7 things your file manager should be able to do that File Explorer and Finder can’t

In the past few months, I’ve tried a lot of file managers on both Windows and macOS, and it’s made me realize how ineffective and insufficient the solutions provided by Microsoft and Apple can be. There are some great options out there for file management, and a lot of features missing from both of these tools.

Whether you’re a Windows user or a macOS user, here are some features you’re missing out on that really should just be available to everyone.

7

A recent folders list

It’s more useful than you might think

Something I’ve come to appreciate more and more recently has been the ability to quickly jump back into a folder I used recently. File Explorer in Windows automatically highlights frequently accessed folders on the side bar, but these take some time to update since they’re based on how many times you’ve accessed said folder.

Some apps, like ForkLift on macOS or File Pilot on Windows, have a list of recent folders that updates in real time, and it makes it easy to move back and forth between folders you’ve looked at recently. It really helps move files around and make sure you’ve organized everything the way you want to, so I really welcome this capability.

Related

Hands-on: File Pilot may be the best File Explorer alternative yet

The new kid on the block has got some serious chops

6

Quick file previews

And they should work with everything

While we are focusing on features that File Explorer and Finder don’t have, it’s worth mentioning some capabilities that Apple does offer, but Microsoft doesn’t. File Explorer does have a Preview pane, but it only works with a few file types, and for many of them, it’s almost useless because it’s so small.

File Explorer needs to take some cues from Finder here with its preview feature. Simply press the space bar and you can preview almost any file type as if you had just opened it, making it easy to see what file you’re looking at before committing to opening the full app needed to edit it.

Otherwise, even just more widely-compatible previews built into File Explorer would be a welcome addition. There are some PowerToys tools that add support for more file previews, so why not just build those into Windows? And I’m sure many more file types could also be supported by Finder.

5

A duplicate finder

Save space easily

With limited space on our hard drives, the ability to find and delete duplicate files is pretty important, but it’s something that isn’t made very easy by either File Explorer or Finder. It would be nice to have an easy way to find duplicate files on your system or within specific folders so you can delete the unnecessary copies and free up some space.

I’ve seen a few File Explorer alternatives on Windows offer this feature, so I see no reason why it shouldn’t be built in. If nothing else, at least build a duplicate finder into the cleanup tools in each operating system. This shouldn’t require a third-party tool.

Related

6 reasons you should be using Directory Opus to manage your files on Windows

Supercharge your file management

4

Bulk file renaming

Another one macOS has figured out

Renaming multiple files on Windows almost feels like an error. While File Explorer does let you select multiple files and rename them all at once, only one of the selected files shows the name changing in real time, and it’s not clear that all the other files will be renamed at the end.

Once again, macOS has figured this out much better. When you try to rename multiple files in Finder, a small dialog appears, making it obvious that you’re renaming all the files. Plus, you can select how files are renamed to keep them identified properly. You can add a simple number at the end or embed the file’s creation date into the name for easier identification.

There’s room to go even further in Finder, too, but most importantly, Windows needs to offer anything that’s at least close to this functionality.

Make it your own

A big problem with both File Explorer and Finder is that the options you need the most are often not easily accessible from the toolbar or they may take too many clicks. Many file managers I’ve tried in recent months offer customization options that make it easier to use the tools you need and want. You can change the menu options that appear so that the interface has all the options you need where you need them.

Customization goes a long way in improving the efficiency of your workflow, so having these options would be a great start. Not only would customizable toolbars be great, but it would also be nice to be able to customize keyboard shortcuts for certain functions, especially if you’re someone who works on both platforms and would like these shortcuts to be more consistent across platforms.

Some file managers, like Path Finder on macOS, even let you add more features as individual panels in the UI, which is insanely cool. There’s so much potential with customization.

Related

7 reasons Path Finder is the best Finder replacement on macOS

The ultimate file manager you have been waiting for

2

A quick jump bar

Go anywhere instantly

One feature that I really wish file managers had built-in is the ability to quickly jump to a folder by just searching for it in a search bar. Sure, File Explorer has a search function, but I’m talking about a quick search, something like what File Pilot does on Windows. With that app, when I press Ctrl + P, a search bar immediately appears and I can type in any folder on my PC to find it and open it instantly. It’s super snappy.

Without tools like these, I’m usually stuck using Flow Launcher or Raycast to browse my files using the keyboard, which is generally still faster than manually opening folders with the mouse. But File Pilot’s implementation is probably the ebst I’ve seen, and I’d love to have it built right in.

Related

10 best Flow Launcher plug-ins to get things done faster

Speed up your workflow using your keyboard

1

Dual-pane view

You can work a lot faster

If you’re often moving files from one folder to another, you know how annoying it can be to juggle multiple windows, or even tabs to get to the folders you want and move things around. Tabs definitely do help, but having a proper dual-pane view where you can view two folders side-by-side makes things so much easier. Dragging and dropping files becomes completely trivial, and you can easily compare the contents of each folder.

Almost every file manager I’ve tried offers a dual-pane view option, but some tools like File Pilot let you split the window indefinitely so you can view even more folders at once, making it that much easier to manage all your files and folders in one single view.

A dual-pane view is the minimum I can ask for, and it would already go a very long way. Considering how common it is to see this feature in just about every file manager I’ve tried, I’m surprised we haven’t seen any efforts to make this a built-in feature on either Windows or macOS. Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later.

File managers can be so much more

Whether you’re on Windows or macOS, you can definitely do a lot better than the tools that are built into the operating systems. These are just the feature highlights that stand out the most to me, but there’s a lot more that many of these alternative file managers do that one could ask for. I highly recommend checking out some of the alternative apps I’ve tested in recent months so you can get the best possible experience.