Filed under: Software
ForkLift: Two Pane File Manager
I suspect this will be of most interest to recent switchers and/or old timers with fond memories of Norton Commander. Binarynight's ForkLift is a new "dual paned file manager the Mac way." As you can see from my screenshot above it is more or less exactly what you'd expect from a two-paned file manager, with support for Mac technologies like Spotlight, Smart Folders, etc. Personally, I think I'll stick with Path Finder, but if this is the kind of thing to float your boat, it is available for download as a time limited beta.
Thanks, Jordan!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave Barnes said 11:40AM on 3-26-2007
I love Path Finder, but it does not have a 2-pane view as ForkLift does. Rage Macintosh Explorer is a similar 2-pane product.
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abuelrey said 12:08PM on 3-26-2007
This application is emensly promessing. It is by no means ready for the big time yet, but keep in mind that it is an early beta. I have high hopes based on what I've seen so far.
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Jacques Lema said 3:32PM on 3-26-2007
Looks great. I filed a but to support Total Commander keys only to find out the keys are already configurable.
The archive browsing is excellent too. Very promising.
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Andrew White said 10:19PM on 3-26-2007
Two-pane file managers are called "orthodox file managers", and probably one of the smartest things you can pick up for your PC. In general, they use the same keys regardless of interface or platform. So if you learned Norton Commander twenty years ago, you basically know how to use Midnight Commander today. They're fast and easy to use with the mouse, but their real power comes from the abundance of keyboard shortcuts and filters they have.
If forklift interests you, I'd suggest checking out XFolders and the Macports version of mc, and see if they scratch your itch.
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Daniel said 3:48PM on 3-26-2007
or, you could just use muCommander, which is cross-platform and $0 - also free of this date limiting BS.
http://www.mucommander.com/
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frogbat said 4:06PM on 3-26-2007
looks like there's a glut of these apps at the mo
i have yet to find the perfect file manager on the mac. Pathfinder is too top heavy with features and slow on my 1st gen g5. Mac explorer doesn't offer much besides the xp style file tree.
there's "disk order" which is pretty good and also "xfolders" which is free. My favourite is transmit as it supports both new windows and new tabs (tabs being something forklift doesn't appear to have. Transmit allows for simple file management tasks and a quick open in finder if necessary.
2 feature requests for all the above - support for the system-wide sidebar shortcuts. Why is it these apps don't or can't carry on using the aliases dragged in the finder's sidebar? The other feature i'd like is the ability to to be able to filter my files in as many ways as poss. Column mode with as many columns as there is meta data! If xp's explorer can do it... Today for example i just wanted to compare 100s of gfx files sorted according to their pixel width. I had to stay searchin using the finder and specifying a minimum size.
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Jazzy said 11:25PM on 3-26-2007
I'm using two pane browsing on PC for more than 10 years. Xfolders, ForkLift, Path Finder is still not that flexible as Total Commander for PC. There is still many futures that is missing. Path Finder is getting closer with a lot of futures that is really makes it stand but the only thing is missing is two panes ;-)
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Jazzy said 11:25PM on 3-26-2007
I'm using two pane browsing on PC for more than 10 years. Xfolders, ForkLift, Path Finder is still not that flexible as Total Commander for PC. There is still many futures that is missing. Path Finder is getting closer with a lot of futures that is really makes it stand but the only thing is missing is two panes ;-)
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Patrick said 1:06AM on 3-27-2007
Total Commander is my killer Windows App. I live and breathe and eat in that program at home and at work. To me, it IS file management and the one thing I miss most on my Mac. It's good to know there are some options. I will have to try them out. :)
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artifex said 2:15AM on 3-27-2007
When you copy between a local HFS+ and a remote NTFS drive, can you set it to do on the fly filename translation so you can actually use the file on a Windows box?
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