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Add to SafariWhen comparing Far Manager vs ExplorerMax, the Slant community recommends Far Manager for most people. In the question“What are the best file managers for Windows?” Far Manager is ranked 7th while ExplorerMax is ranked 37th. The most important reason people chose Far Manager is:
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.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Open source
Released under BSD license.
Pro Two-panel interface
Pro Many plugins
There are may of them, and you can write them in any languages, including Python.
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.
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.
Pro Numeric sorting option
E.g. readme-9.txt before readme-10.txt
Pro Extremely fast
Pro Offline context help
Just press F1 when you need it. No internet connection or browser is required.
Pro Themeable
Fully themeable, allowing you to change the colors of every part of the interface.
Pro Scrippting support via LUA
Pro Fast search and organized results
When you search for anything, you can get what you want soon. And your target files are grouped into different categories.
Pro Tabs and bookmarks
Like browsing via Chrome, I can browse my files with tabbing window and collect my favorites. Easy and simple.
Pro Dark and light mode
I've never seen a file manager can match with windows so great like ExplorerMax., especilaly the dark mode.
Pro Stylish design
Everything here is organized and fancy.
Pro Timeline
This fuction can help you track the file history and bulk buttons enables you to clear them selectively.
Pro Adaptive UI
It alters the default Explore a little. But yet very Functional. It also comes with other themes. Dark theme included
Cons
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.
Con Only for Windows
Con Always uses monospace font
Which makes long file names look extremely wide
Con Does not support scrolling with mouse
With plugin
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.
Con Folder shortcuts not available in Alt+F1/F2 menus
Con Resources Usage
The nice UI comes under the expenses of resources. It can severely slow your PC
Con Need more functions
So far, they have released many updates and more surprises are needed.
