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This file manager offers single and dual panes, single and dual trees, a customizable interface and toolbars, extensive scripting, FTP support, themes, and a host of other features in a product that's evolved over 27 years.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Customizable UI
Allows customizing toolbars and keyboard hotkeys. Has a full scripting interface that allows in-depth customization options.
Pro Can be set to replace Windows Explorer
Unique Explorer Replacement mode provides a full replacement for Windows Explorer.
Pro Allows color-coding and assigning star ratings to files and folders
This is done with Directory Opus' inbuilt label and its Status system.
Pro FTP support
Supports SFTP (Secure FTP via SSH, port 22)
Also supports FTP via SSL (port 990) and FTP via with TLS.
Caution: FTP is a paid additive to the product although in relative terms it's not too expensive (around $12).
Pro Tools for synchronizing files and finding duplicates
Can easily synchronize files and helps the user in finding and deleting duplicates.
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.
Pro Tabs
Directory Opus has tabs for each view, which are customizable in size, appearance, functionality, etc.
Pro Customized filters
Directory Opus allows users to create custom filters that can be saved and recalled as needed.
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.
Pro Very powerful and easy to use batch rename dialog/feature
From powerful RegEx renaming to batch macro renaming, Directory Opus can compete with any third party renaming tool.
Pro Integrates seamlessly as a launcher for other programs
You can launch via a toolbar button or user definable custom context menu items.
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.
Pro Customizable and downloadable themes
The Directory Opus community has created everything from dark themes to themes emulating other applications.
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.
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.
Pro Powerful image viewer
Directory Opus includes a powerful independent image viewer with configurable toolbar, menus and hotkeys.
Pro Manual sorting
Directory Opus allows users to sort files as they want in manual sorting mode.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pro Stable & reliable when dealing with huge (100k+) file sets
This applies to both local and network drives.
Pro Vertical folder tabs
Directory Opus users can use vertical tabs instead of horizontal tabs, if desired.
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.
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.
Pro Works with Listary
Directory Opus has native support for Listary, allowing users to move even more quickly between directories and perform searches.
Pro Integrated dialog editor
Lets you write scripts that have their own user interface with buttons, lists, checkboxes, text fields, etc.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cons
Con Portability costs more
On top of an already expensive license, users must purchase a separate Export License to create a portable version.
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.
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.
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.
Con Limited support for Touch / Tablet mode
Your file manager + Start Menu are the main way to launch programs/documents... When using Touch Mode, the Surface running Opus would be far more usable if some attention was paid to this use case.
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.
Con No good support for right-sided tree
The only way to get a right sided tree is to display both panes in horizontal layout and then switch the first (upper) tree off. Which leaves you with 2 horizontal panes and one tree on the right. There is no other way (neither with 2 vertical nor with 1 pane) to have a tree on the right side. And since this layout setting is rather the step-child of the developers, it also is a bit buggy and not of top priority as far as fixing any issues with it.
Con No native/good support for restoring multiple search paths for the find files tool
Although all other options of the find files tool are very good, there simply is no easy way of regularly using the same multiple search paths.
For using only one search path, one can simply navigate to that path and activate the automatic path-use-button in the tool or choose one path from the previous paths drop-down, but that only works for one path. It can get cumbersome if one wants to restore multiple search paths at once. One must basically write his own script to do that. This is surprisingly annoying that such a basic and needed functionality is not natively supported (built-in) by such a generally powerful program.
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Pro Lots of free updates -- often
Directory Opus gets updates (for free) 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.
It's always exciting in the Directory Opus-land and if you're a software enthusiast you'll have lots of fun checking up on Directory Opus development.
Con Not 100% stable
The program is not fully stable (not as much as one would expect of a relatively expensive professional product). Especially the displaying of the labels is lost quite often until a restart of the whole program. Also connecting with Android devices repeatedly gives stability problems.
