When comparing QTTabBar vs Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer), the Slant community recommends Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer) for most people. In the question“What are the best file managers for Windows?” Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer) is ranked 4th while QTTabBar is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer) is:
Every window can be separately customized. You can choose between different views from 1 to 4 windows, and every window can have multiple tabs!
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Middle click/Ctrl+click to open new tab
Pro Allows you to simply add tabs to File Explorer which suit the design
Pro Plugin support
The program can be enhanced further by plugins for a variety of purposes.
Pro Good drag and drop options
Pro Preview popup buttons
Pro Ctrl+arrow keys for navigation between different tabs
Pro Ctrl+tab to go from tab to tab
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!
Pro You can view 4 windows simultaneously
Pro You can use tabs in every window
Pro Portable
Pro Free
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.
Pro Fast and stable
Pro Very customizable
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).
Cons
Con Options menu almost unusable on some high resolution displays
Options menu almost unusable on some high resolution displays, for example Surface Pro 4 2736X1824 and 225% magnification (scaling issues). Interestingly, works ok on external display 3840X2160 with 150% magnification.
Con Possibly abandoned project
Not updated since 2019-3-24. No response from developer. Is the project dead?