Filebrowser bliss

I work on a computer all day. My core-business is 3d. So a lot of my time is spent on programs like 3dsMax or photoshop. But since I’m also a projectmanager I have to look at a lot of other people’s files, and of course my own. As a part of my everyday work I’ve got to look up and move a lot of files. I also work on multiple project at the same time, so I need to keep track of multiple locations for these files.

Although my core-business is 3d, I seem to spend most time working with the default file-explorer on Windows. Since I’ve realized this, I started to look for an alternative way to work with my files. And I’ve found it in Freecommander. It’s a somewhat out-dated looking program, but it’s packed with a slew of functions I can use in my everyday file-browsing work. Admitted, it’s not a program for the casual user. And for users of modern devices, like tablets, where the filesystem is hidden this program may look a bit daunting.  The interface is not very intuitive but if you use it everyday it gets very easy to move around. Especially since you can use a lot of keyboard shortcuts.
Besides that, it’s free! You can get it on the freecommander site.

This program has many reviews, so I won’t write one here. For a review check for instance this one out. I just want to show the functions I use most to increase my productivity. These are:

• Tabbed interface: have multiple folder-locations available without opening another instance of the filebrowser
• double pane: view two locations at the same time and exchange files between them
• switch filetree on and off: use a filetree or not
• locked tabs: lock some of your tabs, for instance the projects you work on at the moment
• Show size of directories: view sizes of directories without having to rightclick them all
• Quick filter contents of current folder: type in a few characters as a filter to only show files with those characers
• Flat view files: show all files in the current folder AND it’s subfolders in a flat list
• Copy filepaths: easily copy the filepaths of a single or multiple selected files and paste them anywhere, for instance in an e-mail
• Multi rename: the usual suspect, but very handy
• Search files and folders: also a need-to-have but it just works
• Quick access system folders and desktop: no more searching for folders like “local” or “my documents”
• Browse history for every single tab: every tab keeps a history of visited locations

There are many more features of course, but these are the most important ones I enjoy everyday. Below is a list of screenshots corresponding to the features I’ve described.