Generate a File Listing from a Windows Explorer Context Menu

Recommended batch code:

dir /a /s /b /-p /o:gen >filelisting.txt

fileListing.bat

How many times have you been browsing through directories in Windows Explorer and wished you could generate a text file or printout listing the files and folders? It seems like such a simple request that it’s amazing the option isn’t available. You don’t believe me? Right click on a folder and see for yourself if there is an option to list or print the structure. There isn’t, but there is a workaround that doesn’t require any third party software. Here’s how to create a context menu item that when clicked will generate an editable text file listing of the selected directory.

Step 1 – Create A Batch File

To create the entry in the context menu it’s necessary to first create a .bat file. The format for the .bat file is:

dir /a /-p /o:gen >filelisting.txt

The name of the .txt file can be whatever you’d like it called. In the example above it’s filelisting, but it could just as easily be filelist, listoffiles, namedfiles, or even wally if you have a sense of the bizarre. Once you’ve decided on the name, create the file in Notepad and save the file in your Windows folder as shown below. If you want, just copy and paste the example up above if you don’t find wally intriguing.

Fig. 01

Step 2 – Modify The Context Menu

Now that we have the .bat file created the next step is to make it functional and easily accessible by integrating it into the context menu that opens when a right click is executed. To do this:

Open Windows Explorer, click Tools, then click Folder Options.
Click the File Types tab, and then click Folder.
Click the Advanced button and then click New to pen the New Action box shown below.

Fig. 02

In the New Action [Fig. 02] box, type the name that you want to appear in the context menu. Once again, you have a wide latitude in choices but something akin to Create File Listing will probably be more useful than naming it Martha Stewart. As you can see in the example above, I ditched Martha in favor of Create File Listing. Sorry Martha. Browse to the location where the .bat file you created is located, select it and let it be the Application Used to Perform Actions. Click OK and do the standard Windows dance of Apply and OK again to close all the open windows.

That’s it ! Congratulations. You’ve created a new item on the context menu that’s ready to go to work. So now that’s it there, what can you do with it? Open up Windows Explorer as I did in the example [Fig. 03] below.

Fig. 03

Navigate to whatever folder you want to use as the basis for the file list and right click to open the context menu. Click on the Create File Listing item and the list will be generated and displayed at the bottom of the open window as filelisting.txt. The example below was created from the Sample Music folder shown above. Since it is a text file it can be fully edited, copied, pasted, printed, etc for any purpose.

Fig. 04

Note: If for any reason you want to remove the Create File Listing entry from the context menu it will be necessary to edit the registry. This can be accomplished by navigating to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Create_File_Listing using regedit and deleting the Create_File_Listing key in the left pane. Close regedit and reboot to complete removal.

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Additional File Modifications Submitted by TEG Readers

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The following tip was sent in containing a very useful modification to the batch file;

Adding the “/b” switch to the proposed batch file will create a “bare format (no heading information or summary)” text which makes the output much easier to copy and manipulate. It eliminates all the other garbage in the output file.

Best regards,

Geert Pauwels

This is an excellent idea and very easy to implement. If you are creating the batch file for the first time just modify the file listed in the article so it reads;

dir /a /b /-p /o:gen >filelisting.txt

and continue with the instructions for completing the modification. If the batch file already exists in C:\Windows, navigate to the file, right click it and select Edit from the context menu and modify the file so it contains the /b switch. Save the changes and close the file. The change will modify the output so it appears as shown below.

Fig. 05

While it’s easy enough to go into the C:\Windows directory and edit the batch file to generate the type of output preferred, depending on how often you change between the two output formats you may find it more convenient to create separate entries for each format that can be selected from the context menu. The procedure is simple.

• Create one batch file using the /b switch and name it filelisting.bat.

• Create a second batch file without the /b switch and name it filelisting1.bat.

• Save both files in C:\Windows.

• Modify the context menu as shown in Step 2 and Fig. 02 above, but this time go through the procedure twice and give each entry a different name in the Action line, assigning each entry a different batch file. I used the names “Create File Listing” and “Create File Listing Verbose” for this example, assigning the batch file with the /b switch to “Create File Listing” and the batch file without the /b switch to the “Create File Listing Verbose” entry.

• Both entries are now on the context menu and available for use as shown in Fig. 06.

Fig. 06

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The following modification was submitted by Antony

Hi,

Thanks for the tip on generating a directory listing from windows explorer – this has bugged me for ages.

Just wanted to add that when I run the command as listed, the file gets created in the directory that I want a listing for, but is never displayed automatically (I have to open it manually). This was annoying so I fixed it by doing the following:

1. Specifying that the directory listing file always gets saved in the same location.

2. Using the Start command to open the file with Notepad.

Here is the modified batch file.

dir /a /b /-p /o:gen >C:\Temp\List_Files.txt
start notepad C:\Temp\List_Files.txt

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The following modification was submitted by Max

Hello, I enjoyed learning how to create file listing with the method provided on http://www.theeldergeek.com/file_list_generator.htm

I have however created a modification that people should enjoy.

By adding the line cd %1 to the top of the bat file, you can right click on a folder select Create a File List, and then the txt file will be saved inside that folder with a listing of the contents of that folder.

The next modification prevents the generated textfile from being listed within its self. The two lines are added under the dir command.

copy “C:\Temporary Location\textfile.txt” %1

del “C:\Temporary Location\textfile.txt”

Thus, my entire bat file looks like this:

cd %1
dir /a /b /-p /o:GEN >”C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temp\filelist.txt”
copy “C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temp\filelist.txt” %1
del “C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temp\filelist.txt”

Please remember to use the quotations…otherwise, dos won’t be able to deal with the spaces.

Enjoy,

Max

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The following modification was submitted by Kevin

I’ve been trying to figure out how to capture a listing of files from within a folder — but I don’t want to print the list, just save it to a disc. (I’m sending a buddy a listing of all of the CD’s that I’ve burned.)

I found your article entitled, “Generate a File Listing from a Windows Explorer Context Menu” — and although none of the solutions worked perfectly for me, I did some minor editing to give me what I needed.

I needed a batch file which would create a listing, allow me to cut, copy or print the contents, then delete the file itself (I have no need for a permanent file listing cluttering up my hard drive).

Here it is:

dir /a /-p /o:gen >filelisting.txt
filelisting.txt
del filelisting.txt

20 awesome free OS downloads that aren’t Windows 7

For the last few days, Windows 7 is just about the only OS anyone has been talking about. I figured it was high time for us to share the love and take a look at some other interesting free, downloadable operating systems.

Here’s a collection of 20 that are worth checking out. There are plenty more, so if you’d like to add your favorites, share them in the comments!

Fedora 10 (pictured) – One of the few live distros that didn’t have any trouble with the hardware on my MSI Wind netbook. My acid test: can it properly suspend and wake? Yes – and it does it faster than Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. OpenSUSE and Ubuntu both failed to resume properly.

Damn Small Linux – I wouldn’t feel right not listing Damn Small. It’s pretty amazing what you can do with a whole OS that’s not much bigger than most Windows antivirus applications. 50mb gets you Firefox, XMMS, VNCViewer, MS Office Viewer, and much more. It’s also easily extendable through the MyDSL service or by using the apt command.

Linux Mint – While it’s based on Ubuntu, Mint has some features that I think make it a bit more user-friendly. For starters, there are several easy ways to find and install new software including the dead simple Mint Software Portal. Find an app, click the install button, bada bing!

64 Studio – If you’re into digital content creation of any kind – audio, video, or graphics – 64 Studio is a distro worth downloading. It’s packed full of awesome multimedia apps and, contrary to the name, is available for 32-bit platforms as well.

live.linux-gamers.net – One of the big complaints about Linux is “Where are the games?” If you’d like to see some, why not download a live DVD that contains a truckload that you can run without even installing anything? FPS, racing, platformer, you name it – this disc has it covered.

Slax – This has always been one of my favorite light Linux distros. It’s about 200mb and includes plenty of great apps. It includes a really slick boot option as well: to act as a PXE server, allowing other machines on your LAN to boot Slax over the network.

NimbleX – If you’re looking for a lightweight base to run virtual PCs on, check out NimbleX. It’s the smallest distro I’ve seen that comes with Sun’s Virtual Box. You can even customize your ISO on the web site before you download it if you want. Awesome.

Haiku – Inspired by BeOS, Haiku strives to provide an environment that is simple enough for beginners to use, yet powerful enough for more experienced users to enjoy as well. As they say on their web site, Haiku wants to be “free of unnecessary complexities.” There’s also Zeven OS, a Linux distro with BeOS-inspired visuals.

ReactOS – Definitely an ambitious project, ReactOS is trying to produce a free, non-linux environment that is fully compatible with Windows applications and drivers. It’s got a long way to go, but it’s an interesting project to keep your eye on.

Mac-on-stick – Sure, OSX is pretty and functional, but can it fit on a 32mb flash drive? Mac-on-stick is a complete Mac OS 7.0.1 environment that runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Pocket PC. Use it to run old-school apps or classic games like Dark Castle. It’s also part of the Portableapps.Com suite.

OSX86 – No, there’s no link for this one, gang. I’ve included OSX86 (which you can probably find yourself on any major torrent tracker by searching for kalyway) because it’s an amazing example of what an enthusiastic computing community can accomplish. There’s even a customized version floating around that is tailored for the MSI Wind netbook..

NetBSD – If you’re not interested in trying the Hackintosh thing, why not play around with OS X’s foundations? One of the great things about NetBSD is the amazing number of hardware platforms it can run on, including the Playstation 2 and Sega Dreamcast. You may also want to try Jibbed, a lightweight NetBSD livecd spinoff that runs XFCE4.

Open Solaris – The good folks at Sun play a big part in the development of a pretty mean free OS. Open Solaris is incredibly stable and is designed for reliability and network performance. It makes an excellent foundation for NAS devices and servers.

FreeNAS – Speaking of NAS, if you’ve got an old junker around that you’d like to turn into something useful, FreeNAS is a nice option. It’s a barebones distro based on FreeBSD and is designed to turn old hardware into simple network attached storage.

IE Application Compatibility VPC Images – More free stuff from Microsoft? The VPC images include .vhd files of XP and Vista machines that can be run inside Virtual PC to test applications in different Windows OSes with different versions of IE.

VICE – Again not technically an OS, but I’m not sure anyone is really looking to multiboot the Commodore 64 or VIC20 operating systems. The VICE emulator will also run C128, PLUS4, and PET programs.

GeeXboX – Another great use of an outdated machine is to turn it into a media server/HTPC and GeeXboX is an excellent operating system to power it. There’s even an ISO generator that runs on Mac and Windows that you can use to build a customized GeeXboX disc with different themes, languages, network settings, and more.

Untangle – Untangle is a free, open source gateway that is available as both a full-blown OS and a Windows application. The Windows “app” is a nice option if you don’t have the hardware to spare for a standalone gateway machine.

Ultimate Deployment Appliance – UDA is a slick VMWare appliance that allows you to easily serve ISO images via a PXE environment. I love it. No more griping about badly scratched Vista or XP install discs, I just boot via the LAN interface instead.

gParted – If you’re using a “questionably legal” solution like Hiren’s Boot CD to manage drive partitions, you should give gParted a try. The interface and functionality is very similar to Partition Magic, and gParted is totally free and open source.

Free Windows Explorer Replacements

A43 File Management Utility
Ac Browser Plus – file manager for Windows
CubicExplorer
Explorer++
ExplorerXP
FileMatrix
XPlorer

15 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed

Windows Explorer, the default file manager for Microsoft Windows, hasn’t really changed all that much over the years. Below you’ll find reviews, screenshots and links to download 10 11 12 14 15 different alternatives.

If I haven’t included your favorite file manager (for Windows..) in this list, by all means please leave a comment below or feel free to contact me. I’d be more than happy to include it.

Update: I’ve done another 10 Windows Explorer reviews.

Name	Cost	Trial?	Rating (x/5)
A43	free	n/a	***½
Ac Browser Plus	$21.00	yes	**
CubicExplorer	free	n/a	***
Directory Opus	AUD $85.00	yes (30 days)	****
ExplorerXP	free	n/a	***
Far Manager	$25.00	yes (40 days)	***½
FileMatrix	24.00	yes	***
freeCommander	free	n/a	***½
PowerDesk Pro/Standard	$39.95/free	n/a	**¾
Servant Salamander (2.5)	$30	yes (30 days)	****
SpeedCommander	37.95	yes (60 days)	***
Total Commander	$34	yes (30 days)	****
XPlorer	free	n/a	***½
xplorer²	19.95	yes (21 days)	***
XYplorer	29.95	yes (21 days)	****

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A43

Requirements: Windows 2000, Windows XP
Download: http://www.primitus.us/a43/
Features:

Integrated text editor with unlimited size. Dynamic highlighting for the web.

Integrated zip/unzip features. Simply drag-n-drop files or click a button. You can also turn your zip archives into self-extracting archives the same way.

Integrated file search to quickly locate and jump to those lost files.

Integrated quick launch area for fast access to the programs you use the most.

Favorite buttons to quickly open those often used folders.

Dual-pane view for those that demand speed in file management.

Requires no installation, no data is written to the system registry. A43’s configuration information is saved in a local .ini file.

Keep it on your pen/jump drive and take it where ever you go.

Thoughts:
A43 took up about 18mb of RAM after using it for 5 minutes. It dropped down to 3mb of RAM after 15 seconds of not using it. Its response time was very quick while renaming, moving and copying files. The drag-and-drop zip/unzip and rar/unrar feature is pretty neat – if I made zip files often I would find this very helpful. Also, you can fit A43 on a floppy and take it with you to use on any PC (doesn’t require an installation). The built-in text editor was easy to use, as was ‘quick launch’ section. The ‘file filter’ feature (use wildcards to sort files) is well located and works exactly as you’d expect. Between the features and the price, this is a file manager that I won’t delete right away.

Screenshots:

default view	easy unzipping
Tools list	bottom pane – quick launch
image preview

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Ac Browser Plus

Requirements: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Download: http://www.konradp.com/products/acbplus/
Features:

ACFAT – find a file in a second! This service can index a chosen drive, and so you can query this index in a second, more: drive indexing.

Quick viewers.

Editorial Renaming. Rename files with ease, just like in a text editor.

Zip as folders, packing, unpacking with ease

Adding comments to files and directories

Script templates. You can write scripts (visual basic scripts, batch scripts- .bat, or anything else), which can be executed in the context of currently selected files or folders (thanks to the script templates).

Multi Window Interface.

Smart Renaming.

The font color, and other font specifications can be defined by the user, separately for every files extension.

Hot Point – a small red rectangle on each file shows you the file properties, and quick view (images, text and multimedia).

File Finder

Thumbnails’ view

Ability to follow the links while searching files.

Quick Access Bar – Displaying most frequently used folders and allowing you to filter out items from current file browser window

Keyboard shortcuts known from Norton Commander and Windows Explorer.

Thoughts:
Lots of features, but the interface feels very “Windows 95″ at times. If it was free I would consider leaving it installed and maybe try it out for a while longer. Because some of the other file managers are as feature-rich (or more so) and have a more consistent (and at times much more attractive) interface, I can only give it two stars out of five.

Screenshots:

easy to view detailed info	helpful scripts
purchase to change background	thumbnail view
extra navigation	ac browser plus options

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CubicExplorer

Requirements: Windows 95 (untested), 98, ME, NT (untested), 2000, XP, Vista (works, not supported yet)
Download: http://www.cubicreality.com/ce/download
Homepage: http://www.cubicreality.com/

Features:

Tabbed browsing

Bookmarks

Text editor

File search

Thumbnails

Free disk space labels

Empty recycle bin button

Support for multiple languages

Thoughts:
Here’s why I gave CubicExplorer 3 stars instead of 2 or 2½ – it has potential, and it’s free. Since it’s not even at version 1.0 yet (0.77a as of 10/13/06), it can only get better (right?). Unfortunately, the 0.77a has been around since March of this year, and the forum indicates that work on .80a started a while ago (but it’s still not out). With all of that said, the Quick View feature is something that I would use, frequently. Showing actual html code when an .html file is selected, rather than a ‘preview’ of the web page, is ideal for me. The built in text editor is excellent for stashing snipits of text, html, web page addresses etc, and allowing that text to be a tab is fantastic. While this version has too few features for me, I will certainly give the next one a try.

Screenshots:

default view	CubicExplorer prefs
Text as a tab	Quick View files

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Directory Opus

Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME or NT4/2000/XP
Download: http://www.gpsoft.com.au/DScripts/Download.asp
Homepage: http://www.gpsoft.com.au/Index.html
Features:

Powerful File Manager & Explorer Replacement

User-definable File Display Views

User-definable Toolbars, Menus, File Types

Advanced built-in Image and File Viewers

Built-in ZIP and Advanced FTP

Visually Synchronize Files & Find Duplicates

Advanced Search and Rename Functions

More Configurable than any other program

Easy Slideshows…and much more..

Thoughts:
Directory Opus is a great File Manager. There are a lot of features and options, and nearly every aspect of this program is customizable. It really is an Explorer replacement, and it offers to do so during the installation – so when you open any folder, Directory Opus will launch. The built-in FTP client works exactly as you’d expect. The many different view options are easy to access and just “make sense”. While in use, Directory Opus took up 28MB of memory on my system. The instant that it’s minimized, its memory use dropped to 1MB. If I used Windows more often, I would gladly pay the $85.00 to purchase this software. In fact, the next time I have a day job that requires Windows use, I will.

Screenshots:

quick ftp connect	contextual (and excellent) auto-help
thumbnail view	extra (audio) file info
nag screen	id3 editing
huge “file” list	replace Windows Explorer

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ExplorerXP

Requirements: Windows 2000, Windows XP
Download: http://www.explorerxp.com/index.html#download (scroll to the bottom)
Homepage: http://www.explorerxp.com/
Features:

Tabbed interface

Easy access to My Computer, Recycle Bin , My Documents & Desktop

Drag & Drop with Explorer, the tab bar and special folders on the main toolbar.

Multy rename tool – allows to rename multiple files in one step.

Displays folder size information and the real size of compressed files & folders.

Folder Size Cache – greatly improves the speed of the folder size calculations between sessions.

Advanced copy/move.

Unicode support.

USB devices support.

Clean – recursively removes files that match given list of extentions or wildcards.

Groups – A group is a collection of folders, which users are able to access quickly or drag & drop files to them.

Configurable keyboard shortcuts.

Small download size – only 410 KB.

Thoughts:
Pretty straight forward Explorer-like File Manager. While it doesn’t have as many features as many of the other reviewed file managers, it is free (for non-commercial use) and makes a great “first” upgrade for beginners. Anyone who has used Windows Explorer for more than 5 minutes will feel right at home using ExplorerXP.

Screenshots

default view	two windows
ExplorerXP prefs	command list

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Far Manager

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP
Download: http://www.farmanager.com/download.php?l=en
Homepage: http://www.farmanager.com/index.php?l=en
Features:

Far Manager is a program for managing files and archives in Windows operating systems. Far Manager works in text mode and provides a simple and intuitive interface for performing most of the necessary actions: viewing files and directories, editing, copying and renaming files and many other operations.

Customize it – Far Manager has a multi-language, easily configurable interface. File system navigation is made easier through the use of color highlighting and file sort groups.

Your task – your way. The functionality of Far Manager is greatly extended by external DLL modules – plugins (made possible by a special set of interfaces – the Plugins API). For example, archive support, the FTP client, the temporary panel and the network browser are all implemented as plugins included in the standard distribution of Far.

Thoughts:
Far Manager is a pretty old-school File Manager. Mouse support is provided, but this is a File Manager for keyboard commandos. Very cool plugins add great extra features (FTP, email, Winamp control etc). I’m not sure that I’ll pay for this File Manager, but I will be using it until the 40 days is up before I decide.

Screenshots:

Far Manager default view	execute a command in Far
select multiple files	built in text viewer
search in Far

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FileMatrix

Requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT4 SP6, 2000, XP or Vista
Homepage: http://www.gardenerofthoughts.org/ideas/filematrix/index.htm
Features:

Basic. Extensive integrated help (configuration and help wizard, hints), between 1 and 10 columns for navigation in directories, 30 sets of columns called boards for organizing sets of directories, directory tree navigator, thumbnail pictures, drag-and-drop between columns and boards and to / from other applications, skins, special graphical effects.

Advanced. 20 containers (which are lists of files that can store, for example, the results of a search), picture converter (including the ability to normalize pictures to a specified size), media player (with the possibility to resume playing later), mouse gestures with a user interface called mouse menu, file hover information (which includes a thumbnail and a played media clip), text search with ranking (like an online search engine), steganography integrated with the viewer / editor (noise management included).

Thoughts:
FileMatrix is quite unique among all of the other File Managers reviewed in this article. The interface is much different than the typical explorer-style manager. The use of “boards” and “containers” makes viewing and grouping files a snap. If you’re tired of the same-old-file-manager, give this one a try. And be sure to make use of the included Wizards and help files – they will really come in handy.

Screenshots:

thumbnail view	right-click options
tools options	image converter
config and help wizard (very helpful!)	nag screen

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freeCommander

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT (from version 4.0), 2000, XP, Vista (?)
Download: http://www.freecommander.com/fc_downl_en.htm
Homepage: http://www.freecommander.com/

Features:

Dual-panel technology – horizontal and vertical

Optional tree view for each panel

Built in file viewer to view files in hex, binary, text or image format

File viewer inside archives too

Built in archive handling: ZIP (read, write), CAB (read, write), RAR (read)

Nested archive handling

Easy access to system folders, control panel, desktop and start menu

Copy, move, delete, rename files and folders

Wipe files

Create and verify MD5 checksums

File splitting

File properties and context menu

Calculation of folder size

Folder comparison / synchronization

Modification of file date and attributes

Folder / program favorites

File searching (inside archive too)

File filters for display

User defined columns for detailed view

Support for Tortoise icons

DOS command line

Multiple language support

Thoughts:
‘Easy access to system folders’ is one of the features that first jumped out at me. My immediate thought was “why isn’t that in all file managers?” I may have overlooked it in some of the others, so I certainly won’t say that this is the only one that has this feature. “Size of folders” (not enabled by default) does slow things down – as freeCommander calculates and displays the folder size. With that said, it’s very handy to try and figure out where your hard drive space has gone, and easy to get to when you need it. The image preview was a bit slow for me compared to most of the others. The screenshot feature allows you to chose between image types (bmp and jpg) and even adjust the quality. I think the biggest drawback to freeCommander is the lack of built in FTP support, and I suppose it’s not that big of a deal. This program, though free, is donation-worthy.

Screenshots:

quick access to System Folders	freeCommander prefs
Extras menu	Quick access to Programs
default freeCommander view

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PowerDesk Pro/Standard

Requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, or 2003
Download: http://www.shop.avanquest.com/usa/trial_form.php?pid=686
Homepage: http://www.v-com.com/product/PowerDesk_Pro_Home.html
Features:

Dual pane operation

Layout Manager

Add Notes to Your Files!

Customize Your File Folders with Color

File Info column

MP3 Collection Management

Thoughts:
OK here’s my beef.. It’s not a bad File Manager at all. It’s very customizable, has all of the features you’d expect, but the ones you really want to try (add notes to files, ftp, sync folders) are only available in the Pro version (which there’s no trial for). The Standard version is free, but has a ‘nag’ bar that takes up too much screen real-estate. I would much rather a 10 day fully-functional demo version before I decide to lay down $40. Also, they added me to a mailing list when I specifically said I did not want to join (you must provide an email address to download the demo).

Screenshots:

horizontal view	file filter
PowerDesk Standard options	Tools list
customize the toolbar

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Servant Salamander (2.5)

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, or XP
Download: http://www.altap.cz/download.html
Homepage: http://www.altap.cz/

Features:

This is a list of the main features for version 2.5 RC1. All details/features for v2.5 can be found here, and v2.0 here.

Better Wildcard Selecting Files And Directories Against Windows Explorer

Calculate Occupied Space: Disk Space Usage Analyser

Change file or directory date, time, attributes: read-only system hidden

Change Case of Files and Directories Names: lower, upper

Batch File Converter: convert coding CP1250, CP852, IBM EBCDIC, ASCII

Copy File and Directory Names (Filenames) to Windows Clipboard

Directory Size, Folder Size: total size of directory, disk usage information

Drive Information: Disk Label, Size, Space, and File System Analyser

Filter Files (Filenames) by Names Using Wildcards, Hide File Names

Find Files and Directories, Find Duplicate Files, Find Hidden File

Make Directory File List, List Files and Directories, Save to Text File

Quick Search: Focus File or Directory (Folder) Name

Shared Directories: View List, Explore Shares, Stop Sharing

Skip and Overwrite files confirmations during Copy and Move operations

Thumbnail Images, display photo thumbnails for our image gallery

Keyboard Shortcuts for Servant Salamander

Copy newer files: overwrite older and skip other existing files

Move or copy files in queue, queuing file operations

Copy, Move, Rename, Delete Files and Directories in Windows

Email Files as Attachments in Windows, Pack Large Files

Pack files and directories, Open, Browse, and Unpack archives

Compare Directories, Files by Size, Date, Time, Attributes, and Content

Shortcut Target: opens directory containing the target of a shortcut

NTFS Compress and Uncompress, NTFS Encrypt and Decrypt

Regular Expression: Find Files, Grep Files, Rename Files, Viewer

Thoughts:
At the suggestion of a number of commenters, I downloaded and installed Servant Salamander 2.5 RC1. It’s another Norton Commander-style inspired file manager, and a pretty great one at that. It has every feature you’d expect, and then some. The plug-ins allow for features that go above and beyond a file manager (screenshots, encrypt and decrypt, sftp/scp etc). The ability to set a ’skill level’ is a great idea. Executing commands is not only easy, but the command window doesn’t automatically close once the command has been executed! As it stands right now, I can’t pick a “winner” between Servant Salamander and Total Commander. I’m quite sure that it just comes down to personal preference. If Norton Commander-style file managers are your thing, I would strongly suggest you try both Total Commander and Servant Salamander, and decide for yourself which is best. If you’re on a limited budget, go for freeCommander. When the demo versions expire, I plan on buying either Total or Servant – I’ll update this after I decide.

Screenshots:

default view	Servant Salamander plug-ins
Servant Salamander prefs	set a user level
map network drives	execute commands

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SpeedCommander

Requirements: Windows 95/98/98SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Windows XP/2003 x64 Edition
Download: http://www.speedproject.de/enu/download.html
Homepage: http://www.speedproject.de/enu/speedcommander/index.html
Features:

Proven Two Window Technology

Extensive Archive Support

Add-In Interface

Macros

Enhanced FTP Functions

Native 64-bit Version for Windows XP/2003 x64 Edition

Thoughts:
Lots of features (built in browser is cool) and very snappy response times. Macros are simple to use. Worth checking out, but the price is a bit steep. If I had an x64 version of Windows I would be anxious to try out this app.

Screenshots

default view	View options
File options	Run a command
Preview files	Launch apps

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Total Commander

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. 16bit version available for Win 3.1. Another for Windows CE and the Pocket PC.
Download: http://www.ghisler.com/download.htm
Homepage: http://www.ghisler.com/
Features:

Direct access to Network Neighbourhood

Supports Drag & Drop with Explorer/the Desktop etc.

Command line for starting of programs with parameters, simply by typing the program name or by pressing ctrl+enter or ctrl+shift+enter.

Configurable button bar and Start menu (User-defined commands) to place your frequently used DOS or Windows programs into a drop-down menu. The actual directory and/or the file under the cursor can be delivered to the application.

Configurable main menu.

Built in file viewer (Lister) to view files of any size in hex, binary or text format, using either the ASCII- (DOS) or the ANSI- (Windows) character set. The line width and font size can now be changed. You can even view files inside archives! New: Support for Unicode UTF-8 format.

Bitmap viewer in Lister, additional formats through Irfanview (see addons).

HTML- and Unicode-Viewer in Lister.

Parallel port transfer function (direct cable connection), works between Win95/98/NT/2000/3.1 and DOS!

Thumnbails view shows preview images in file lists.

Custom columns view allow to show additional file details.

Total Commander comes in the following languages: English, German, French, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, and now also Hebrew, Greek, Afrikaans, Catalan, Turkish and Ukrainian

Built-in FTP client supports most public FTP servers

Archives are handled like subdirectories. You can easily copy files to and from archives.

Extended copying, moving, renaming and deleting of entire trees (Enables deleting “full” directories).

Thoughts:
Having only used it for about 30 minutes total (so far), take these comments with a grain of salt. Total Commander appears to be the fastest file manager in terms of response times. I asked it to calculate the size of 14 folders (that contained a couple hundred files) and it immediatley gave me the answer. The hard drive didn’t clunk away trying to count files, it just happened. As the screenshots below demonstrate, Total Commander looks very old school (though there are many options to customize the look and feel). As the name implies, it’s styled after Norton Commander, and as you’d expect it can be completely controlled via the keyboard. At $34 USD I’m curious to compare it to Free Commander (see comments at the bottom). I reserve the right to bump this up to 4 stars after I look at Free Commander

Screenshots:

Total Commander prefs	default view
FTP view	customize the button bar
calculate file/folder sizes

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XPlorer

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003 or Vista
Download: http://guti.webcindario.com/static.php?page=XPlorer (scroll to download section)
Features:

True multitabbed interface with independent combo, tree and list for each tab.

Blazing fast program execution.

Small footprint, can be run from floppy disks, USB devices, hard disks, …

Quick startup time.

High productive interface, almost every command is accessible optionally by keyboard.

Internal file viewer.

Internal file editor.

File toucher.

Command prompt here feature.

Split files in fragments.

Join fragment files.

Clean unneeded files.

Select files by wildcard selection.

Show files by filter.

Thoughts:
Arguably the most Windows Explorer-like of all the reviewed File Managers, XPlorer is certainly better than the default Windows Explorer. Here’s my only real complaint – when you delete a file, it remains ‘visible’ in the list of files until you refresh the screen. And you can only refresh by hitting F5 on your keyboard (no right-click, no Edit > Refresh etc). That one annoying ‘feature’ is enough for me not to use it (I replicated this problem on 3 different Windows XP machines). If that kind of thing doesn’t bother you, by all means check this one out because it’s not bad otherwise.

Screenshots:

default view	right-click options
Xplorer options	File list

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xplorer²

Requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003
Download: http://zabkat.com/x2down.htm
Homepage: http://zabkat.com
Features:

Shell namespace explorer

Tabbed dual-pane interface

Instant preview of files

Browsing flexibility

View & edit text files

Extended file information

Search for files everywhere, using arbitrary criteria

Find text within office, Adobe PDF and other documents

Manage files from many folders simultaneously

Compare and synchronize folders

Discover and cleanup duplicate files

Execute DOS commands and scripts

Customizable user interface

Help and assistance where you need it

Individual folder settings

Visual filters and selection engine

Advanced file management

Robust file transfers

Throughts:
The ability to search for files everywhere, with Omni-Finder, is actually very cool/powerful. The built-in Help is very useful, as it explains all of the features (and how to use them) clearly, with illustrations. At first glance xplorer² appears fairly average, digging deeper shows it to be a powerful File Manager.

Screenshots:

default view	preview window
Tools list	System navigation
Commands via a container

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XYplorer

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP or Vista
Download: http://www.xyplorer.com/download.htm
Homepage: http://www.xyplorer.com/index.htm/

Features:

Tabbed Browsing

Searches in Tabs

The Address Bar accepts not just folders, but also files, URLs, and search terms

The Tree and List offer a suite of (partly revolutionary) highlighting options to increase visual grip.

Catalog: Your favorite locations reside deep down in some heavily nested structures? Lift them to the surface!

Panel: The hideable tabbed panel at the bottom provides quick access to information (file properties and previews) and action (Find Files, Reports).

Find Files: XYplorer is a file manager featuring a high-end search engine

Save your current search settings to a template for later re-use. Very handy with complex search patterns or distributed search locations.

New in 5.20 Breadcrumb: Ctrl+Backspace will pop up the coolest breadcrumb you can get. It takes no screen space, is 100% keyboard-driven, and takes you up and down relative to your current location.

New in 5.20 Drop-Text-To-File: You can drag & drop a selectable text or data chunk from any other application onto a folder in XYplorer, where it will be automatically converted into a *.txt-file or an *.rtf file, depending on the content.

My Network Places, Server Management: Network servers are internally stored and remembered between sessions!

Instant Preview of image (incl. PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, ICO and many more, using high-quality resampling for shrinking/zooming), audio, and video files (displaying detailed media information).

Thumbnails of image files can be shown right in the details view, introducing the unique “Mouse Down Blow Up” functionality.

Instant Preview of installed and uninstalled TrueType and Type-1 font files (displaying detailed font information).

Instant Preview of Office files, and of HTML, MHT, PHP files (including configurable server mappings) with printing option.

larger list of features here

Thoughts:
Wow. It only took a couple of minutes of looking around to see some features that I’d never seen before (drop text to file, ctrl+backspace breadcrumb) – and some that I’ve seen before but never this detailed (see the “Rename Special” screenshot below). If you click and hold the left mouse button on an image (in the Preview area) it enlarges until you release the mouse button. Very cool. XYplorer appears to have a slighly larger memory-footprint than Directory Opus (the only other Explorer-style file manager that I gave 4 stars), but it is less expensive.

Screenshots:

default view	Rename special
hover info	Tools menu
XYplorer prefs	customize the Toolbar

If you’re looking for even more, I’ve done another 10 Windows Explorer reviews/overviews.

UltraExplorer Manages Your Files On the Go

Windows only: Windows Explorer alternative UltraExplorer offers dual pane and tabbed browsing, plus a handy “Drop Stack” staging area where you can drag files to temporarily park them, for easy batch operations. Command line lovers will like the Command Line box at the bottom of the UltraExplorer window; you can even set the command prompt to stay synced to whatever folder you are browsing. You can make UltraExplorer portable after its initial installation, too–copy the files from the /APPS/ directory in the installation folder to your USB drive to do so. For other file management options check out our Five Best Alternative File Managers. UltraExplorer is a free download for Windows only.

UltraExplorer [via The Portable Freeware Collection]

Explorer++ Improves On Windows Explorer

Windows only: Alpha file manager Explorer++ is a promising free alternative to Windows Explorer that offers features it sorely lacks, like tabbed browsing, secure file deletion, file merging and splitting, instant command line access, and keyboard shortcuts. Explorer++ is still in alpha and may not be ready for full-time use the way Xplorer 2 is, but it’s still a simple, functional, and free app worth keeping an eye on. If you’re sick of Windows Explorer’s paucity of features, shareware TotalCommander is our readers’ pick for best alternative file manager; you can also power up Windows Explorer itself with free add-ons. Explorer++ is a free download for Windows only.

Explorer++ [via gHacks]

Replace Windows Explorer with Xplorer2

Let’s face it: for advanced file manipulation, Windows File Explorer stinks. But like Firefox is a must-have replacement for Internet Explorer, a file manager called Xplorer2 blows Windows Explorer out of the water for anyone who browses multiple folders, copies, pastes, moves and searches the PC filesystem frequently.

Using Xplorer2’s tabbed, dual pane interface, keyboard shortcuts and killer advanced features, you’re in total control of your PC’s files. Let’s take a look.

Download and install Xplorer2

The “lite” version of Xplorer2 has a few features disabled, but it’s far from limited; it’s free for personal or academic use. A license for the pro version costs a reasonable $30, and there’s a full 30-day trial to check out pro features. For the purposes of this article, we’ll stick to the free Xplorer Lite (where locked “pro” features are denoted by a “[P]” in the menus.)

Download Xplorer2 Lite from here and launch it. The self-contained program is even thumb drive-friendly.

Triple threat interface

First thing you’ll notice off the bat is that Xplorer2 displays file listings from two folders at once in one window. This makes a lot of sense, since a lot of the time you’re copy or moving files between folders. Also, in the far left pane, there’s an easy-to-navigate directory tree of your computer, as shown (click to enlarge).

To quickly switch between the two open folder panes, hit the Tab key. The active pane will have a white background, the inactive will be in beige. To turn on or off the directory tree pane, from the View menu, check or uncheck “Show Tree.”

Tabbed Exploring

If the dual pane view wasn’t enough, you can also open up sets of folders you work with frequently in tabs. From the File menu, choose “New Tab” or simply hit Ctrl+Ins to open a new tab. Move between tabs with your keyboard with Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right arrow.

You can even rename a tab for easy visual reference. Just right-click on it and choose rename.

Bookmark folders and files

Much like Firefox, in Xplorer2 you can bookmark folders and assign keywords to open them quickly. To add a folder you frequent to your bookmarks, from the Bookmarks menu choose “Add Current.” To organize your bookmarks, hit the “Organize” Bookmarks menu item, which will bring up something like this:

To bookmark a file, add its name to the end of the bookmark path. Then, when the bookmark is chosen, the folder will open with that particular file selected. (For instance, when I hit my “todo” bookmark, todo.txt is selected and I can hit Enter to open it.)

FTP folders

The eagle-eyed will notice an FTP server in my bookmarks, pictured above. You can open folders on a remote server via FTP in Xplorer2, which makes copying files back and forth from your web or home server inside the tabbed interface a snap.

Security alert: Xplorer2 only supports plain FTP (not encrypted), and you’re required to put your password in the bookmark itself. The format is ftp://you:password@yourserver.com. This isn’t the most secure way to FTP, so proceed with caution.

Filter your files

Xplorer2 makes it dead easy to work with sets of files. You can use a filter to select all the files that start with G or end in .png. Simply type your filter into Xplorer2’s address bar (like “*.txt”) or from the Mark menu, choose “Select Group.” From there you can copy, move or otherwise manipulate the set of files.

Keyboard shortcuts

Xplorer2 has a very extensive set of mature keyboard shortcuts. First, it’s got incremental search and select for a directory listing. Just type the first few letters of a file or folder name and Xplorer2 will instantly move down and select it in the list. Hold down the shift key to do incremental search by file extension (like Shift+tx will take you to the first .txt file in the list.)

To copy files between open folders, use F5. To navigate to a particular drive letter, use Ctrl+Shift+Letter (like Ctrl+Shift+C) to go the drive’s root.

Lifehacker reader Ludwig summarized his favorite Xplorer2 keyboard shortcuts in a grid that makes a nice cheat sheet.

Split and merge files

If you’ve got a multi-gigabyte file – like a video or disk image – you want to transport on a series of smaller capacity CD-R’s or thumb drives, Xplorer2 can split the file into small parts and reassemble them later. To do so, from the Actions menu choose “Split” and select the file part sizes. To put the file back together, select all the parts (make sure they’re sorted by name so they’re in the right join order!) and from the Actions menu, choose Join.

RTFM

We’ve barely scratched the surface of what Xplorer2 can do here, so if you’re looking for ways to streamline common file manipulation actions you have to do on a regular basis, be sure to give the Xplorer2 manual a look-see, which is available as a separate download.

Alternatives to Xplorer2

Finally, Xplorer2 might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Lifehacker readers have also recommended UltraExplorer, TotalCommander and CubicExplorer for replacing Windows Explorer.

What are your biggest Explorer gripes, or Xplorer2 tricks? Tell the world in the comments. —Gina Trapani