What are the best twin-panel file managers for Linux?

7

Options
Considered

32

User
Recs.

Sep 12, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

7 Options Considered

Best twin-panel file managers for Linux	Price	Platforms	Cross Platform
-- Vifm	-	–	–
-- Midnight Commander	-	–	–
-- Double Commander	-	Windows, Linux, MacOS, FreeBSD	Yes
-- Krusader	-	–	–
-- Worker	-	–	–

Midnight Commander

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Top Pro

Can be run in the terminal

Being a terminal application means that it's suited for people who spend most of their time on the terminal because they don't have to switch windows in order to open their file manager. It also means that they can use it both locally and remotely. See More

Top Con

Quirky and hard to remember shortcuts

E.g. when trying to take the current directory's path to the command line. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Midnight commander is easy and intuitive to use. The most common commands are displayed in the bottom (move, copy, paste, delete, edit, view, make directory). Files can be selected with the arrow keys which move the cursor through them. The Enter key goes down in a directory. To move the focus between two panels the tab key is used. See More

Top Con

No easy way to change colors matching certain files

There probably is a possibility, but it is not easy. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

No directory bookmarks

Top Pro

Stable

Top Con

File viewer: searching can be quite cumbersome

Especially searching next or previous. See More

Top Pro

Often available in default repository

and hence easy to install by usually package manager. See More

Top Con

Can only be run in the terminal

MC lacks a standalone GUI option. See More

Top Pro

Intuitive interface

Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users. See More

Top Con

Lacks drag and drop feature

With midnight commander you cannot drag and drop files to move them around. Instead, you have to do the necessary actions in order to move files around (cut and paste or copy and delete). See More

Top Pro

Lynx-like motion

Cursor+left to go to parent directory, cursor+right to go into child directory. See More

Top Pro

Well-presented

Double Commander

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Top Pro

Available for Linux, Mac and Windows

Top Con

Source code written in Pascal language

But this does not affect users negatively. It's just programmers problem See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, MacOS, FreeBSD

Cross Platform:Yes

Top Pro

Free and open-source

Top Con

Apparently only one developer

Top Pro

Highly customizable

Top Con

By default quite ugly

Just ugly. See More

Top Pro

It's compatible with most of Total Commander plugins

Double commander uses the same plugin API as Total Commander, so their plugins are compatible. See More

Top Con

Incredible slow selection change in table controls

According to the main developer, this is caused by the used table control. See More

Top Con

Portable bundle does not provide easy way to add icon by creating a .desktop file

Top Con

Doesn't support Themes

Can't easily switch to dark/bright color scheme, but it usually adopts current system settings. See More

Top Con

Can't edit files on remote FTP servers

Double commander cannot edit files that are hosted on remote FTP servers. See More

Krusader

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Top Pro

Folder synchronization

Top Con

Seems to only be available for Linux

RodJLinux's Experience

Krusader has been my favourite "orthodox" twin pane file manager for many years now. I use Kubuntu as my everyday OS so it's a native file manager here. It's got just about every thing anyone could desire in a file manager. Slightly off topic a bit: Recently I installed deepin Linux on my laptop and was surprised that Krusader didn't require so many KDE dependencies to install as I was expecting. I was even more surprised how well it works in deepin and that it's a later version than I have in Kubuntu 18.04! Go figure! See More

Top Pro

Virtual file systems

Search results as example saved into virtual folder and can be accessed later. All file operations may be performed on items in search results as if they were files in single folder. See More

Top Con

KDE dependencies

If you don't use KDE, you'll be forced to install quite a large amount of KDE libraries. See More

Peter J. Mello's Experience

As a long-time supporter of many KDE initiatives, this remains my go-to file manager in Linux environments when not working in the terminal. See More

Top Pro

Multi-rename tool

Top Pro

All common operations can be done with keyboard efficiently

In addition, shortcuts can be easily renamed. Unlike Dolphin and many others. See More

Top Pro

Custom commands can be added to the menu easily

And they can use the current folder, the selected files, etc. See More

Top Pro

Handles most archives

There is little difference in behaviour between an archive file and a regular folder. See More

Top Pro

Great two-pane interface

Top Pro

Many operations like copying and moving files can be queued

Long-running operations can be queued. There is no point in doing them in a parallel way, as speed decreases dramatically. See More

Top Pro

Can view and edit many files

Even editing a file inside a .zip archive. There's a hexadecimal viewer embedded for binary files. See More

Top Pro

Searching capabilities and copying/deleting/moving in background

Top Pro

Filename association and instant console availability

WCM Commander

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Top Pro

Very similar to classic Commander look

But implemented graphically. See More

Top Con

No support for deleting to trash

At least not on Windows. See More

Top Pro

Elegant file name completion in built-in terminal

Thus making it very easy performing some commands. See More

Top Con

No new version since April 2015

Top Pro

Virtual file system

WCM Commander has a virtual file system for smb, ftp and sftp. See More

Top Con

File editing on virtual file systems not supported

You cannot edit files in the virtual file system. See More

Top Pro

Built-in editor

WCM Commander has a built-in text editor with syntax highlighting included. See More

Top Pro

Built-in terminal

Has a built-in terminal from which users can run any kind of command. See More

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