What are the best file managers for Windows?

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WindowsProductivityFile Manager

What are the best file managers for Windows?

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Jan 31, 2024

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44 Options Considered

Best file managers for Windows	Price	Platforms	License
87 XYplorer	$34.95+	Windows	Per User
83 Directory Opus	$89 AUD	Windows	Per-Machine (plus personal laptop)
77 Voidtools Everything	-	Windows	Proprietary
75 Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer)	Free	Windows	-
74 Total Commander	FREE / €37	Android	-

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score 583 · Answer 1

XYplorer

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

Not user frendly

You will spend more time managing the manager than getting work done, and even for basic customization you will suffer a great deal. See More

CulturedAnubis's Experience

Despite being picky, demanding and choosy as an engineer, I cannot find negative points worth mentioning about this all encompassing nifty little genius file manager. Although the initial cost barrier might scare off freeriders who want everything in life for free (and there is alot for free out there! Ive tried over twenty other Windows File Managers), once I explored this I immediately seased my research, closed all other open tabs of still to be explored file managers (!) and focussed all my attention to discover this thing! It meets my needs for my personal and professional use. Now and in the future. I could step over the cost barrier of a few dollars and I think its worth every penny. The developer deserves bread and butter to continue this genius work he is providing. Its almost like an entire software platform on its own. Yet nothing too much! Resembling a piece of art! Incredible logical artwork. I hope Never to see the day in which this software closes down, and I have absolute hope I will not, because its not freeware it has a chance to be kept alive and up to date. Unlike many other freeware stuff that was born (and a few years on quickly died) as a mere hobby-project, this thing is kept up to date so you have security and reliability of a future. So I think its worth a few dollars to keep it that way. I rather settle with something good and satisfying for life, than having to change all the time without being completely fulfilled. I wish everybody good luck in their own personal search. Mine has ended :) cheers, Sam Eftegarie (engineer/architect). See More

Specs

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 ($63.95) includes all future updates for free, lets you install on any number of computers, and includes the portable version. 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

InfluentialHoenir's Experience

Best file manager ever! Have used it since 2016 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

May be unresponsive at times

When browsing large number of files and using advanced features like preview, the program may become unresponsive. However, it is fair to say that given enough search and preview options and considering file security, network file share performance, malware or anti-malware activity, it is reasonable to expect situations where long delays could occur with any file manager. See More

ToughAntaeus's Experience

In my last 10 years of computing, this outstanding Windows file manager has been my goto program for displaying and digging into the 4 million plus files that reside on my computing machinery. It's flexibility and ability to change the way it displays data is the reason it remains so. 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 Con

No FTP support

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

Peter J. Mello's Experience

I've made something of a career of consistently identifying the productivity advantages inherent to pieces of software and being able to quickly synthesize it into a workflow that realizes those advantages; thus is a life of a systems analyst/engineer in a nutshell. I have used XYplorer personally for well over a decade by now, I believe, and still after all that time I think I learn something new and useful about it every fifth time I open it, on average. It is by far the most useful piece of software I have ever seen in active development. It kind of kills me that it just so happens to be a file manager, a class of utilities where the margin of exceptionalism is vanishingly thin, instead of something like a version control GUI or a document management system. Everybody loves a good file manager, yes, but one of those other classes of software that was THIS far ahead of all its peers...that would reshape an entire market sector for a generation. See More

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

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

LovelyAsag's Experience

The range of functions and user-friendliness exceeded all expectations. First-class support directly from the developer! 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 themes

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

CapableTantalus's Experience

Over the [many] years of using a PC (from MSDOS onwards!!), I've probably used every file manager out there. XYPlorer beats the lot - and by a long way, IMHO. I could probably tick every "PRO" box being shown below, as I write this review. Without going into great detail, I'd say JUST GET IT. The 30-day (fully functional) demo should convince you!!! 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 Con

Status bar not customizable

Users cannot customize the status bar. See More

PreciseKurunta's Experience

I can't stand Windows Explorer. So many little things that just drive me crazy! Can't even show the File/Folder Size anymore. (XP did!) Then I went to ClassicShell and got the File/Folder Size back but little more. Then discovered XYplorer. This is the Real Deal with so many features it has been an actual "Journey" discovering all of them. (How wonderful is that!) For me I spend very little time using Applications (maybe Word - Excel) and the majority moving Files/Folders around on Corporate Servers and the like. So this has been a long time coming. Thanks you Donald! 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 Con

No plugin support

Lynn's Experience

Xyplorer is the best of its kind. My favourite things are "nuke" to kill the unwanted files, "folder sizes" to find out where all of the space has gone, "multiple rename", and the endless configurations you can do. I have been using it since at least 2010 and would encourage everybody to use it and buy a licence, it isn't much to pay. As for customer service, I have to say it is five star. I have only needed it once but the service was excellent. All in all, 5 Star. Lynn 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 Con

32-Bit

Oshyan's Experience

XYplorer is a great, affordable, and intuitive Windows Explorer replacement. It has a lot more functionality than Explorer, but manages to not get too bogged down by it, both in terms of UI complexity and performance. Plus they truly honor their lifetime license - I've had mine for more than a decade at this point and never had to pay to upgrade! Truly a rarity these days. Donald the developer is extremely responsive and dedicated. Couldn't ask for more. 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 Con

No support for Windows libraries

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

CooperativeShadrafa's Experience

The support was more than amazing. Was having a problem with slow previews of PDFs. I sent an email to support and presto, insightful and understandable instructions were QUICKLY provided. XYplorer is a solid productivity booster. 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 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

AgreeableKokhKox's Experience

Simply the best file manager available on the market today. I have large folders (meaning with thousands of files in them) and XY manages them with ease. Single instance of the app helps as well. Multiple tabs with possibility to configure tab sets and favorites are all great tools. Plus you have scripts to automate some operations. Excellent tool and highly recommended. 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

Poor touchscreen support

While an option exists to scale up icon sizes to improve touchscreen support, the program does not pan and scroll intuitively. See More

HelpfulCacoch's Experience

Honestly as a non techie person this product is amazing. Why it has insane settings and customizations. But on top of that it doesn't freeze or load like file explorer does in windows when I am opening folders with lots of images or videos. I do alot of photo and video editing. On top of that another thing I love is their search contents of things feature is more precise and customizable, so for example I had a folder for work that had thousands of emails and we needed to find a select set of words, 1 file explorer would freeze or take forever, 2 it would find emails we didn't want to find because it wasn't precise, xyplorer has insane advance search features file explorer simply doesn't have. Lastly I tried other file explorers and this was the best. PLEASE DONT HESITATE TO USE THE 30 DAY TRIAL TO SEE IF MY REVIEW IS ACCURATE AND THE PRODUCT IS AWESOME. You lose nothing, and after the 30 days it's still free to use minus some features. I bought the lifetime license after it changed my life. Best wishes everyone, if you end up loving this software too, Carry it forward and tell your friends too. Maybe it will change their life too and they wil thank you. Oh forgot to mention I also love how thumbnail view loads instantly unlike the slow lagging file explorer, and that it shows folder sizes Super fast unlike file explorer, and long file names and log file paths work in explorer impossible. 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 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

downstairs's Experience

The fast preview was something I've been looking for forever, as I need this for scrolling through tons of text files for work. This product is great all around beyond that. 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 Con

The free version has been discontinued

Although it has just been discontinued as of 10th January 2017, it is still available for download at here. See More

NeighborlyGabija's Experience

Brilliant program. Encapsulates features from several other programs I had (Tree-size, showing sizes of directories; file-attributes editor to name but two). I'm still finding new things I can do with it and I've been a user for > 6 months! See More

Top Pro

Portable file extensions

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

menace97's Experience

I'm very new to using this software as I have just recently purchased it, but it is immediately apparent how powerful and useful it is. The developer is constantly updating the software, and is very active in the community. See More

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

Andrei Busuioc's Experience

XyPlorer might seem ok but it has a few flaws that for me make it a deal breaker 1) It's useless on local network folders. Its slow, crashes, freezes mid operations. 2) Very slow also for the Dropbox smart sync folders (the online only folders) One other thing that could go great for this file manager would be a full dark interface. 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

Mike's Experience

Due to its portability and reliability, XYplorer is one of the most used tools on my Tools-USB-Stick. 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

PositiveCerberus's Experience

This is really the best file manager I have come across. I have tried many others through the years, but this one does everything I want a file manager to do. It is very customizable, has lot's of features, is easy to understand and has a really nice GUI. Well worth the money! 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

JeffH's Experience

I was away from Windows for 10 years doing other things. I came back, downloaded the current version of xyplorer, entered my lifetime code, and was instantly back in business. Like meeting an old friend. 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

ProudHorkos's Experience

XYplorer works quickly and very reliably. The tab view is comfortable and saves a lot of time, especially with synchronous scrolling. The darkmode is great and the developer is very friendly and helpful. Only downside: For newbies or less tech-savvy users, XYplorer can be a bit overwhelming at first. 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

Kazi Toufique's Experience

Made me more productive. 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

VersatileEurytus's Experience

It has the maximum no of features,than any other software available until now,with lot many customization's and easy to use interface 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

AgreeableRobigus's Experience

XYplorer is an incredible time saver, and I can't imagine Windows without it. It supports all local and external drives with Tab access to directories. I bought a lifetime license in 2008 and run on all my machines never paying update fees. It is comprehensive and easy to use, and is a remarkable product. Hats off to author, Donald Lessau. 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

PerseveringTheandrios's Experience

It does exactly what I want it to do, helps me find files across several external drives and is very intuitive. 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

SpontaneousAtarsamain's Experience

I upgraded to the lifetime license because I just can’t see trying to get work done without XYplorer. I have tried most of the other file managers on this list and a few more. XYplorer has the best feature set of things that I need day in and day out. The other advantage is that if you send the author an email, he replies and is nice about it. He stays active in the forums too. I highly recommend this product ! 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

Dave Folsom's Experience

Stable and full of features. The HELP/Manual is sophisticated and full of feature descriptions and explanations. My goto for a great file manager. See More

Top Pro

Per-user license

Just one license covers all of your computers. See More

CompetentPalatua's Experience

Longtime user. I set it up with two vertical panes. Makes file management easy. Highly recommend XYplorer. 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

LogicalOeyangganshin's Experience

The best File Explorer alternative 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

EnchantingIxtab's Experience

Best Filemanager ever, not enough space to list all features ;-) See More

Top Pro

Community support

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

Brandon's Experience

I have been using this a while, and I really appreciate its power! Developer is very active, and updates are frequent. Does what I need it to do, and then some! See More

Top Pro

Branch view

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

IncredibleGersemi's Experience

XYplorer and TeraCopy is best combination. 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

EarnestChiron's Experience

An amazing and highly configurable file manager 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

SociableLeiGong's Experience

XYplorer has many features not found in the Windows file manager. And you don't need a lot of external software: Copy manager, renaming software, compression software and more... 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

InterestingTammuz's Experience

The price was right, the functionality was right, the ease of use was right and the configurability was right. Did I mention that the PRICE was right? Directory Opus is for nerds with deep wallets, no thanx. 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

InfluentialArmazi's Experience

Comes with a powerful tagging system. 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

Tiago Formiga's Experience

I have been using it for 4 years now. This is an amazing product, the flexibility it offers is like no other product in the market (at the time that I tested several). It offers so much and yet it is such a simple and fluid program. After configuring it "it just works". See More

Top Pro

Clean, uncluttered interface

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

DecisiveGlaucus's Experience

Faithful user since 2011, I never looked back. This awesome piece of software is priceless! Now I can't even open Windows Explorer: in comparison, it's rubbish. 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

DependableRinnal's Experience

Fast, reliable, and allows searching on any criteria you can imagine. 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

WiseRuda's Experience

XYplorer is a brilliant solution for the limitations of File Explorer. For those of us who jump around our file structure a lot, it's a Godsend. I'm new to the program and just scratching the surface on features, but the basic mulit-pane functionality alone is worth the price. See More

Top Pro

Has more features than any other file manager

None of the managers, 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

zombit's Experience

Amazing support staff, which seems rare these days! I am fairly new to this explorer, and still able to check most of the 'pros'. Runs great out-of-box with little to no configuration, but offers extensive customization for any level of technical knowledge. I am sure there are many pros that this explorer offers, but I checked those I am aware of. I have yet to see any 'cons'. Approximately a week of heavy usage. Looking forward to never opening Windows File Explorer again. See More

Top Pro

FLAC as well as MP3 Support for Metadata and Previews

Most are MP3 only. See More

IngeniousNgintaka's Experience

Replaced Directory Opus See More

Top Pro

HoverBox

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

LikableUksakka's Experience

I don't think there is a better Windows Explorer alternative out there. I've been using XYplorer for quite some time now and I have not come across anything that I don't like. 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

IndustriousEpimetheus's Experience

The best functions The best support Hands Down M See More

Top Pro

Exhaustive list of previewable archive formats

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

JD's Experience

XY is the best in class. It is a life saver product. If you are busy/or multitasking/or memory issue. This is the best productivity tool. Programmer replies every email in a short period, even though he is very busy. Even after years, you will find something new feature. Very nominal fee. Wish all the strength and ingenuity to the programmer. Thanks a Donald See More

Top Pro

Huge feature list, something for everyone.

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

Hari Krushna's Experience

It's very customizable and has more features than any other file manager i have used until now,i have used almost all of them including opus,speed commander,ef commander,fman and many else.Buy this you won't regret. See More

Top Pro

Safety belts

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

rajtahil's Experience

Best replacement for PowerDesk. file manager. See More

Top Pro

Nuke button

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

DetailedBieggolmai's Experience

XYplorer is the most powerful file manager. With scripting ability you can do anything you imagine. The "Portable file extensions" ability can change the way you work with files. I can assure you XYplorer wont let you down. 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

CaffeinatedDione's Experience

super practical, and full of options to adapt to the user's needs See More

Top Pro

Communication with the programmer

You can reach the programmer very quickly and request new features. See More

EmbiggenedTangaroa's Experience

I've been using XYPlorer for ~15 years, whenever I'm on Windows. And when I'm not on Windows it's the application I miss the most. "Out of the box" it's easy to use and immediately an improvement to file management. Once you settle in, get a feel for the app and start learning the ins-and-outs it opens itself up to incredible power and customize-ability. XYPlorer is affordable and also offers the rare lifetime license. It's no gimmick, that "Lifetime" purchase has been honored for an unheard of 15~ years without fail. Furthermore the app has always been and continues to be well supported both by its author and an active, passionate community. It's here for the long haul, you may as well make it a part of your PC toolbox. See More

Top Pro

Easy to copy file names and directories

Right from the context menu, you can copy file names, paths or full file path names. Really handy. See More

Lucifer Morningstar's Experience

It's powerful See More

Top Pro

Easy/extensive file renaming

Easily renames one (or many) files right from the context menu. It supports search and replace, batch, regex, changing extension, copy/paste a while list of filenames, spaces to unscore (and vice versa), changing capitalization, and so much more. Also, the "Preview" feature makes it easy to verify changes before applying them. Fantastic! See More

ChattyShennong's Experience

Have been using it for four years and it is so much more powerful and configurable than File Explorer. See More

Top Pro

File tabs

Extensive support for file tabs. You can rename and lock them too. Even further, you can quickly switch from one tab view to another. You can have sets of tabs for every project you work on. It really speeds up your workflow! See More

ThriftyTheros's Experience

I use it every day to help me batch rename and find multiple files. Wish I had found this program years ago! See More

Top Pro

Responsive support

AuthenticPannychis's Experience

Simply put, this is the most diverse file manager out there, no matter the OS. It's as easy and as advanced as you want to apply for its use. I've been using this for nearly 12 years and it's never and I mean never crashed or hampered my daily use of it. I can't use other people's computers for prolonged periods without getting XYplorer withdrawal. Lol. Thanks for the continued updates and the ton of new features/uniqueness ever since I purchased a lifetime license all those years ago, Donald. See More

Top Pro

Fast and powerful search

Searching is extremely fast and thorough - no matter if you're looking for items by name, attribute, content, or trying to find duplicates (either with a selected hash or byte-to-byte). It allows you to search within your files, looking for specific terms, including wildcards and regular expressions. It also supports regular expressions and filter/sort your search results by file size, file modification date, etc. Can save complicated, often-used searches easily as "Search Templates" to reuse, tweak, or use in a script. Can set to instantly narrow a list as you type, or highlight if you prefer, with multiple options such as "Prefer Beginning of Column" or use currently sorted column. Supports Standard wildcards, Boolean, and Regex. See More

Brake4bots's Experience

The lifetime license I purchased for XYplorer in 2009 is one of the best software investments I ever made. As Microsoft obscured more of the file system from the user and made assumptions about how searches should be performed, the more essential XYplorer has become. With XYplorer, I can search for anything, anywhere much more quickly than using Explorer, with absolutely nothing hidden from me. Lately, I have been working with many subtitle (SRT) files, in many nested folders, and had a need to identify files that contain extended characters. I made a request for an improvement in the way BOM-less UTF-8 files were detected and a request for the ability to find files containing character codes>127. The XYplorer author added both features perfectly (with additional enhancements) in a couple of days! That kind of support easily justifies the purchase price. We (users) need to support the small companies that produce and maintain excellent software. This is one of the gems. See More

Top Pro

"Mouse Down Blow Up" feature

Mouse Down Blow Up is a quick file preview that pops up when you mouse-down on the icon or thumbnail of a file, and disappears on mouse-up. See More

CaffeinatedRyujin's Experience

Very easy to learn. Dark mode is great especially when colour filters added. Massive list of features. Scripting is very good feature that I'm starting to learn. Very customisable. Lifetime license makes it the cheapest option for paid software there is. Portable software is always a very high priority for me and this covers just about every aspect. See More

Paul Meathrel's Experience

I've had a lifetime licence of XYplorer for about eight years. XYplorer is constantly being updated by the developer with features that you won't find elsewhere. It is a highly reliable power tool with huge flexibility yet is also extremely easy to use. Invest now, you won't be disappointed! See More

LovelyTskarishdida's Experience

I love XYplorer. I took a little time to realize how powerful it is, and now I have made it my default - wouldn't go back to Windwos Explorer for anything. Wonderfully customizable and everything I need it to be. Unlike Windwos Explorer it remembers where you have been and your settings. Try it - you will ot be disappointed. See More

TirelessOgmios's Experience

I've been a Pro user for almost 3 years. XYplorer checks all the boxes - reliable, rich in features, speedy; in fact, there are many features I'm still discovering and amazed by. See More

EarnestMacCecht's Experience

I really want to like this program, and would happily pay for it, but every time I try it (over several years) I am turned off by it's single threaded 32-bit performance. It's fine when looking at a folder of text files as a list, but be prepared for every single operation to require a 30 seconds to two minute wait in a folder with a several hundred images. This on a 8 core 4Ghz 16GB machine running on an NVMe SSD. As of 4/2020 the developer has a blog post saying he will do a complete rewrite to an modern platform and will have 64-bit multi threaded performance, but candidly says it will take him months to recode at a minimum. Guess I'll check again in 2021. See More

BrightDiJun's Experience

The best one as well as Q-dir See More

ResourcefulMazu's Experience

The most efficient and powerful file manager out there!! You can do everything with it. I use it every day and would be lost without it. See More

IngeniousMalinalxochitl's Experience

Easy to use, yet still feature rich See More

PreciseAnteroVipunen's Experience

I work with many projects and files so I needed the despisable explorer from windows. After checking many file explorers I really liked the xyplorerFree, and after a year I bought the lifetime license and I have been happy since then. There are so many nice features, here are the first that come to my mind: tabs, highlighting of files, filtering of files, tags... See More

BrightBobbiBobbi's Experience

Been using it for years and have tried other file managers but keep coming back to Xyplorer. See More

PopularFascinus's Experience

In my work, I have to have 10-15 file-manager windows (or tabs) open at the same time, because I need quick reference to many different groups of files. With Windows Explorer, this was bug-prone at best, and Windows Explorer hung (stopped responding) usually once every other day, which meant not just setting them back up again, but a distraction from my train of thought -- costly in my profession. XYplorer handles all of that so easily and allows me to group tabs together that contain related material (each tab is like one independent instance of Windows Explorer). This saves me a ton of time, increasing my productivity. I have found over time that there are MANY improvements over Windows Explorer that make a difference. One that comes to mind as I type this is I have one directory with thousands of sub-directories with long names that only differ (in spelling) in a serial number on the right side. Windows Explorer has a NAME-SORTING bug that causes these directories (when sorted by name) to apparently have the creation date affecting their sort order, which is unnerving, and cost a LOT of time hunting for the folder when they were not, in fact, in sequence. This one thing alone (that XYplorer not only does the sort right, but has several name-sort configuration options) that are BUILT for situations like mine. Another important item is finding files in a sub-directory tree -- very fast, and very reliable (unlike Windows Explorer, which frequently misses files in a file find!) As a software developer myself, I have nothing but praise for the developer(s). (From one point of view, this is what I would have built for MYSELF if I had had the time....) :-) See More

VivaciousAli-zu's Experience

Excellent!! The non-plus ultra for file managers. See More

UpbeatIxpiyacoc's Experience

Just amazing. By far best file explorer in the world made on Windows platform. Thousand times better than Microsoft's and far far far better than competition. It has become go to tool that I use day in day out. Big thanks to whichever team created it See More

HilariousSosamshin's Experience

Has a learning curve but well worth it. Fantastic customer service. See More

PersistentAtaguchu's Experience

This is the best file manager that I ever used. Great support with a quick response from the developer. I will definitely recommend this software to my friends. See More

The real Yoda SAN ™'s Experience

Still improving but at the moment, one if not the best file explorer to me and price is reasonable ! See More

AdventurousMiach's Experience

Best file explorer. Period. See More

Nighted's Experience

It's the only thing stopping me from moving to Linux. See More

Michael Baas's Experience

TotalCommander, SpeedCommander See More

PhilosophicalIkatere's Experience

I have been using it for years and it is light and highly customize :) p.s.: BLACK THEME FTW! See More

rey's Experience

XY feels different from most file managers. tons of features, most often you don't know about them till you need them. and even in rare situation there's no such feature, either you have a chance for it to appear(as it's The Only Live Developed file manager with super-often updates), or internal script-ability will help you. yeap, own build-in script power makes XY even more alike others. i did try others, that's why i use XY already for years. See More

MotivatedDione's Experience

My favorite file manager, and the only one I use since a long time, period. You don't want to spend time configuring your file manager? No problem, XYplorer comes with lots of options (keyboard shortcuts, toolbar, menu, address bar, command palette) to find what you're looking for. Everything is accessible and easy to run. You'd love to spend time configuring your file manager in order to make it perfect for you? Oh my, you're in the right place. Years after starting using XYplorer as my one and only file manager, for hours each day, I still find myself tweaking it and scripting it to perfect my needs and workflow. Of course, there are a few others file managers that does the job as good as XYplorer (maybe a bit better in some cases, maybe a bit painful in others), so why did I choose to buy XYplorer for a lifetime license? Beta versions: if you enjoy getting new features early, you're in for a treat. Beta versions every other day or so. Bugs (or lack of): I've never encountered any bug with the main release channel. Community: there's a lot of nice people ready to help you in the forums. Customization: almost everything is customizable to your liking. New features: the developer is very active (like every day - almost) in the forums, and if you make an intelligible, decent and justified request for an enhancement, you might be surprised and see your request implemented the next day in a beta version. Scriptable: when you want to perform complex tasks, scripting is gold. $80 might seem a big price for some piece of software. My take is: if you like it as much as I do, you'll probably use it for many, many years to come (for a lifetime maybe?), at work, at home, on any PC if you take it with you on a USB key (it's fully portable). And if you spend hours a week on this software like me, it isn't a huge price after all. My only advice if you're still reading: try the free-trial version (it's fully functional) for 30 days. If you're still not convinced, reset your trial version, and start a new 30 days period. In the end, you'll be happy to pay $80 to thank the developer for his work. See More

AmiableShadrafa's Experience

Superb file manager with new features added on a frequent basis. Can't imagine a Windows system without XYplorer. See More

FerventDeaTacita's Experience

Hang tooooooo much!!! See More

See All

score 323 · Answer 2

Directory Opus

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

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

NonchalantBelenus's Experience

Followed Slant.to ranking, I compared Directory Opus with XYplorer, the top 2 on the ranking list, I wanted to experience on my own which product is better, or that they are equally good. My finding was surprising: the top ranked XYplorer lags behind Directory Opus by leaps and bounds! some of the obvious and important advantages in Directory Opus: Support themes, I can pick and download a theme I like, apply the theme to Directory Opus in one click, with XYPlorer, I spent hours reading their forum posts on how to install and use user shared custom scripts that attempted to do the same as downloading and applying themes, but it was so complicated and daunting (for me, an IT professional), that I chose abandon the task, just not worth the time and efforts for such a trillville task. Customizing visual style elements is much easier to accomplish than in XYplorer because the organization is logical and intuitive, with XYplorer, customizing visual style dialogue felt like I was reading programming codes, this is terrible for non-technical users. Has much better file preview function than XYplorer, works without a hitch, with XYplorer, the preview of video and image files is a mess and it has no way to specify which program I could use to preview specific video files, e.x. : .mkv, .flv, .mp4, etc., so some video formats don't work out of the box in XYplorer preview and I still don't know how to get them to work. -Has a built-in image viewer Can read compressed files within the program without invoking external file compression programs. Supports FTP, SSH, FTPS, etc Has fantastic file renaming features. ......... There are too many advantages for Directory Opus to list in this short review, suffice to say, Directory Opus beats XYplorer hands down! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Per-Machine (plus personal laptop)

32 or 64 bit:Both

Portable:No

See All Specs

Top Pro

Can be set to replace Windows Explorer

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

Top Con

Portability costs more

On top of an already expensive license, users must purchase a separate Export License to create a portable version. See More

Steven Dino Windfeld's Experience

This is the absolute best file explorer for Windows, none of the others even comes close (and I have tried most on this list, and also several which aren't listed here). It is extremely customizable, and you can make it look and act in almost any way imaginable. See More

Top Pro

Batch-options

Allows batch renaming, viewing and editing file metadata. 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

Eric Tellefsen's Experience

Another of my go-to programs. I will not have a PC (work or home) without it. The full version has so many valuable tools (such as desktop-double click to launch) ftp, secure ftp, favorites and is fully customizable. 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 Con

Only available for Windows

DesertDwarf's Experience

Solid performance with new features being added all the time. Development is non-stop. Programmers consider reasonable suggestions and usually apply them. 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. Caution: FTP is a paid additive to the product although in relative terms it's not too expensive (around $12). 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

wonea's Experience

Use it constantly at home and work. Love the dual panes, and shortcuts. Using Windows Explorer on other people's machines now feels really awkward and slow. See More

Top Pro

Supports different archive formats

Supports archive formats like Zip, 7Zip and RAR. 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

HappyWongTaiSin's Experience

The most powerful file explorer. See More

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

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. See More

ProductiveUsinsh's Experience

Extremely good but has problems with previewing some file types and then freezes. 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 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

FunClementia's Experience

By far the best file manager on Windows! See More

Top Pro

Available for different architectures

Available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. See More

Top 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. See More

TolerantTlaltecuhtli's Experience

Not as much customizable as Xyplorer and lacks many important features. See More

Top Pro

Tabs

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

Top Con

Large file sizes

The installer weighs in at 50MB and the app directory is over 95MB. See More

DeliberateSopdet's Experience

xyplorer free really is a good one...although discontinued it still works great. worth a try. 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 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. See More

NeighborlyWanamangura's Experience

custom plugins supported, custom commands, custom everything 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

Erroneous Con

Con has been deleted, as it stated untruthful information. See More

InterestingIphimedeia's Experience

It is photoshop of File Management. You will never use untalented windows explorer. Expensive? Mercedes too. See More

Top 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. See More

TrustworthyAmaterasu's Experience

If you need hep the Support is the best I have ever used 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

ImaginativeMormo's Experience

great 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

ReceptiveSarutahikoOkami's Experience

I have been using it for 6 years and it gets better with every release. Totally customisable, well integrated with system tools so it is much more than a file manager. 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

DignifiedMalakbel's Experience

I have used DOpus for years, have been forced to use alternatives at various places of work, but was always able to show that DOpus was worth investing in. 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

Yanis's Experience

I prefer this one... just clean it up a bit. 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

ExcellentTriton's Experience

GREAT See More

Top Pro

Powerful image viewer

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

DynamicTalos's Experience

Excellent software, well supported, very stable, a much better file explorer than explorer. Pay the money and don't waste your time on xyplorer etc. See More

Top Pro

Manual sorting

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

MeticulousHehu's Experience

this has been a fantastic file manager. the best I have ever used. 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

blueroly's Experience

I have been using Directory Opus for over a decade and I refuse to work without it. No other file manager comes close to Directory Opus. Yes, it may be more expensive than the others but you get what you pay for. Personally, I would pay double the price but don't tell the developers this :) I would like to see a comparison table on here showing all the features of each file manager but I guess this would be a little bit embarrassing for all the other file managers. 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

MeticulousAnahita's Experience

This is the most configurable File Manager in the world. Do you work with specific file structure, no worries. DOpus will get you hooked. This is an industry-level tool. You will know what i mean when you can not find any other file manager which can do what you want. This is the KRS-One of managers. Might look expensive, but it gave the price back in countless priceless time i would lose with other apps. THANK YOU DEVELOPERS FOR THIS SOFTWARE!!! See More

Top Pro

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

SharpPepromene's Experience

Directory Opus has been central to my daily workflow for more than a decade. It is obscenely customizable, and can be bent to suit nearly anyone's need. It integrates well with any tool that offers command line options, and these tools can be made to interact with your files via hotkeys, menus, or toolbars. It's one of those pieces of software that never stops evolving, both because of its customizability and because of the fact that it's in constant development. The developers are active on the forums every day - they are quick to sort out bugs, and they have even implemented a few of my ideas. 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

Henrik's Experience

Fast, stable and capable of doing everything you want. Simply more powerful than any other file manager: for example, great bulk file renaming, image sorting, manipulation and previewing; capability to play and preview audio files ultra fast. Just the best. See More

Top Pro

Supports high-DPI monitors

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

FerventDeaTacita's Experience

It's quite responsive and, at least, doesn't hang much. 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

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

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

This applies to both local and network drives. See More

Top Pro

Vertical folder tabs

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

Good customer support

The customer support is very good. 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

Integrated dialog editor

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

Supports TeraCopy

Directory Opus supports TeraCopy. 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

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

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

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

Audio preview

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

See All

score 56 · Answer 3

Voidtools Everything

Top Pro

Quick file indexing

Top Con

No Dual Pane

MethodicalNeith's Experience

Brilliant! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Proprietary

Extra:https://github.com/srwi/EverythingToolbar

Top Pro

Quick searching

PopularBes's Experience

"Only" the over-all best Windows search program (after a little work to become configured like we want)! ; ) See More

Top Pro

Real-time updating

PopularEbisu's Experience

I use it daily to manage 24TB of data across 8 drives. Excellent! See More

Top Pro

Minimal resource usage

EnthusiasticHu's Experience

I haven’t been using File Explorer to reach a file for years. Whenever I need something, I simply press Win+N, type a few letters and Everything brings it right to me. It’s like having tag navigation, but without the hassle of managing tags ; as long as you know more or less the filename/path of your files, you can find them in a few keystrokes. And the best of all ? It’s not only fast in all conceivable ways but light as it gets. See More

Top Pro

Clean and simple user interface

TallImentet's Experience

One of the fastest file search programs that I have come across. See More

Top Pro

Small installation file

Top Pro

Find file very helpful

Top Pro

Search using regex

Allows you to search any file across system using regex. See More

Top Pro

Share files with others easily

Top Pro

Has SDK

Allows you to use the features of the app in your own applications/scripts. See More

Top Pro

Use Google operators to narrow down search space

This is a huge help. See More

See All

score 113 · Answer 4

Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer)

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 Con

Sometimes may have bugs

DaringChronos's Experience

It's simple, fast and do what is supposed to do. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Top Pro

You can view 4 windows simultaneously

Top Con

Needs modern UI design

Dmitriy Efremov's Experience

It's super explorer. I use it about 5 years. See More

Top Pro

You can use tabs in every window

Top Con

No search

FunnyEgeria's Experience

a gtreat manager can select 1 to 4 pains and transfer between them never had any trouble with it See More

Top Pro

Portable

Top Con

Does not work with Quicklook

CompassionateBonaDea's Experience

Saves so much time. See More

Top Pro

Free

FunnyNyyrikki's Experience

There is no search function, making the software just a gimmick without real world usability. 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

HarmoniousPudicitia's Experience

Good product. Frequent updates See More

Top Pro

Fast and stable

DaringNidaba's Experience

This used to be my favourite file manager for years, even if it crashed sometimes. But after the update in October, the windows became messed up (files are sorted by date of creation, and it's IMPOSSIBLE to change it or customize it in any way). I contacted support, they asked for screenshots, they didn't reply. See More

Top Pro

Very customizable

top vidéos's Experience

Every window can be separately customized. You can choose between 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

PersistentAphrodite's Experience

Best file manager tool for windows See More

See All

score 193 · Answer 5

Total Commander

Top Pro

Plugins

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

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

EnergeticMielikki's Experience

Using it for 2 decades now and never looked at any other file managers. Completely keyboard driven, it's the fastest tool out there. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android

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

Very slow on loading network shares

SpiritedMahuika's Experience

Best of the best 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 Con

Proprietary

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

ModestBieggolmai's Experience

10+ usage, too many features to list (or use). See More

Top Pro

Layout increases productivity

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

Top Con

Classic Interface

Top Pro

Useful multiple advanced options

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

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 Pro

Works even when Windows is very unstable

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

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

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

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

Cloud plugin

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

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

Convenient

Top Pro

Free

Top Pro

Easy for language translation

Top Pro

Forget about the mouse

The total commander is convenient to use both with the mouse and exclusively using the keyboard. But using only the keyboard gives it a big increase in the speed of work because you do not aim at your mouse. You need some time to get used to it, but it's really worth it. See More

See All

score 168 · Answer 6

fman

Top Pro

Works on all operating systems

Windows, Mac, and Linux are supported. See More

Top Con

No (text) file viewer

PoisedAtira's Experience

тупость See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

Top Pro

Simple to use

Top Con

No explicit bookmark support for directories

It though remembers the visited directories and allows to search in this list in most-recently used order and by name. See More

Top Pro

Makes finding commands by name easy

Top Con

Mainly for key-board-orientated users

The interface is most naturally navigated by arrows and keystrokes. The target market is software developers. See More

Top Pro

Slick

Top Con

Has no menu bar

Hence it is not well suited for visually orientated users which find or remember commands by using a mouse and a menu. Even the fman's hero Sublime Text uses a menu bar. See More

Top Con

Requires email address to download

Doesn't say what it will do with this data. It is in contrast to the new laws in Europe where only necessary information is allowed to be collected. A download should not require an email address. See More

Top Con

Still quite buggy

So, for example, sorting only is remembered if triggered by command and not be clicking the table column header using the mouse. See More

Top Con

Settings can't be found by the GUI

You need to know which files to edit. See More

Top Con

Default dark theme

No choice between dull-dark or fresh-light. See More

Top Con

No portable bundle available

On Windows only a net-installer is available. See More

See All

score 76 · Answer 7

Far Manager

Top Pro

Keyboard-oriented

Far Manager's interface encourages keyboard operation - all actions are easily accessible with keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly record macros for any repeatable action, there are no screen redraws if it is not necessary and that makes everything faster. See More

Top Con

Blocking operations

Operations such as copy, move, delete, etc are blocking, and you have to wait for them to complete before you can continue. Though you can cancel the operation with the escape key. See More

AwareManungal's Experience

Used it for years and years, plugins, complete customization, LUA, macros, constant updates, very fast TUI, the best experience you can get. Yes, you need to learn keys, but you have help right in the bottom, I can stop recommending it to everyone that works with files. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

32 or 64 bit:Both

Integrated Shell:Yes

Top Pro

Open source

Released under BSD license. See More

Top Con

Only for Windows

Top Pro

Two-panel interface

Top Con

Always uses monospace font

Which makes long file names look extremely wide See More

Top Pro

Many plugins

There are may of them, and you can write them in any languages, including Python. See More

Top Con

Does not support scrolling with mouse

With plugin See More

Top Pro

Editor with syntax highlighting

Every Far feature is also true for its editor. You can setup an external editor if you like, but the included editor works really well and features syntax highlighting. See More

Top Con

Text-based interface

Far Manager does not use a GUI like most windows applications nowadays. This may prove difficult to use for people who are not familiar with text-based user interfaces. See More

Top Pro

Easily recorded macros

Hit "Ctrl-." and start recording your boring sequence. Hit "Ctrl-." again to assign it a key. You can use Lua if you need more advanced macros. See More

Top Con

Folder shortcuts not available in Alt+F1/F2 menus

Top Pro

Numeric sorting option

E.g. readme-9.txt before readme-10.txt See More

Top Pro

Extremely fast

Top Pro

Offline context help

Just press F1 when you need it. No internet connection or browser is required. See More

Top Pro

Themeable

Fully themeable, allowing you to change the colors of every part of the interface. See More

Top Pro

Scrippting support via LUA

See All

score 68 · Answer 8

xplorer²

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

Top Con

Doesn't display UTF-8 characters correctly

Emojis and Japanese characters appear as question marks, for example. See More

Kanae Destiny's Experience

I have only tried the free version, xplorer² Lite, and I've found that even though I enjoy its additional features that Windows File Explorer lacks, I can't switch to xplorer² on a permanent basis because I can't do without support for UTF-8 characters (e.g. emojis and non-Latin alphabets and character sets, such as Japanese), which are simply displayed as question marks. If not for this limitation, I would probably use xplorer² Lite all the time (for personal use only, per the license), and the free "Lite" version would be all I'd need. I've come back to this app a few times over several years, and it has felt refreshing each time I really test it out, until I rediscover the disappointing flaw that prevents displaying an extended character set. In addition to not being able to see these characters, you might unknowingly erase them when renaming a file, since they would look like insignificant question marks. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:Per User or Per Machine

32 or 64 bit:Both

Portable:Ultimate only

See All Specs

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

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. UPDATE (and slightly offtopic): Kilmatead seems to be no longer active on the forums, so the next best thing is xplorer2 blog which seems to often feature interesting technical topics. See More

BrightMarzanna's Experience

Hi !!! I have been using xplorer2, wow, perhaps for at least 10 years and I can assure you it is not only the best Explorer tool for Windows but also the fact that it is frequently updated. Not only that, the App reminds you to update it. It has probably the best documentation out there in the marketplace. The functionality of xplorer2 is so rich and powerful compared to what comes with Windows Explorer. I do have at least 2 licenses and have also purchased it to send to friends as a gift. It is very addictive. Once you start using it, you do want to continue using it forever. As of today and after 10+ years of using it, I guess I have not discovered everything it can do, but I can assure you my productivity has been significantly increased with it. TRY IT and you will LOVE IT !!!! See More

Top Pro

Free version available

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

Top Con

Un-evolved

The interface is essentially unchanged since its 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. The stagnant cluttered design can make even long-time users drop the program. See More

BackEMF's Experience

I went through several file explorers before I settled on xplorer^2. It is very comprehensive--I only use a fraction of its feature set, but it's good to have the additional features available when needed. You can choose between a more modern and a classic interface, and you can save the state so that it always comes up consistent with your preferences. It works well with several different flavors of remote filesystems, and includes a snappy text viewer and editor for quick viewing or changes. You can replace Windows Explorer entirely with it, or supplement it. Developer responsiveness has always been excellent, and it gets updated on a regular basis. See More

Top Pro

Good all-purpose file manager

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

ConscientiousTyche's Experience

I use it both at home and at the office and this is by far the best file explorer out there. See More

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

Jonathan Plutchok's Experience

I've been using xplorer2 happily for at least 13-14 years. I have tried many of its competitors but always came back to xplorer2. It does everything, and does it well, and I am satisfied with the interface. I recommend it highly to everyone who asks me for a Windows Explorer replacement (and anyone who doesn't even know enough to ask). xplorer2 is updated regularly, and there's no point in updating if there's no feature to add or bug to fix. See More

Top Pro

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

TolerantInvidia's Experience

Great tool, responsive developer, good forum! See More

Top Pro

Execute DOS commands

ResponsibleDumuzid's Experience

Been using Xplorer2 for about 5 years flexible, powerful See More

Top Pro

Flexible search function

Search based on numerous file attributes. Search in ranges. Search inside files. Save search parameters for future use. See More

SupportiveHephaestus's Experience

I have used xplorer2 for years, and it's the first thing I install on my computers. It makes my workflow so much faster. See More

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

Supports TotalCommander plugins

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

Mass rename capability

Top Pro

Connects to network drives and cloud storage easily

Top Pro

Lifetime license available

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

See All

score 40 · Answer 9

One Commander

Top Pro

Free

Free for non commercial use. See More

Top Con

Folders cannot be sorted by size

DaringChronos's Experience

It's great. The UI is amazing. But I left it. It doesn't jave undo function. Also it doesn't see USB android devices connected. See More

Specs

OS: Windows 10 version 17763.0 or higher

Top Pro

Simple and fast

Fast search and filter. See More

Top Con

Cannot access Android device connected by USB

planet's Experience

Dual panel; clean UI; free software; batch operation; spacebar preview; only 89M See More

Top Pro

Miller columns

Like Finder from macOS. See More

Top Con

Cannot access Android device by FTP

And can never will as this is clarified by developer that this feature will never be added. See More

InquisitiveZipacna's Experience

Simple and Fast. Fast search and filter. See More

Top Pro

Multi tab support

Top Con

It doesn't have UNDO function

Very important. When you work with valuable data files, this function can't be ommited. See More

Top Pro

Themes

Light, dark and customizable themes/colours. See More

Top Con

Navigating folders by Ctrl+Tab has considerable delay

Top Pro

Default file manager setup

Can make it the default file manager such that windows explorer stays out of the way for most of the work. See More

Top Con

Browsing Recycle Bin is very slow

Navigating away from Recycle Bin tab and coming back to it reload the Recycle Bin which is very slow as mentioned. Program has an option to open recycle bin in Windows File Explorer, which suggests that developer is aware that opening Recycle Bin is problematic. See More

Top Pro

File previews

Top Con

Confusing

Top Pro

File / folder filters

Top Con

Context menu only based on icons

No longer with Onecommander 3.6.43 See More

Top Pro

Folder views can be saved and applied

See All

Answer 10

Double Commander

Top Pro

Free and open source

Double Commander has a feature set similar to Total Commander, except it's completely free to use. See More

Top Con

Some parts of the GUI look old-fashioned

Especially some pages in the preferences. See More

RodJLinux's Experience

I use this on both Linux and Windows and it's just about the most configurable file manager I've ever seen. For example: you can actually have different fonts for each column in the panel if you want. I haven't seen that option anywhere else. My preference in Linux is for Krusader but that isn't available in Windows. Double Commander is a close second place for me and there are some things that it does better than any others. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD

License:GPL-2.0-only

Technology:Free Pascal

User Interface:GUI

Top Pro

Multi-platform (Linux, Windows, MacOS X)

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

Top Con

Windows version by far more polished than the Mac version

The Mac version 0.7.8 does not feel like a Mac version, often crashes showing the preferences, loses focus after showing the preferences, has to less free space around drawn text. See More

AmiableZelus's Experience

Easy to use and enough features as for me See More

Top Pro

Lynx-like motion

Cursor+Left to go to parent directory, cursor+right to got into a child directory. See More

Top Con

Hard to find options

NiceApheleia's Experience

Can't browse network or connect network drives. Can't open already connected network locations. Seems useless if it's only doing half the browsing. See More

Top Pro

Text Viewer and Editor support many encodings

Especially the UTF ones. See More

Top Con

Can't resize columns automatically depending on file name lengths

You can't make the columns automatically adjust to the width of the file name. See More

Top Pro

Excellent documenation

Find the documentation here. See More

Top Con

Apparently only one developer

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

Top Con

Directory bookmarks not integrated into Alt+F1/F2 popups

Like in Altap Salamander. There is a Directory Hotlist, though. See More

Top Pro

tcmd-like multi-rename tool (CTRL+M)

Top Pro

It's compatible with most Total Commander plugins

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

Top Pro

Directory Hotlist (bookmark) can also set sorting

Which allows, e.g., to switch to reverse sorting by time when switching to my download directory. See More

Top Pro

Can open self-extracting archives to see its content

Top Pro

All shortcuts can be edited

This way, you can customize them to the shortcuts you already knew from your previous file manager. Commands/menu items even can be triggered by multiple shortcuts. See More

Top Pro

Optional flat file view

Showing all files from the current directory and subdirectories, too, in one view. See More

Top Pro

Has horizontal or vertical orientation for the 2 directory panels

Top Pro

Portable package available

There's a portable version available that can be used without installation. See More

Top Pro

Has a tree view panel for navigating the currently selected directory

Top Pro

Built-in text editor with syntax coloring

Of course, customizable with respect to colors. See More

Top Pro

Has Favorites - save groups of open tabs and switch between them

Very helpful for having different groups of tabs for different working contexts and can easily switch between them. See More

Top Pro

DC uses TCmd plugin API

so you can use documentation from Total Commander for writing plugins. WCX (packer), WDX (content), WFX (file system), WLX (lister) See More

Top Pro

What are the best file managers for Windows?

44 Options Considered

XYplorer

My Recommendation for XYplorer

My Recommendation for XYplorer

Extremely configurable

Not user frendly

Lifetime license available

Single-threaded

Frequent and regular updates

May be unresponsive at times

Very reliable

No FTP support

Numerous filtering, sorting, and highlighting methods for files

No working high-dpi support

Dual pane

No themes

Scriptable

Status bar not customizable

Custom toolbar buttons

No plugin support

Logs plenty of actions for undo/redo

32-Bit

Custom columns

No support for Windows libraries

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

Separate tree for each panel is missing

Easy to use

Poor touchscreen support

Extensive metadata

Cannot display files as grouped

Customizable keyboard shortcuts

The free version has been discontinued

Portable file extensions

Developer is active in the forum as well

Quick audio preview

Thumbnail viewing for images is both fast and customizable

Portable

Easy to organize lots of files at once

Folder sizes shown

Search and virtual folders

Custom file and folder icons

User interface is extremely customizable

Separate 32 and 64-bit context menus

Long path names supported brilliantly

Per-user license

Extremely versatile renaming

Faster than Windows Explorer ever thought of being

Community support

Branch view

Can replace Windows Explorer

Asynchronous copy and move operations

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

Preview files

Supports correction of illegal file and folder names

Clean, uncluttered interface

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

Dark mode

Has more features than any other file manager

FLAC as well as MP3 Support for Metadata and Previews

HoverBox

Option to disable lazy drag-and-dropping

Exhaustive list of previewable archive formats

Huge feature list, something for everyone.

Safety belts

Nuke button

Ability to identify text files containing any range of extended characters

Communication with the programmer

Easy to copy file names and directories

Easy/extensive file renaming

File tabs

Responsive support

Fast and powerful search

"Mouse Down Blow Up" feature

Directory Opus

My Recommendation for Directory Opus

My Recommendation for Directory Opus

Customizable UI

Expensive

Can be set to replace Windows Explorer