What are the best file managers for Windows 10?

Question

PC

What are the best file managers for Windows 10?

15

Options
Considered

466

User
Recs.

Jan 15, 2024

Last
Updated

15 Options Considered

Best file managers for Windows 10	Price	Platforms	License
69 XYplorer	$34.95+	Windows	Per User
60 Directory Opus	$89 AUD	Windows	Per-Machine (plus personal laptop)
59 Multi Commander	free	Windows	-
-- Total Commander	37€	Android	-
-- Double Commander	Free	Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD	GPL-2.0-only

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score 79 · Answer 1

XYplorer

Top Pro

Developer is active in the forum as well

While other competitors only offer a "community" forum where the developers are absent, in XY's forum the developer answers questions personally, quickly, and consistenly. See More

Top Con

32-Bit

IndustriousKuninotokotachi's Experience

Features, speed, reliability, scripting, customizing to the max See More

Specs

Top Pro

Numerous filtering, sorting, and highlighting methods for files

Create rules and configurations to quickly identify and locate specific types of file and display them in various ways. See More

Top Con

Separate tree for each panel is missing

The possibility of having a separate tree for each of the 2 panels is lacking. See More

IndustriousGyges's Experience

Brilliantly customisable See More

Top Pro

Portable

It doesn't require you to install it on your computer, allowing you to run it directly from a disk or from an USB flashdrive. See More

Top Con

No archive browsing

Can't view or modify the contents of zip or other archive formats within the program See More

HappyHelios's Experience

I'm using XYplorer exclusively since 2012. Fully satisfied with it, I stopped searching for an alternative. It is everything I may need and much more. See More

Top Pro

Extremely configurable

There are literally hundreds of ways you can customize this software. All the settings can be contained in a single configuration file, so you can easily create "profiles" as well. See More

Top Con

Single-threaded

Doesn't do internal multitasking so often you sit there waiting and waiting and waiting for the window to come back. See More

DecisiveQuiritis's Experience

Clean interface, intuitive and blazing fast. Plus, the forum is very useful for quick answers if I am stuck with a certain task. Dev is involved and clearly passionate about this product. See More

Top Pro

Frequent and regular updates

Bugfixes and new features are released frequently. Additionally, XYplorer can automatically check for updates and has convenient download and update functionality built-in. See More

Top Con

Cannot display files as grouped

Especially in thumbs view it would at times be nice to be able to group the files in the display. Sometimes it might also be nice in others views as well. XY is only able to sort the files in the display but not able to group, though it does support arbitrary sort order and advanced link types. See More

yurayura's Experience

Powerful and easy to get used to. See More

Top Pro

Extremely versatile renaming

Renaming can also be combined extremely easily in basic scripts for chaining and combining the strengths of the different types of renaming available. Can also rename based on metadata.You don't really need to "learn scripting" to chain a bunch of renaming commands. Multiscripts can even give you a menu of your chained renames - with nested menus if desired. It takes very little knowledge to be able to do this. One can even run such a script by drag and drop. See More

Top Con

No themes

You can customize toolbars, but there are no themes available. See More

MeticulousNemesis's Experience

Great file-manager, the best See More

Top Pro

Lifetime license available

XYplorer probably has the best "bang for the buck". It surely has its cons but considering what one gets for a "small" one-time investment, probably no other comparable feature rich product offers a better license. The lifetime license ($79.95) includes all future updates for free, lets you install on any number of computers, and includes the portable version. See More

Top Con

No plugin support

AssertiveWadjWer's Experience

The developer is a very tolerant and therefore nice person. The community is at least as nice and helpful. The program is also among the very best of its field. People debate, if it is #1 or #2. See More

Top Pro

Branch view

Can show all files in a folder and all of its subfolders at once. See More

Top Con

No support for Windows libraries

You can't access your libraries through this software. See More

ProductiveHegemone's Experience

Just love it! See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

XYPlorer, in spite of its complexity and completeness, is very easy to use. Features are obvious. And where they're not obvious they can be discovered easily. An example is the ease of "Jump to Setting" which helps you effortlessly find which of many settings you're looking for. See More

Top Con

No FTP support

XY doesn't support FTP, SSH, FTPS, etc. See More

EnthusiasticRudraige's Experience

I enjoyed XYplorer for 8 years with satisfaction. It's the first application I open in my PC and the last I close. Whenever I have to use some other computer, I launch the portable version from an USB drive... and I feel home. See More

Top Pro

Per-user license

Just one license covers all of your computers. See More

Top Con

Status bar not customizable

Users cannot customize the status bar. See More

Top Pro

Portable file extensions

Associate file types with other portable applications on your USB stick. See More

Top Con

Often unresponsive or crashes

When using features like preview the or other "advanced" features the program often reacts very slow or even crashes completly. Also when browsing many files the program does not like that and can really bog down. See More

Top Pro

Dual pane

Manage files with two panes which can be arranged horizontally or vertically - and each can have multiple tabs to boot. You can also easily save and reload open tabs as tab sets. See More

Top Con

No working high-dpi support

XYplorer will not properly scale when working in a mixed configuration consisting of both Full-HD and high-dpi screens. See More

Top Pro

Very reliable

It's small and fast, has lots of features, and helps you get your work done faster. See More

Top Pro

Folder sizes shown

Folder sizes and amount of files within the folders can be shown. This is very useful when trying to work out where the HDD space has gone. See More

Top Pro

Community support

Extensive and active support forum with unusually quick, thorough, and friendly assistance. See More

Top Pro

Supports keyboard shortcuts

XYplorer is great for heavy keyboard users. Its many keyboard shortcuts are also fully configurable. Additionally, XYplorer offers multiple ways to navigate to file system using only a handful of keys. That said, one can do things with a mouse like press an icon in a custom column to run a script on the corresponding file or folder. Mousers are happy too. See More

Top Pro

Custom toolbar buttons

With its powerful scripting ability and the easily accessible menu identifiers, creating customized commands and toolbar buttons provides yet even further levels of usability specific to your needs. See More

Top Pro

Customizable keyboard shortcuts

XYplorer is great for heavy keyboard users. Its many keyboard shortcuts are also fully configurable. Additionally, XYplorer offers multiple ways to navigate to file system using only a handful of keys. That said, one can do things with a mouse like press an icon in a custom column to run a script on the corresponding file or folder. Mousers are happy too. See More

Top Pro

Scriptable

Uses a very flexible scripting language that you can do many things with it. After learning it, one can get many other tools replaced in favor of a single centralized, extremely customize-able command center, plus writing one own's personal routines to fully perform finely-tuned file management. However, doing basic things like stringing together common renaming and moving tasks takes very little knowledge. Scripting is easy for beginners, is supported by the developer and the community, yet can be incredibly deep and powerful. See More

Top Pro

User interface is extremely customizable

XYplorer's user interface can be customized in almost every conceivable manner, from size and placement of various frame elements, to fonts, colors, toolbar buttons, if you can think it, you can probably do it. See More

Top Pro

Preview files

From documents to audio and video. All files can be previewed from within the program and without the need to open other software packages. This is a very useful feature when working with multiple files. See More

Top Pro

Search and virtual folders

Its search ability and functions combined with a multitude of file actions and the ease of creating virtual folders is a major time saver. See More

Top Pro

Huge feature list, something for everyone.

The extensive feature list will give you plenty to work with. See More

Top Pro

Easy to organize lots of files at once

Known as Branch View in XYPlorer. Select a folder or multiple folders and select Branch View to get a flat file view of the selected folder/s with files only, folders only or both. Alternatively, select Branch View to get a flat view of the current folder. Results can then be filtered, sorted, organised, moved, copied, renamed etc accordingly. Extremely useful if you have a lot of files to organise. See More

Top Pro

Custom file and folder icons

Add a custom icon to a set of files or folders based on file type, location, name (or part of name) for example: all files named XYplorer to have 'icon x' or all folders that contain the word XYplorer in the name to have 'icon y', size, date, name length, path etc. You can customize an infinite number of icons for an infinite number of files and/folders or even just a single one based on what ever combination you want. No extra files are created like with other programs that place an icon in each directory. The customized icons are stored within the "Icons" folder of the XYPlorer directory while the list of customized file/folder patterns as well as which particular icon to point to are stored within XYplorer .ini file. It's set and forget as all file/folder icon associations are applied globally. Meaning that all new files or folders that match your predefined pattern or instruction if you like will automatically be displayed with your chosen icon. Customized icons are also very very flexible. It's so easy to add, remove, change and fine tune your settings to your liking. To turn the customized icons on or off is simply a matter of pressing the handy toggle button. Further flexibility comes with the ability to turn on or off individual custom icons with a simple tick box. It is a bit of a learning curve to get the pattern (instruction to select certain files/folders to be associated with a particular icon) just right. But as results are immediately visible, it makes it easy to adjust accordingly to exactly what you want. There are some examples of these patterns included within the "Customize File Icons" UI or settings box to get you started by selecting the "I" button. A more extensive list is available in the XYPlorer help file. Once you get the hang of it though, the same patterns can be applied to other customizations in XYPlorer for example color filters or Ghost filters. See More

Top Pro

Custom columns

Create custom columns to display all kinds of info snippets or even interactive links and buttons. See More

Top Pro

Nuke button

Files and folders can be "nuked" without needing to go through the recycle bin. See More

Top Pro

Extensive metadata

Mark files with colored labels, tags, comments, as well as multiple columns with user-defined metadata for everything from ratings, urls, and whatnot. See More

Top Pro

HoverBox

A no-click preview to quickly see folder contents, pictures, videos, pdf, office files, archives (zip, rar...)... See More

Top Pro

Can use system, XY's custom copy routines, Fast Copy, and Teracopy interchangably without scripting

Can save any set of command-line options with a friendly label. Switching is as easy as right-clicking on a button. See More

Top Pro

Safety belts

Configurable options to prevent accidental file movements or deletions. See More

Top Pro

Faster than Windows Explorer ever thought of being

This is faster than Windows Explorer when combined this with TeraCopy. Currently, it is present in the right-click menu, but you can drag and drop it to copy with Windows File Explorer. See More

Top Pro

The catalog: an all-purpose area that can be customized for all of your needs

An all-purpose area that you can customize for all your needs. It can be a list of favorite directories, run scripts, replace the directory tree, be a program launch pad, and so much more. See More

Top Pro

Long path names supported brilliantly

Windows File Explorer, over time, will eventually allow you to create path lengths, usually accidentally, that are "very long" (ie too many characters based on Windows standards). And then, out of nowhere, you no longer have full functionality available to the directories and files in that long path. eg: you won't be able to open a file, or rename it, or copy it, or delete it, etc. In order to regain full functionality available to the files/ directories in that "long path", you have to go and manually shorten the "long path" length by deleting characters in filenames, directory names, etc, In other words, Microsoft will "allow" you to break the rules (.. ie in most cases without warning ), but then won't support the broken rules. This is where XYPlorer is super useful -- especially when you move big chunks of data from A to B -- you no longer have to care about long path name issues. See More

Top Pro

Virtual Folders and Paper Folders

To collate files and dirs from various locations into one place. See More

Top Pro

Clean, uncluttered interface

Clean and uncluttered interface, easy to concentrate on the files and folders that you need. See More

Top Pro

Logs plenty of actions for undo/redo

Up to 256 actions are logged and can be looked up and undone later in case of a mistake. Undo/Redo works even across sessions (i.e. after closing and restarting the app). See More

Top Pro

Thumbnail viewing for images is both fast and customizable

If you're a photographer, wannabe photographer, or you just take a lot of photos, XYplorer is a great file manager for working with images. Combined with the Mouse Down Blow Up (MDBU) feature, previewing photos is very easy. See More

Top Pro

Quick audio preview

Can listen to audio files very easily with a single mouse click on the file icon. This includes FLAC support. See More

Top Pro

Supports correction of illegal file and folder names

Easily rename a folder to make it legal. Search for dangerous unicode characters. Rename all files to ASCII if you wish. See More

Top Pro

Has more features than any other file manager

I have used almost all the file manager's available today including opus, speed commander, total commander, f man, xplorer2, tabbles, etc. but none of them can compare with it in easy usage, features or customization. The author updates it very frequently and has added many users requests. See More

Top Pro

Option to Disable lazy drag-and-dropping

A good practice to improve your workflow and eliminate accidental unwanted file movings to places! Brilliant! See More

Top Pro

Can replace Windows Explorer

So that folders are automatically opened in a new tab of XYplorer rather than on Windows Explorer when called from other softwares. See More

Top Pro

FLAC as well as MP3 Support for Metadata and Previews

Most are MP3 only. See More

Top Pro

Asynchronous copy and move operations

It's possible to queue copy and move operations so that multiple large copy/move operations don't interfere with each other (disk thrashing) and you can continue working with the program. See More

Top Pro

Option to disable lazy drag-and-dropping

A good practice to improve your workflow and eliminate accidental unwanted file movings to places! Brilliant! See More

Top Pro

Exhaustive list of previewable archive formats

Works with help of 7zip, even a portable install works. See More

Top Pro

Extensive metadata

Mark files with colored labels, tags, comments, as well as multiple columns with user-defined metadata for everything from ratings, urls, and whatnot. See More

Top Pro

Separate 32 and 64-bit context menus

This is very useful for accessing some context handlers or when using the portable version across several systems. See More

Top Pro

Dark mode

Latest beta-release introduces the "dark mode" that we already know from other software. It's auto-computed based on the current colour-settings and has 51 shades of darkness. Can be activated with a simple checkbox, no further tweaking required! See More

Top Pro

Let's you select files by typing any word in the current directory

In windows file explorer when you want to select a file of the current directory, you have to type exactly the same name from the start of the file. In xyplorer you can type just part of it. Ex: filename "resume_work" With xyplorer you could just type work and it would show the file being marked (this is configurable). See More

Top Pro

Ability to identify text files containing any range of extended characters

For example in the find files dialog, you can specify *.srt and contchar:>127 to find all subrip files that contain extended characters. See More

See All

score 48 · Answer 2

Directory Opus

Top Pro

Powerful image viewer

Directory Opus includes a powerful independent image viewer with configurable toolbar, menus and hotkeys. See More

Top Con

Expensive

Compared to the other options, Directory Opus is quite expensive. Prices are $35 for the Lite version and $64 for Pro (price changes based on the AUD to US exchange rate). Upgrading from light to pro costs about $30. See More

MotivatedSeshat's Experience

I have licenses for Total Commander, XYplorer, xplorer2, Files, FileSide, Immersive Explorer, and OneCommander. I also have Q-Dir and Nemo Documents on my PC. Each file manager has its strengths. None compare to Directory Opus. Having used DOpus since version 8, it's depth, breadth and customizability set it apart from the others. Out of the box, it is simple to use as is. For those wanting more, DOpus can fit just about any need, from performance to aesthetics. With its engaged developers and strong community, it's well worth the price. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Per-Machine (plus personal laptop)

32 or 64 bit:Both

Portable:No

See All Specs

Top Pro

Tools for synchronizing files and finding duplicates

Can easily synchronize files and helps the user in finding and deleting duplicates. See More

Top Con

Only available for Windows

Henrik's Experience

It really is the king of file managers, no matter the cost (which is totally negotiable since a file manager is probably the tool you're going to use the most during your everyday computer tasks). Main selling points for me is first and foremost that it's lightning fast. Secondly, it's super-super-super customizable, to the point that there's virtually no little detail that you can't tailor to your personal needs. And last but not least, you get so many more tools than just a file manager: Compression tool for zip, 7zip, rar, etc; You get a top class bulk file renaming tool; Image-previewer; File-transfer client for (S)FTP protocol and friends; gosh there's too much more to even begin listing here. Just take my word for it, and get this masterpiece. It's simply one single investment that you'll never regret. See More

Top Pro

Extended scripting API

The scripting capabilities of DirectoryOpus extend from version to version. You can do a whole lot of unheard stuff with that. Custom columns, custom commands, handling events etc. just to name a few things. It even has a GUI editor to allow for custom interfaces for your file management and scripting tasks. Even though mastering it is not easy in the beginning, it's worth it in the long run. See More

Top Con

Can be intimidating to novice/inexperienced users

While the program is ULTRA-customizable, this can be a double-edged sword to anyone that is overwhelmed easily or not willing/able to learn the inner workings of DOpus. See More

FunClementia's Experience

Simply the best! See More

Top Pro

Works with Everything

Directory Opus works with the Everything search program. A custom-built script allows users to conduct searches and view results within the Directory Opus file display. See More

Top Con

Limited to only two views

You are only able to have two concurrent views at a time. It does help, that you are able to have both the metadata-pane and the viewer-pane open whilst using Dopus in dual-view mode. See More

FearlessWepwawet's Experience

Customizability and extensibility. Almost every corner of the window is customizable, from toolbars to icons, tab widths to column settings for individual folders. And most things can be saved as a preset. As if that wasn't enough, you can extend many functions with built-in scripting, to organize, rename, copy files, launch external programs, add your own columns or use scripts from the community. It's a ridiculously powerful tool with awesome support crew. See More

Top Pro

Customizable UI

Allows customizing toolbars and keyboard hotkeys. Has a full scripting interface that allows in-depth customization options. See More

Top Con

Restrictive license

Product is licensed on a "per-machine basis" requiring purchasing multiple expensive licenses to cover a single user with multiple machines. However, if you have time and luck, you can write to the DO sales department and they can produce another license for you to use personally on another machine you own. See More

yurayura's Experience

I really like the GUI, my problems are with the hard scripting and difficulty to do simple tasks, like creating a keyboard shortcut. See More

Top Pro

Powerful, expandable viewer

The viewer in Directory Opus supports a huge array of file extensions (more can be added as plugins). It is even able to show webpages in the viewer, when you select .url or .html files. See More

Top Con

Complicated if one pursues mastery on the most advanced features

Takes a long time to become efficient with it. Mastering all the features can be rather exhausting. See More

PersistentUgajin's Experience

I have been a Directory Opus (DOpus) user since the Amiga days, probably over thirty years! I have rarely tapped the depths but feel there's very little that can't be done through DOpus. It accelerates Windows use a crazy amount. See More

Top Pro

Tabs

Directory Opus has tabs for each view, which are customizable in size, appearance, functionality, etc. See More

VigilantAsopus's Experience

I have been using it for several years and even when I tried others I always come back to Dopus because no other file manager quite compares. In the free options I would recommend FreeCommander as the best of the free file managers. See More

Top Pro

Single or dual independent trees

Directory Opus allows the user to use a single tree or dual independent trees with the dual file display. See More

Top Pro

Customized filters

Directory Opus allows users to create custom filters that can be saved and recalled as needed. See More

Top Pro

Extensive column availability

Directory Opus includes over 150 standard columns in various groups, ranging from "Name and Path" to "Metadata." In addition, users can create custom columns using a script. See More

Top Pro

Blazing fast startup (< 1 sec) and browsing experience

Starts up within a second and never feels sluggish. Zipping through hoops of files and changing directories is all blazing fast. See More

Top Pro

FTP support

Supports SFTP (Secure FTP via SSH, port 22) Also supports FTP via SSL (port 990) and FTP via with TLS See More

Top Pro

Supports different archive formats

Supports archive formats like Zip, 7Zip and RAR. See More

Top Pro

Supports high-DPI monitors

Directory Opus supports both 4K and 5K monitors. See More

Top Pro

Manual sorting

Directory Opus allows users to sort files as they want in manual sorting mode. See More

Top Pro

Searchable preferences

Directory Opus offers thousands of user preferences. To help users find the preference they want, Directory Opus offers a search function within the Preferences dialog that identifies and highlights specific preferences associated with the user's search term. See More

Top Pro

File Status Symbols

Directory Opus offers an extension of standard color labeling in the form of status graphics that can be shown as an additional column in the file display. Standard graphics include "Checked" and "Flagged." Users can also create and use customized status labels. See More

Top Pro

Available for different architectures

Available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. See More

Top Pro

Can be set to replace Windows Explorer

Unique Explorer Replacement mode provides a full replacement for Windows Explorer. See More

Top Pro

Stable & reliable when dealing with huge (100k+) file sets

This applies to both local and network drives. See More

Top Pro

Backup and restore configuration

Directory Opus includes a comprehensive configuration backup and restore feature. Users can backup their customized configuration at any time and restore a previous configuration as needed. See More

Top Pro

Very powerful and easy to use batch rename dialog/feature

Top Pro

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux Support)

Script functions can be written in WSL Script, DOS Batch Mode, VBScript, JScript or directly calling Opus or External applications. /mnt/c paths understood by path fields. WSL mode in Find As You Type (FAYT). Copy path names in WSL format or Windows format. See More

Top Pro

Customizable and downloadable themes

The Directory Opus community has created everything from dark themes to themes emulating other applications. See More

Top Pro

Integrated image conversion

Directory Opus includes integrated image conversion functionality, allowing users to convert images to different formats, rotate and flip images, and resize images. Functionality can be used on a single image or large batch of images. See More

Top Pro

Relative size and date graphsf

Directory Opus has an option to include relative size and date graphs. These can be displayed independently, in their own columns, or nested behind the size and date columns respectively. They can also be toggled on and off with a simple button as needed. See More

Top Pro

Customizable status bar

Directory Opus allows users to customize the status bar to display helpful information based on several different factors, including file counts, types, disk space, and others. The status bar can also be customized separately for dual displays. See More

Top Pro

Batch-options

Allows batch renaming, viewing and editing file metadata. See More

Top Pro

Gets updated often

Directory Opus gets updates all the time -- fixes, significant improvements and often new features are released multiple times a month. Improvement and feature requests by users are taken in consideration and you can often find your bug report resolved or improvement request fulfilled in one of the beta versions that follow soon. See More

Top Pro

Allows color-coding and assigning star ratings to files and folders

This is done with Directory Opus' inbuilt label and its Status system. See More

Top Pro

Integrated dialog editor

Lets you write scripts that have their own user interface with buttons, lists, checkboxes, text fields, etc. See More

Top Pro

Good customer support

The customer support is very good. See More

Top Pro

Vertical folder tabs

Directory Opus users can use vertical tabs instead of horizontal tabs, if desired. See More

Top Pro

Standard and customized layouts/styles

Directory Opus includes 8 standard layouts, including Commander, Dual Horizontal, Dual Vertical, Explorer, Filmstrip, Images, Metadata and Single. In addition, users can create and save their own layouts to suit specific needs and file processes. See More

Top Pro

Works with Listary

Directory Opus has native support for Listary, allowing users to move even more quickly between directories and perform searches. See More

Top Pro

Supports TeraCopy

Directory Opus supports TeraCopy. See More

Top Pro

Double-click on desktop to open a new file browser window

Top Pro

Audio preview

Ways for sound designers to play and stop audio files for fast previewing. See More

Top Pro

World's best customer support

More often than not, developers reply within minutes (even seconds) on their great forum. Never seen anything like it before. See More

Top Pro

Integrates seamlessly as a launcher for other programs

You can launch via a toolbar button or user definable custom context menu items. See More

Top Pro

Relative size and date graphs

Directory Opus has an option to include relative size and date graphs. These can be displayed independently, in their own columns, or nested behind the size and date columns respectively. They can also be toggled on and off with a simple button as needed. See More

Top Pro

It prevents you from making gross deletion mistakes

Since it makes your folder structure rather transparent and allows to easy checks through dual tabbed layout, it helps you to not delete files wrongly. See More

Top Pro

Flickr support

Directory Opus is able to sync your photos with Flickr. You can customize which file collections to sync, and the save location for each file collection. See More

Top Pro

Easy to sort photos

Image marking adds the images you select to a different file, making it easy to sort through a large number of them. See More

See All

score 117 · Answer 3

Multi Commander

Top Pro

Full of features

A hundred different options: multi-rename, convert line break of files (CR, LF, CRLF), double panel, folder tree, tabbed interface, colourized tabs, etc. See More

Top Con

Does not understand env. pathes like %AppData% or %ProgramFiles%

Most of its alternatives do recognize those correctly. See More

HilariousHasameli's Experience

My opinion about Multi-commander is as easy as the program is. GREAT performance for 80% of the computer PC users. OK, I also use sometimes Total Commander, because for some "things"to do Multi - Commander not have the possiblities. But as I wrote above, for 80 % of PC users Multi - Commander has more than enough possibilities, and very much kind friendly and more easy than Total Commander. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

32 or 64 bit:both

Windows Requirements:Windows 10 / 8.x / 7 / Vista / 2003 / XP / Server 2012 (R2) / Server 2008 (R2)

Top Pro

Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions available

Top Pro

Free

Top Pro

Portable version available

Top Pro

Separate tree for each panel

Top Pro

Heavily customizable

Besides many customizable on-board options and features, one can also write his/her own scripts and even full plug-ins. See More

Top Pro

File coloring based on filters

Including optional background coloring. Limitation of this pro: text and background color cannot be taken from 2 different filters and thus combined but on the positive side: it provides coloring profiles, which can be switched (supposedly easily). See More

Top Pro

Support for FTP, Registry, and OneDrive

See All

score 32 · Answer 4

Total Commander

Top Pro

Can replace a lot of utility tools

There are a lot of built-in utility tools and plug-ins. There's multi-file renamer, verify file checksum to ensure download content integrity, sync directory tool, etc. See More

Top Con

Drives

There are not enough buttons for all computer drives helping user to easily switch from one to another or reset the listers. This can make one feel like they are trapped and trying to escape. See More

ReverentPyroeis's Experience

20+ years using it. Since Norton Commander became obsolete. Never failed me. Super stable. Highly configurable. Open architecture: Plugins, Launcher of external apps, integrates with many archivers (should one have the licences, e.g.: WinRAR, etc.) Agregates funtions that usualy would need other tools (folder compare/sychronization, batch rename, flat view of a directory tree, folders size, configurable list details, objects colour coding ... the list goes on). I'm a heavy file pusher - and since I have acquired it - never had the need for any other file manager. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android

Top Pro

Useful multiple advanced options

Show hidden files, show differences between directories, FTP connections, coding and decoding (MIME, UUE). See More

Top Con

Proprietary

Total Commander offers a free 30-day trial, after which the cost of the program is $44. See More

Top Pro

Very customizable

Total Commander is extremely flexible, with plenty of customizable options such as changing the color scheme, customizing menus, and editing shortcuts. See More

Top Con

Looks ugly on Windows

It's very powerful alright, but even if you can, and must, customize fonts, icons, etc. the default look is plain ugly. It looks like an alien object among other programs on desktop. On Android, it looks much more pleasant though.. See More

Top Pro

Layout increases productivity

The dual-pane layout makes normal file operations (like move & copy) easy. See More

Top Con

Not multi-platform

Not available for Linux or MacOS. See More

Top Pro

Very stable software

Top Con

Cannot display background colors for file names

While it can display different colors (even based on filters) for the text color of those file names, but not for the background color. See More

Top Pro

Plugins

Supports plugins for compression, file system, and file types. See More

Top Con

Need to spend a lot of time for custom configuration

Need to spend a lot of time for custom configuration, many features of the steps are very cumbersome to reduce operating speed. See More

Top Pro

Life-time license

Once purchased you can use it as long as you like and never have to pay again. See More

Top Pro

Batch-rename files and folders

Sometimes you want to rename a bunch of files for some reason. Eg: file1-useless info blah blah.mp8 file2-useless info blah blah.mp8 file3-useless info blah blah.mp8 file4-useless info blah blah.mp8 file5-useless info blah blah.mp8 At once you can remove the "-useless info blah blah" in all file names. Or you could change the "file" to "my_super_file" to all at once. The possibilities are endless. See More

Top Pro

Saves time

Top Pro

On copy/move it can both avoid overwrite the destination file AND losing the copied file at the same time

Sometimes you need to copy/move a bunch of files to a folder that already has files. During the copy when Total Commander encounter files in the destination folder that has the same name of the copied files, it allows you to choose auto-rename the copied files or the destination files. It's beautiful. See More

Top Pro

Powerful file search

The file search has many features, like using regular expressions to find the file names or even inside the content of the files. It can filter by file size, date and others, or even find duplicate files. See More

Top Pro

Productive

Even if you have not learned the keys from DOS NortonCommander, learning them now will make you more productive when dealing with files. See More

Top Pro

Customizable tabs

Allows renaming tabs and setting maximum tab text length, which is very convenient. You can also lock tabs in two modes: a) change dir not allowed and b) change dir allowed (but it would return to the original path once you browse another tab). It doesn't allow assigning different colors to each tab, though. See More

Top Pro

Compare files and show differences

Can compare and show text file differences (diff) line-by-line, even character-by-character. Very useful for programmers. Can compare binary files, telling if files have the same content or not. See More

Top Pro

Runs from a usb stick, no need for installation

Top Pro

Works even when Windows is very unstable

Top Pro

Easy for language translation

Top Pro

Convenient

See All

score 14 · Answer 5

Double Commander

Top Pro

Multi-platform (Linux, Windows, MacOS X)

You can use the same tool in all desktop OS environments. See More

MagicalSigyn's Experience

Fenetre envahissante enle ça de ta page estie. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD

License:GPL-2.0-only

Technology:Free Pascal

User Interface:GUI

Top Pro

Directory hotlist

Save shortcuts to folders. Organize them in a treeview with submenus. Define a name and sorting for each entry. See More

See All

score 20 · Answer 6

Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer)

Top Pro

Free

FONZACUS's Experience

best file manager for windows. tons of useful features, still pretty customizable, and reasonably light weight See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Top Pro

Very customizable

LoyalTengri's Experience

This is the only Windows explorer I found with multiple tabs and not just two, is incredibly ligth and fast See More

Top Pro

Does not use a lot of RAM

Q-dir with 4 windows and with 4 tabs in every window uses only 39mb of RAM on Win10x64. See More

Maxim Kamalov's Experience

Didn't find a way to copy/move files without using mouse or clipboard. Either it lacks this very basic essential feature or hides all information about it very well. See More

Top Pro

You can view 4 windows simultaneously

Top Pro

Portable

Top Pro

You can use tabs in every window

Top Pro

Highly manageable multiple windows

Every window can be separately customized. You can choose between different views from 1 to 4 windows, and every window can have multiple tabs! See More

Top Pro

Q-Dir allows you to save folder combinations as a favourite to open any time

Up to 64 folder combinations can be saved in a favorite, since each of the four windows is equipped with tabs (ie 4 x 16 tabs 4 x Tree View plus 4 x Address Bar). See More

See All

score 17 · Answer 7

xplorer²

Top Pro

Ability to save state

xplorer² gives users the ability to save the state, so the program will open with the same state the next time it's used. See More

Top Con

Un-Evolved

The interface is essentially unchanged since it's Windows XP days, with very little customization possible. Organization of features is convoluted, with some simple ones, like individual icons to quickly switch views missing. i used and licensed for years but the stagnant cluttered design finally made me drop to program. See More

AwesomestGyges's Experience

Solid, extensible, with multiple panes and tabs for managing groups of folders efficiently. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Per User or Per Machine

32 or 64 bit:Both

Portable:Ultimate only

See All Specs

Top Pro

Good all-purpose file manager

Top Con

Stagnating rate of development

Any improvements to the software are happening at a glacial pace which is making this software more and more outdated for a long time now. Only a few minor improvements a year. User suggestions for improvements are routinely rejected or explained away. As for suggesting new features -- you'll quickly abandon all hope. Only realistic reason to visit their support forums is to read Kilmatead's posts -- for anything else prepare to be disappointed. See More

Top Pro

Execute DOS commands

Top Con

Distracting prompts in the Lite version

A free version of the program is available, xplorer² lite. However it is very light on features, and will display a prompt if a feature is selected that isn't available in the Lite version. The full program is $29.95 for advanced and $49.95 for max power. See More

Top Pro

Copy/Move many simultaneous tasks

Can display the size in bytes of every folder listed in the current branch of the tree. See More

Top Pro

Can create "tabs" of the most used sub directories that you can access with a simple click

Top Pro

Browse Flat to view the contents of several subdirs as if they were stored in a single dir

Let's say you are located in a given subdir that has 5 subdirs. You can see the contents of all the files located in those subdirs as if they were stored in a single dir. Very useful when you want to locate files that you don't know exactly where they are located and searching is not an option. See More

Top Pro

Scrap Area where you can drop files located in different sub directories to allow you to access them instantly

Let's say that today you are going to update a letter located in subdir X, continue developing a spreadsheet located in subdir Y, review a presentation located in subdir Z, review a project located in subdir W, etc.. You can drag and drop all these files to the Scrap Area and open and work with them, save them, open again, continue tomorrow and the files will be updated in their respective original locations. No need to navigate and navigate and navigate. See More

Top Pro

User-created extensions for many functions

Custom menus, user-created commands, extensions to manage file attributes, folder colors, multiple defined filters, manage toolbars, etc. See More

Top Pro

Lifetime license available

Pay once, get all future updates. Standard version licenses are also available. See More

Top Pro

250+ file attributes that can be added as columns to view more file attributes

Top Pro

Free version available

There is a free version available, xplorer² Lite, for non-commercial use. See More

Top Pro

Connects to network drives and cloud storage easily

Top Pro

Mass rename capability

Top Pro

Faster than most similar applications

It's hard to find a free or low cost alternative that is as quick, and stable, especially managing NTFS volumes on a remote NAS. It still freezes and chokes, just not as often as newer applications, like XYplorer, Free Commander, etc. See More

Top Pro

Supports TotalCommander plugins

Top Pro

Comprehensive functionality

Full search, sync files & folders, show folder sizes, robust copy, native file viewer, tabs within panes, very configurable display, command shell, bookmarks, etc. See More

See All

score 23 · Answer 8

FreeCommander

Top Con

Only the 32-bit version is free

You have to make a donation to be able to download the 64-bit version. See More

Top Pro

Very powerful Multirename tool

EncouragingXihe's Experience

Pro: Using it for years with good results. Bulk-rename is a feature I like and use frequently as well as the possibility to customize the look and feel to my liking (dual pane, gridlines view) and option to backup settings. There are frequent updates which is a plus, development is not stagnating. Con: I miss a 'copy queue' feature, some more details of file (column data) would be nice. I donated once to get the 64-bit version but lost the original file and have no way of recovering it so I had to revert to the 32-bit version (as chocolatey package). The version names is confusing at times 'FreeCommander XE' should be it, but you see it with numbers behind the name sometimes. See More

Specs

Top Con

Cluttered and dated UI

The user interface has an outdated look, with a lot of button and menu options that can be overwhelming. See More

Top Pro

2 Pane Layout

Makes normal file operations (like move & copy) easy. See More

Top Con

It's easy to delete important stuff by accident

When you want to delete something, it will often highlight both a file and its folder. The whole folder is then removed if you don't de-select the folder manually. See More

Top Pro

Has a portable version

Because it's portable, you can easily move the folder with all your files to other devices. See More

Top Con

Buggy

Good facilities overall, but there's a bug that makes menus freeze and get stuck on the page. See More

Top Pro

Very usable and reliable Sync tool

Top Pro

Shows folder file size

In Details mode you can turn on Folder Data file size. See More

Top Pro

Excellent file manager with lots of hotkeys. Also file search, filter and multi file rename functionalities

Top Pro

Quick Navigation

Commonly used folders can be added and accessed using the favorites list -- in addition, physical and network drives can be switched to with a single click. See More

Top Pro

Powerful search feature

FreeCommander provides a search functionality that allows you to filter out results. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard shortcuts

Has a good set of keyboard shortcuts enabled by default See More

Top Pro

Very powerful set of file copying options

FreeCommander has a very powerful set of file copying options. See More

See All

score 6 · Answer 9

Explorer++

Top Pro

Supports bookmarks

Top Con

Has some issues with context menu integration

Some context menu integrations work, others don't. git-bash and cmder don't seem to work, for example, but kdiff3 does. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Explorer++ is a free, small and fast multi-tab file manager for Windows. See More

Specs

Platforms:Microsoft Windows

Top Pro

Tab design

Top Pro

Open source

GPLv3. See More

Top Pro

Portable

No installation required. See More

Top Pro

Destroy files function

Deletes files, then wipes the disk space clean. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 10

Gs Richcopy 360 Enterprise

score 12 · Answer 11

Avanquest PowerDesk

IntellectualBangputys's Experience

Was great 20 years ago, now it's a joke, crashes or freezes constantly. too bad I really liked it. See More

score 5 · Answer 12

Directory Report

Cynthia Bennett-Braun's Experience

I was able to filter and only search for my music files See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Proprietary

Interface:GUI/CLI

score 6 · Answer 13

ExplorerMax

Top Pro

Tabs and bookmarks

Like browsing via Chrome, I can browse my files with tabbing window and collect my favorites. Easy and simple. See More

Top Con

Need more functions

So far, they have released many updates and more surprises are needed. See More

yurayura's Experience

The interface and integrations are great, but what really hurts it, is lack of configuration and customization options. with some work it can be a great option, just not right now. See More

Specs

1-month:5.95

1-year:9.95

Top Pro

Stylish design

Everything here is organized and fancy. See More

Top Pro

Dark and light mode

I've never seen a file manager can match with windows so great like ExplorerMax., especilaly the dark mode. See More

Top Pro

Adaptive UI

It alters the default Explore a little. But yet very Functional. It also comes with other themes. Dark theme included See More

Top Pro

Timeline

This fuction can help you track the file history and bulk buttons enables you to clear them selectively. See More

Top Pro

Fast search and organized results

When you search for anything, you can get what you want soon. And your target files are grouped into different categories. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 14

Direttore File Manager

Top Pro

Simply way to change multiple extensions

Just hold shift while renaming multiple extensions. No complex UI - it will just go through. When I change an extension a green line shows up as I type, to warn me (red for multiple selections). Just hold shift and hit enter See More

YesIInserted17FloppyDisksToInstallWin95's Experience

Proper Miller columns, (at last) for Windows. Long path support and unlimited bookmark folders instead of just one "Quick Access" folder, Explorer has to offer. See More

Top Pro

Bookmark folders

I can make separate bookmark folders with shortcuts for my workflow e. g. Photography, Videography, Utilities etc. I can make shortcuts for apps too See More

Top Pro

Proper Miller columns

Like Finder and a litter better. It calculates width for the folder, so I don't have to resize columns all the time. See More

See All

score 1 · Answer 15

FAR - Find And Replace

All

1

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

What are the best file managers for Windows 10?

15 Options Considered

XYplorer

My Recommendation for XYplorer

My Recommendation for XYplorer

Developer is active in the forum as well

32-Bit

Numerous filtering, sorting, and highlighting methods for files

Separate tree for each panel is missing

Portable

No archive browsing

Extremely configurable

Single-threaded

Frequent and regular updates

Cannot display files as grouped

Extremely versatile renaming

No themes

Lifetime license available

No plugin support

Branch view

No support for Windows libraries

Easy to use

No FTP support

Per-user license

Status bar not customizable

Portable file extensions

Often unresponsive or crashes

Dual pane

No working high-dpi support

Very reliable

Folder sizes shown

Community support

Supports keyboard shortcuts

Custom toolbar buttons

Customizable keyboard shortcuts

Scriptable

User interface is extremely customizable

Preview files

Search and virtual folders

Huge feature list, something for everyone.

Easy to organize lots of files at once

Custom file and folder icons

Custom columns

Nuke button

Extensive metadata

HoverBox

Can use system, XY's custom copy routines, Fast Copy, and Teracopy interchangably without scripting

Safety belts

Faster than Windows Explorer ever thought of being

The catalog: an all-purpose area that can be customized for all of your needs

Long path names supported brilliantly

Virtual Folders and Paper Folders

Clean, uncluttered interface

Logs plenty of actions for undo/redo

Thumbnail viewing for images is both fast and customizable

Quick audio preview

Supports correction of illegal file and folder names

Has more features than any other file manager

Option to Disable lazy drag-and-dropping

Can replace Windows Explorer

FLAC as well as MP3 Support for Metadata and Previews

Asynchronous copy and move operations

Option to disable lazy drag-and-dropping

Exhaustive list of previewable archive formats

Extensive metadata

Separate 32 and 64-bit context menus

Dark mode

Let's you select files by typing any word in the current directory

Ability to identify text files containing any range of extended characters

Directory Opus

My Recommendation for Directory Opus

My Recommendation for Directory Opus

Powerful image viewer

Expensive

Tools for synchronizing files and finding duplicates

Only available for Windows

Extended scripting API

Can be intimidating to novice/inexperienced users

Works with Everything

Limited to only two views