So, most people are probably fine with things like the Windows Explorer or the myriad array of nearly identical file mangers for *Nix, and the Finder for those of you who were able to put an Apple on your expense account, you rich hedge fund managers...

...Ahem. Point is, I've been experimenting with finding a file manager that meshes into my largely Sway based workflow.

Latest experiments have been with Worker an ancient looking file manager that manages to have a strange charm with its style of matching no graphical widget toolkit whatsoever, and Xfe; the X File Explorer which doesn't exactly have much in visual flair.

I got tired of the various quirks I'd been running into with Thunar & PCmanFM, so now I'm curious:

What File Manager do you prefer to use, and if you've never reached outside the default, why?

Oh, and did you know Winfile is now able to be obtained for modern systems?

Double commender , this is the best

I'm usually fine with whatever comes with the OS... however, I do spin up Midnight Commander every now and then to remember that two-pane goodness of old, spiced with DOS dust and floppy disk noises.

I forgot to mention while making the thread, that I'm using Total Commander on Android, if only for a lack of legitimate powerful file managers on the platform.

I've used xfe and ranger for years. I've recently also installed nemo, and, I don't hate it!

Ninja'd! I was going to mention Total Commander.

A friend at work has been using it for years and is so addicted to it. Now, he has reached a point where he customized it so much (shortcuts, commands, etc.) that when he wants to fetch me some files it usually takes him too long to get there. By that time, I have already done it in ~5 sec in plain old explorer and moved on :)

I gave ranger a try, but as someone who was born after the Vi vs Emacs Holy Wars, I gotta admit I didn't wrap my head around it. Heh. Doubtless to say, I've done barely any customizing in it.

Using Total Commander for about two decades. A system without it seems crippled to me. Your friend must be doing something wrong.

The only reason I got into using Ranger and Vim is I've got a headless server that I've managed for years. It's pretty convenient to have a full featured editor and a capable file manager that works in an ssh terminal.

I totally get the concept, but it's more the command structure that got me stuck.

That's fair. I spend half my time with terminal based apps, and half my time with GUI apps. I've had countless python scripts that I've edited in Atom that have a :w somewhere in them because of the muscle memory of :w saves a file in Vim.

In the DOS era, I used one -- that I don't remember now its name. I abandoned it upon incompatibility when switching to the NT-branch of Windows (with XP). Explorer's fine for me, though I hate the now-default of single window mode and it's always one of the first things I change. (Single window mode defeats the purpose of having a GUI!)

I can tell you a related things I've always wanted and I don't think has ever existed: A hybrid "terminal/GUI file explorer". Bottom 1/2 of the window would be a terminal, top half would be a split left folder structure right file list. Double-clicking on a folder would auto change the path in the command prompt, and clicking on a file in that pane would drop its quoted, escaped full path into the terminal portion. Path changes in the terminal would of course reflect in the GUI folder view too (though only if you have that checkmark on or click a 'sync' button, since the point is to potentially exist in two places at once). It'd also have a button-click for your command history in the terminal.

EDIT: Memory lookup complete. It was XTreeGold I used in the DOS and 9x era.

I'm pretty sure that exists in a few *Nix file managers. Dolphin for sure has that.

double commender is the same just more modern
give it a try:P

Thanks! Dolphin does indeed have it according to screen shots. Sadly, the Windows compile of Dolphin does not, or at least not without extra hoops. :(