Hi everyone. I’m looking for some file manager help.
I am looking for a great file manager on the Mac. I have been using Path Finder for over a decade and it is fairly flexible, but is missing little things like being able to rename (alias) or colour code tabs. Forklift I find is great for remote file system access (it is pretty fast), but offers less than Path Finder in terms of flexibility and customisation.
I use AppleScripts, shell scripts, Automator actions, and Keyboard Maestro macros to get a lot of stuff done from an automation point of view with them, but I can’t help but wonder iff I’m just boxed in a little by what these apps can offer me.
Part of my problem is probably that when I’m on Windows I’m spoilt by what I can customise and do with XYplorer. It is hugely customisable and hugely automatable. I would love to be able to find something that is more like that app on the Mac in terms of its capability.
For want of a better way of phrasing it, I guess I’m looking for the Keyboard Maestro of file managers. My Google-fu has let me down on offering any alternatives to consider.
It may be that I’m missing some things in Path Finder and Forklift that could address more of my needs. It may be that there is no such power user file manager app for the Mac. But, I am hoping that people can point me to some other apps to take a look at that might be worth me looking at.
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from my experience dCommander is the best of the bunch. hint: drag the divider in the middle, in the event you are more of a single-pane user.
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Thanks. dCommander looks like a Mac port of TotalCommander.
Judging by the list of the features on the app page, there is not anything that this would offer me that Path Finder or Forklift do not provide for me already. But the details on their page are pretty light, there does not seem to be a trial version, and I do not subscribe to SetApp. That makes it pretty much impossible for me to evaluate myself without paying for the privilege. Based on the information on their site, I’d struggle to justify doing so.
@Death_from_Above, as a result of the above situation, I have some follow-up questions to get some more detail, from you and/or other app users if that’s okay?
- What is it about the app, in your experience, that makes it “best of the bunch”?
- What is it that this would give me beyond what I have?
- What sorts of things have you found you could configure that the other apps ‘in the bunch’ did not provide?
- What sorts of automation scope does it have - e.g. lots of AppleScript support, a command line interface to trigger actions?
forgot why ended up using dCommaner above others, liked the navigation using arrow keys to go in and out of folders, and the ability to directly run shell commands in current folder.
tried a ton, did not found it
sorry about tardiness