very old, very stable file manager that really exceeds at what it does. It costs money and once you dig into it you understand why.
Maybe we should list the top 10 features missing from the OSS file managers and send the project money to implement them.
Opus takes the two-pane concept but allows you to have as many panes as you like, each in a separate window. So it’s very good for organizing files, you don’t have to keep moving between directories and instead just have a bunch of windows open.
Seems to be a bit of a well kept secret, and most people continue to struggle with ancient file managers. Possibly not being free puts people off but once you try it there is no going back.
