probably a long shot but are there any lightweight alternatives to windows file explorer for 2024?
i’m stuck on windows for now until the time comes to grab a new laptop. so sick of the default one in windows 11 though.
Surprisingly enough KDE’s Dolphin
Nightly Installers on the bottom:
You’ll want the bottom x86_64.exe👍
That looks very interesting, gonna try it out in a VM later.
hope it works and is useful to you!🤗
Probably won’t be that useful for me, since I use Linux most of the time, but I’m thinking about new Linux users. If they could already start using all the KDE applications on Windows, the learning curve after switching to Linux would be much lower. I’ve also seen other KDE apps for Windows and macOS before, but had no idea this would also work with Dolphin.
totally fair
I’ve also seen other KDE apps for Windows and macOS before, but had no idea this would also work with Dolphin.
IKR?
I just searched Dolphin as a potential recommendation as I knew that Okular works on Windows but I def wasn’t expecting it to actually be possible (until yesterday) lolI think I’ve even seen Filelight on the Microsoft Store once
Had a great experience with Dolphin on the Steamdeck. It supports tabs which is a great positive over the Windows File Explorer imo. (I know the Windows 11 File Explorer also has tabs but I’d rather not touch Windows 11 with a ten foot pole.)
There’s a few of them, the open source options include Double Commander, Files, Explorer++, Spacedrive (links files from multiple devices into one explorer), and Sigma File Manager. QTTabBar is an extension for the windows file manager which provides tabbed browsing as well. Here’s a list covering these and many others with links to official websites for each one: https://alternativeto.net/software/windows-explorer/?p=2
Ah, right, Files! I keep forgetting that it’s Open Source as well. (And it is pretty nice. Not really lightweight though, despite its clean looks.)
(replying to everyone instead of each post)
thanks all - i was looking at some awesome windows lists on github but most were for file transfer clients not file explorers so i figured i’d ask. will check all of these out today.
As we’re in the Open Source community here, the massive list of possible answers is suddenly rather short, I’m afraid. Explorer++ might be your best bet.
Double Commander is also worth mentioning
I’ve been using Double Commander for a long time. I can recommend.
I’ve looked for alternatives occasionally, because I’d prefer some things differently, preferably something I’d be able to source inspect or work on as well, but haven’t found anything better.
A friend of mine uses Tablacus Explorer (with a Webview2 extension)
- https://www.altap.cz/
- Files
- Double Commander
- Dolphin
- mucommander
In no particular order.
There’s Files, which looks much more modern and uses UWP
I’ve liked the idea of it, but IIRC it launched with noticeable delay. Even if it’s only one or two seconds, I want to access my files fast.
When did you try it out? It got many updates, maybe try it again?
This is the only program that I wasn’t able to find a good open source alternative. Stuck with using XYplorer.
Open source alternatives are either stuck in 1990 or lack basic features.
I will be off topic as what I am going to suggest is not open source… But I myself looked for a long time what was the best free windows file manager and I settled up on FreeCommander.
By default UI is not nice but it’s possible to make it nice enough.I use this one mainly because : you can use it for free, dual pan, it remembers tab history between sessions, tabs can be renamed and colored. Hope someone will suggest a good open source one but I don’t think there is any :-/
Double Commander is free and open source. I’ve been using it for a long time. I’m not sure which one I used before, but could very well have been FreeCommander.
Everything by voidtools is incredible and makes Windows slightly more bearable. It’s a shame Linux doesn’t have anything as good as it.
It’s free, but not open source though.
FMan is pretty nice, not sure if it’s still maintained though
Are there any that integrate FTP support, such as Nautilus does on Linux?
KDE’s Dolphin runs on Windows and has that integrated. I don’t know for sure, though, that FTP support works on Windows…
Looks like trolCommander, muCommander, and WinSCP all have FTP support on Windows.
If you’re fine with or want a two-pane Commander, Double Commander supports FTP.
I feel like a lot of alternative file explorers do!? Pretty sure I’ve seen it relatively often/regularly.
I’ll be looking for an open-source option first today, but if not, I can wholeheartedly recommend the xplorer2 from Zakbat. I’ve been using it for more than 10 years and it’s fantastic for me. As far as I know, this is the work of a single guy. It is not cheap, but it has worked extremely well and has been reliable for me for so many years that I can’t recommend it enough. It has a free trial to test it.
I’m sure there is something better, but currently I use Q-Dir for my work projects.
