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Add to SafariWhen comparing Midnight Commander vs ForkLift 3, the Slant community recommends ForkLift 3 for most people. In the question“What are the best Mac file managers?” ForkLift 3 is ranked 3rd while Midnight Commander is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose ForkLift 3 is:
It's just a perfectly crafted app, try and enjoy
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Intuitive interface
Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users.
Pro Can be run in the terminal
Being a terminal application means that it's suited for people who spend most of their time on the terminal because they don't have to switch windows in order to open their file manager. It also means that they can use it both locally and remotely.
Pro Easy to use
Midnight commander is easy and intuitive to use. The most common commands are displayed in the bottom (move, copy, paste, delete, edit, view, make directory). Files can be selected with the arrow keys which move the cursor through them. The Enter key goes down in a directory. To move the focus between two panels the tab key is used.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Stable
Pro Often available in default repository
and hence easy to install by usually package manager.
Pro Lynx-like motion
Cursor+left to go to parent directory, cursor+right to go into child directory.
Pro Well-presented
Pro Best UX/UI'd file manager on the market
It's just a perfectly crafted app, try and enjoy
Pro Rewritten in Swift
Forklift 3 is a significant update from FL2, having been rewritten entirely in Swift.
Pro Optional dark UI
In addition to the default Mac gray UI, Forklift 3 offers an alternate "Dark Mode" featuring light text elements against dark backgrounds.
Pro Connect to and mount lots of storage options
FTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Rackspace CloudFiles, SMB, AFP, NFS, VNC, etc.
Pro Easily toggle hidden files
Pro Built-in application remover
Cons
Con File viewer: searching can be quite cumbersome
Especially searching next or previous.
Con No directory bookmarks
Con No easy way to change colors matching certain files
There probably is a possibility, but it is not easy.
Con Quirky and hard to remember shortcuts
E.g. when trying to take the current directory's path to the command line.
Con Lacks drag and drop feature
With midnight commander you cannot drag and drop files to move them around. Instead, you have to do the necessary actions in order to move files around (cut and paste or copy and delete).
Con Can only be run in the terminal
MC lacks a standalone GUI option.
Con Like Apple, it does not standardize file size. Mixes up KBs, MBs GBs in the same column which makes it very difficult to review file sizes
Con Like Apple, shows the date of Today's file as "Today" instead of the actual date
Con Does not sync the "selected" folders (i.e. highlighted ones), but the "current" folders (i.e. the top of the visible tree.)
Con Does not show the fixed tree section in the left pane of a dual horizontal panes
