A file manager is software which provides a user interface to assist in the organisation of files. It helps users with their daily work in managing their files on a hard drive or other storage device. With terabyte hard disks becoming prevalent, file managers represent an essential tool in managing file systems.
Every file manager provides basic operations such as to create, open, view, edit, search, rename, move copy, and delete files. However, file managers typically come supplied with sophisticated functionality including network connectivity, directory synchronizing, archive handling, advanced searching, shortcuts, file/folder comparisons, checksums, plugins, and more, making them an incredibly powerful tool.
There are 3 main types of file managers covered in this feature. Orthodox file managers or “Commander-like” file managers have three windows (two panels and one command line window). The second type is the navigational file manager representing the most common type of file manager available today. We also have included the finest console based file managers.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 15 high quality free Linux file managers. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for anyone who wishes to have more control over managing their files.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.
Click the links in the table below to learn more about each file manager.
| File Managers | |
|---|---|
| Krusader | Advanced orthodox file manager for KDE |
| nnn | Fast and flexible file manager |
| Dolphin | Default file manager for KDE |
| Midnight Commander | User-friendly yet powerful orthodox file manager |
| Double Commander | File manager with two panels side by side |
| Ranger | Console file manager with VI key bindings |
| PCManFM-Qt | Lightweight Qt-based file manager which uses GLib |
| PCManFM | Default file manager for LXDE |
| Files | File browser designed for elementary OS |
| GNOME Files | Spatial file manager; default file manager for GNOME |
| lf | Terminal file manager written in Go |
| GNOME Commander | Orthodox file manager for the GNOME desktop environment |
| Spacedrive | Powered by a virtual distributed filesystem |
| CliFM | Shell-like, command line terminal file manager |
| Xfe | Very similiar to Windows Explorer |
There are many other good file managers not included in this roundup. These are featured in specific roundups in the Productivity section.
This article has been revamped in line with our recent announcement.
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Historic comments have been retained for completeness.
One of the best thought-out managers is inevitably missing here: the rox-filer.
“Inevitably missing” because it’s nowhere near as good as the ones we recommend.
Actually rox-filer was covered in this article. We concluded that it’s very dated, idiosyncratic, and lacking tons of functionality. And it’s been abandoned for many years.
rox-filer is dead
What about zzzfm?
What about it?
I believe it should be on the list…at least in the first half…or are there reasons why it is not or should not be included?
you guys have really done a lot of work here comparing different linux apps (even with their non-linux counterparts), this is v2ry commendable, thank you (all)…
I don’t think anyone here has ever tried zzzfm. We will take a look. Thanks for your suggestion.
zzzfm just seems an outdated/obsolete option.
It appeared in the AUR, and both zzzfm-bin and -git fail to find package libudev which shows a first commit, plus was last updated in July 2014!
It appears it’s a non-starter as you say Ben. No wonder we had never heard of it.
We are not sure it’s worth the effort to even try to compile it. If we had the time we’d look to see what has changed in the fork (it’s forked from SpaceFM). But life’s too short!
the one I am using is zzzfm from antix repo (maybe mxlinux too) not the AUR zzfm
Konqueror is the ultimate file manage as far as I’m concerned. It is far from “basic” in its functionality. I’ve tried them all. Even Dolphin can’t split windows horizontally and vertically multiple times. Konqueror is king if you are working on a complex project where you need to have numerous windows open and occupy the smallest amount of screen space.
Surprised to see a couple that are usually mentioned left off of this list: Nemo (from Cinnamon DE) and Thunar (from XFCE).
Our articles on file managers are going to be revamped. Nemo is mentioned in a different file manager roundup https://www.linuxlinks.com/excellent-gtk-file-managers/ which also needs updating. Thunar once was listed but was removed. This will be reviewed.
Thunar is garbage.
Thunar… The default file manager on Xfce?
Billy Bob says it’s garbage.
Yazi for console is super fast and nice, I think it’s much better than ranger
We love hearing your opinions. We scored Ranger 8.8 and Yazi 7 in our Console File Managers roundup.
How close are we to coming to an animated desktop file handler?
It would be nice to have a three headed sleeping dragon on the screen.
The cursor comes near one of the heads. It wakes screaming vicious, bites the cursor, and its associated file opens. When that file is dropped, the dragon head comes into the screen like lightning, blasting fire on the file, closing it..
I have always found the default file manager to be the best file manager. I use Ubuntu Mate, to Caja is the best file manager for me.
If you don’t try others, you’ll always be in the dark.