SpaceFM vs Polo

Just right click on any menu or menu option (including the context menu itself) and you'll be allowed to customize it. This lets you add support or integration for features you find missing.

It only needss gtk, udev, desktop-file-util and shared-mime-info which is available in most systems.

Functionalities can be extended by user scripts as plugins. Some scripts can also be downloaded from https://github.com/IgnorantGuru/spacefm-plugins/wiki. Plugins can be exported too.

SpaceFM supports up to 4 individually customizable panels as well as multi-tabbed file management.

Does not obstruct professional work by engrossing root warnings.

Can be used to set wallpaper and desktop icons with high configuration support.

Can open different folders as root, this way you don't have to use the terminal to move around files for which you need root permission.

Available in gtk2 and gtk3.

Great UI, easy to use and configure, several plug-ins available to make everyday tasks even easier.

Polo wants people to get the file manager they want, but it's not awash with granular layout options that take ages to understand. First select whether you want one, two, or four panes, and then select a format for each pane of either List, Icon, Tiled, or Media. That's it, you're done.

File managers in Linux have a nasty propensity for being closely tied to the distribution family from which they arose. Using Polo allows you to have an identical file management experience when shifting between machines from different branches of the Linux tree.

Quickly mount and unmount devices from the sidebar, including support for locking and unlocking LUKS encrypted devices.

Just paste a YouTube URL into a folder and Polo will download the best quality format of it and save it in that folder.

Browse archive files as those they were just another folder, dragging and dropping files in and out of them at will while the backend uses the appropriate tools to manage the archive file itself. Archive creation includes a rich assortment of controls over compression formats and structure.

Rotate, resize, optimize, convert formats, save for the web and many other handy features all right in the context menu.

Mount ISO files to loop devices with just two clicks, or spin them up as a QEMU KVM instance, and for portability there's also an option to write them to USB flash drives using a GUI dialog.

Perform Merge and Split operations on PDF files without needing another file handler all from the context menu. Rotate and Password Protection settings are also expressed there.

Includes its own rclone macros for adding cloud storage access to the list of browsable locations that just works, a welcome relief in the sea of hacks which provide those features elsewhere in Linux. Currently supported: Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive / Amazon S3, Openstack Swift (Rackspace Cloud Files, Memset Memstore, OVH), Hubic, Backblaze B2, Yandex Disk

Supports up to four panes, plus a tree-style side panel and tabs.

Built-in terminal pop-up.

Debian-based distributions can leverage the apt package management system to keep Polo updated by adding the approved PPA to their apt sources, simplifying installation as well.

Features a file properties side panel to easily assess and modify permissions.