Path Finder vs nvALT
When comparing Path Finder vs nvALT, the Slant community recommends nvALT for most people. In the question“What are the best power user tools for macOS?” nvALT is ranked 34th while Path Finder is ranked 36th. The most important reason people chose nvALT is:
nvALT has a simple text box at the top (similar to that of a web browser) and when you start typing inside it, nvALT immediately displays a drop-down box of all the notes that contain the text you are searching for. The more you type, the more the search is narrowed down.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Heavily customizable
Path Finder is built around a modular interface with six customizable views. Show only the information you need, when you need it.
Pro Dual finder panes allow seeing two folders side-by-side
Pro Tabs
Pro Integrates useful utilities, protocols, viewers and editors
Path Finder can be configured to automatically open and edit word documents, text, and image files. It also has an integrated terminal, hex editor, can archive type files, and can handle file network protocols, such as ftp and afp.
Pro File tagging
Pro Batch renaming support
Pro Powerful file search
Pro Permissions
Pro Drop stack allows temporarily collect files for operations
Pro Git and Subversion
Path Finder has built-in support for Git and Subversion version control systems.
Pro 30-day free trial
A full-featured version of Path Finder can be evaluated for free for 30 days.
Pro Powerful search syntax
nvALT has a simple text box at the top (similar to that of a web browser) and when you start typing inside it, nvALT immediately displays a drop-down box of all the notes that contain the text you are searching for. The more you type, the more the search is narrowed down.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Free
Pro MultiMarkdown 3 support
Has built-in support for MultiMarkdown 3.
Pro Powerful note-taking features
nvALT is not only used for simple text editing but also as a powerful tool for taking notes, TODOs, phone numbers and every other piece of information that can be stored in a plain-text file.
This is because nvALT is not designed only as a tool to write text, but also as a powerful search and organize tool for plain-text files.
Pro Right to Left support
Cons
Con Buggy
- Heavy load on the system after network drive activity
- Crashes sometimes without warning
Con Expensive
Con Inserted disks or mounted volumes do not show up in the left pane in Path finder
You have to dig into the menu bar to mount a disk in the pathfinder, a royal pain. Disks should just show up when inserted.
Con Not very powerful as far as text editing goes
nvALT's strength is its search feature. It has some basic text-editing features such as cut, paste, find-and-replace and so on. But it doesn't have any advanced text manipulation features available in other editors.