Main Interface Components and Core Features
The screenshot looks crowded? Note that virtually all elements can be hidden.
XYplorer with Tabs, Mini Tree, Tree Section Colors, Tree Path Tracing, Breadcrumb Bar, Color Labels, Size Graphics, Hover Box, Tags, and Comments. Floating Preview to the right, with Photo Data.
Tabsets: You can save and load any number of tabsets.
Dual Pane: Have the contents of two folders side by side (horizontally or vertically), and move or copy your files comfortably and safely from pane to pane. Both panes are optionally multi-tabbed and can be arranged vertically or horizontally.
Additionally, there’s the revolutionary 6 Key Navigation, 4 Key Navigation, and Mouse Click Navigation.
Catalog: Your favorite locations reside deep down in some heavily nested structures? Lift them to the surface! Your current project forces you to repeatedly ride from one end of your hard disk (or LAN) to the other? Join those ends within the flat hierarchy of a Catalog Category, and reduce their mutual distance to 18 pixels! Which means you got an easy one-click access to your most commonly used folders while maintaining a synchronized tree view! By the way, you can also drop stuff onto the Catalog’s items: file management cannot get any cooler!
Breadcrumb Bars: You can have a Breadcrumb Bar in each pane. It shows the full path of the current tab and lets you efficiently navigate the whole file system.
If you need a fast and friendly image browser, sound browser, or video browser, it’s here: Instant, one-click preview of image (incl. PNG, JPEG, GIF (incl. Animated GIFs), TIFF, TGA, ICO, and photo formats like CR2, CRW, DCR, DNG, ERF, FFF, MEF, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW, RW2, RWL, SR2, SRF, SRW, X3F, etc depending on your installed codecs, using high-quality resampling for scaling), audio (incl. WAV, MP3, OGG, APE, etc.), and video (MPG, AVI, MOV, QT, VOB, TS, WMV, etc. ... not to forget FLV/YouTube) files, with display of detailed media information.
It’s a non-indexed search, so your search results are always live and up-to-date.
You can save your current search settings to a Search Template or in a Finding Tab for later one-click re-use. Very handy with complex search patterns or distributed search locations.
Intuitive Search: Recently, many Windows users are frustrated with the search in Vista/Win7/Win8. Well, XYplorer’s search works as you might know it from XP: Enter a search term, press ’Find Now’, and find what you are looking for! It’s easy because you already know how to do it.
By the way, the minimalist Quick Search (F3) interface provides an alternative to the mighty and powerful Find Files tab.
On top of the factory buttons you get Custom Toolbar Buttons, where you define how the button looks and what it does when pressed. And, optionally, the toolbar can be scrolled.
Click the image to see a long list of all available toolbar buttons. There is a button for almost everything...
The Floating Preview supports Mouse Down Blow Up and the Transparency Grid for transparent images.
It’s Portable!
XYplorer is a portable file manager. It doesn’t require any installation, stores all configuration data in the application data folder, and running it doesn’t change your system or registry. Take it with you and start it from a USB stick. File management to go.
Learn more about portability...
Multi-Level Undo/Redo
XYplorer gives you multi-level undo/redo for file operations Move, Copy, Rename, Delete, and New. Up to 100 user actions are logged and can be undone at any point. They are even remembered between sessions so you can fix today what you broke yesterday.
Background Processing
Thanks to background processing you can continue working in XYplorer while heavy copy jobs are processed in the background.
Queued File Operations
Background file operations can optionally be processed sequentially (in a queue), which is often far more efficient than processing them in parallel.
With queueing enabled successive operations are lined up in sequence and completed one after the other. E.g. if you initiate a job, say a Copy operation, while another one is still in progress, the new one will be delayed until the other one is finished. This is also known as asynchronous copy.
Without queueing background file operations are processed in parallel. Parallel processing can be quite inefficient and may put unnecessary stress on your hard disks because of excessive head movements.
Mini Tree™
In 2008 XYplorer wrote file management history by introducing a truly revolutionary feature, the Mini Tree.
The Mini Tree displays only the paths you have actually used. You might call it a tree shaped history. It makes browsing blindingly fast (it’s instantaneous even with deeply nested subfolders), it makes the tree ridiculously small, and it makes you feel like being back in control because you look at just the folders you are actually using, instead of being avalanched by all the folders that have accumulated on your drives over the years.
Tag-Based File Management
Since 2009 XYplorer supports assigning individual labels, tags, and comments of virtually any size and number to any file and folder (not just to media files).
As seen in Dark Mode.
Hotlist
Ctrl+H pops up the Hotlist, a smart interface to your history, with the intention to present the history in a way that makes it as easy as possible to quickly go back to one of the places you have recently been. If you experience it once, you’ll never want to miss it again...
Breadcrumb Menu
Ctrl+Backspace pops up a breadcrumb that takes no screen space (it’s a pop-up menu), is 100% keyboard-driven, and takes you up and down (the latter based on the recent history) relative to your current location.
Of course, you can also have Breadcrumb Bars.
Drop-Text-To-File
You can drag and 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. Yet another XYplorer-only feature.
Drop-Messages-To-File
Drag and drop messages and attachments from Outlook and Outlook Express and save them to files with automatically coined template-configured names!
Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts
You get customizable keyboard shortcuts for more than six hundred functions.
All of XYplorer’s keyboard shortcuts have been assigned by factory default, yet you can fully (re)assign them as you wish. You can use any combination of Ctrl/Shift/Alt (incl. none) with almost any key on your board, and can assign as many different shortcuts as you want to each of the functions. The shortcuts are saved in a separate file (ks.dat in application data path) that can be distributed among users.
The Customize Keyboard Shortcuts dialog closely follows the de facto standard for such interfaces in Windows applications, so you’ll immediately find your way. With some useful additions: There’s a short descriptive text for each function, and you can create a "cheat sheet" of all current shortcuts and commands in various layouts.
Search Long File Names
Some applications cannot handle file names that are longer than 256 characters. To avoid problems with too long file names you need a way to find such files (and rename them, or move them to shorten their path). It’s easy in XYplorer: Press F3 to open Quick Search, then type the following:
len: > 256 /r
It will generate a list of all items (under the current path) with names longer than 256 characters. FYI, the /r switch makes it a recursive search (i.e. a search including subfolders). Note that you can show a column "Len" which shows the actual length of each file name right in the list (see next paragraph).
File Name Length Column
An optional "Len" column shows the length in characters of each file name (incl. full path) right in the file list. Now you can easily spot overlong file names that might make trouble when burning CD-ROMs.
Exclude Extension on Rename
When renaming a file the pre-selected text in the rename box will not include the extension. A clever little feature but extremely useful because you almost never want to change the extension when you rename a file, right?
After pressing F2. Tip: Press F2 again to take away the selection.
Historical note: This functionality has been added to XYplorer (then still called TrackerV3) in February 2000 (v3.02.0040) and later was copied by many other file managers including Windows Explorer (Win7) itself.
Batch Rename
In the context menu of each file you find a rich selection of rename options.
All batch rename operations come with a detailed preview, including detection of possible conflicts.
Rename Preview for batch rename. Conflicts are detected before it’s too late.
Note that the Multi-Level Undo/Redo also covers batch rename.
Rename without Auto-Sort
You can have your photos or music files (or whatever) stay in the same position after renaming until you manually refresh the view. Simply uncheck the option "Resort list immediately after rename" and Auto-Sort will not happen.
A feature sorely missing from Vista, Win 7, Win 8, Win 10...
Manual Sorting
You can directly manipulate the displayed order of items by dragging them to a new position. This is also known as arbitrary sorting. Very useful together with batch rename operations.
User-Defined Commands (UDCs)
Write your personal file management routines in the most user-friendly way. Go To, Open, Open With, Copy To, Move To, Rename ... wrap those tasks into UDCs, and have them magically appear in the new "User" menu. Give them catchy captions, and assign keyboard shortcuts to them. UDC means: Reduce your daily routines to simple keystrokes!
Define the command as you need it...
... and a new menu item is auto-magically created! Now you may assign keyboard shortcuts to this item as you like.
Of course, the number of UDCs is not limited, they are retained between sessions, and they are portable between computers. As always, no registry is involved here.
Scripting
Advanced solutions for advanced tasks. Spend time once (writing the script), save time forever after (using the script). What about this:
Sounds interesting? Learn more...
Portable File Associations™
XYplorer makes your double-click portable! It can maintain any number of private portable file associations independently of the global ones defined in the Windows registry. These associations are stored in the app’s local INI file, which allows you to travel with your own home-grown file associations. Keeping the promise of thumbdrive file management: Home is where your double-click is!
See also Portable Openwith Menu...
My Network Places, Server Management
Network servers can be cached and remembered between sessions! This means: (a) Servers load at the speed of light; (b) Servers outside the primary workgroup that have been entered via Address Bar are remembered and don’t have to be entered ever again; (c) You can easily add/remove servers to/from My Network Places and thus list only the servers you actually need for your daily work.
Show only the servers you need to see, and show them in no time! No more scrolling through the 3,629 servers in the company network.
Visual Filters
Apply Visual Filters to the file list. Control what you see by stating simple wildcard patterns like *.txt. Multiple Patterns, Inversion, and Regular Expressions are supported.
The Visual Filters are per-tab and, as virtually all XYplorer settings, retained between sessions.
New Items Menu
A fully portable and easily configurable "New Items" menu that vastly surpasses the possibilities of Explorer’s "New" menu. It’s you who decides which items are listed in this menu.
First you create any files, folders, or whole folder structures (with or without contents) of your own choice within a predefined application folder called "NewItems" (Edit | New Items | Go to New Items Folder). These will function as the sources for creating your new items.
On startup XYplorer scans this folder and fills the submenu Edit | New Items with all items found in this folder.
Then a simple click on one of these menu items will create a copy of the file, or the folder, or the folder structure in the current location. It’s a "Copy this here now!". Quite a time saver.
Rich File Operations™
"Rich File Operations" is the tag for copying (resp. moving) items with their folder structure. Rich Copy/Move is a highly useful feature for archiving specific subsets of search results. It enables you to copy/move files to a destination along with their folder structure, i.e. whatever directories are needed are automatically created under the destination path. You get a perfect image of the files in their original location.
Note that you find the Rich Copy/Move Here commands only in the drag and drop context menu. To do a Rich Copy, drag the selected files from the find results list to the destination in Tree using the right mouse button: on drop, a popup menu will give you the choice between normal and rich operations.
Of course, Rich File Operations are only meaningful when your File Find includes subfolders, else there is no folder structure present in the find results.
Custom Drag and Drop Context Menu
Dropping items with the right mouse button will pop a context menu with various interesting commands:
Custom Drag and Drop Context Menu
Commands like Backup Here, Move Here to New Subfolder, Copy Here to New Subfolder, Copy Here As..., Create Folder(s) Here, Create Branch(es) Here (also known as "Copy Folder Structure"), Create Shortcut(s) Here, Extract Here, Zip Here, and Go to Dragged Item can be real time savers. For many users they are some of the most used commands in XYplorer.
Note that you can toggle this menu here: Configuration | Menus, Mouse, Safety | Context Menus | Custom drag and drop context menu.
Date Format "Age"
Modified Date, Created Date, and Accessed Date are shown right in the file list. Optionally in the unique Age format, which immediately tells you how old a file is (as opposed to when it was born).
Directory Print and Reports
Generate various sorts of file system reports, to popup, to clipboard, to file, or to printer. We’re talking about one-click directory print-outs here, right from the Report tab in the Info Panel (F12).
The Report tab in the Info Panel (F12). (Click to zoom)
Details with Thumbnails™ (aka "Thumbnails with Details")
XYplorer offers a special list view that might be just what you were waiting for: A thumbnails column in Details View. This screenshot says it all:
Showing the pics and the info all in one view.
Note that the size of the thumbnails is configurable, and, even better, the thumbnails support Mouse Down Blow Up (see here below).
By the way, thumbnails caching in XYplorer is unlimited in size and duration. Cache once and your cache will live forever. And all sorts of thumbnails can be cached: images, movie stills, PDF, etc.
Mouse Down Blow Up™
Thumbnails, Tiles, File Icons, and Image Previews all support the unique "Mouse Down Blow Up" (MDBU) functionality: You can pop up an image in original size just by holding the left mouse down on the thumbnail (tile, icon, preview). The pop up zooms exactly into the point where you downed the mouse. If the image is larger than the screen you can pan it by moving the mouse while holding it down. When you release the mouse button the popup disappears.
Mouse Down Blow Up can be configured in Configuration | Preview | Mouse Down Blow Up (see also here) and in Configuration | Thumbnails.
For thumbnails of animated GIFs the popup instantly displays the animation. You can as well pop up textual contents of TXT, DOC, DOCX and many other formats, see also here.
Here are some screenshots:
Before any "Mouse Down Blow Up" ...
... and after "Mouse Down Blow Up" on the tiger...
... and on a text file....
... and on a PDF file....
... and finally on the icon of an image file in Small Icons view.
There’s never been a faster way to check the contents of a file.
Time Stamping and Attribute Stamping
Quickly edit any or all file dates (Created, Modified, Accessed) or the file attributes (e.g. Read-only, Hidden) of all selected files. From 12.50 onwards time stamping supports milliseconds and even a resolution of 1/10 of a microsecond.
Type the new file times right into the edit boxes on the Properties Tab.
Sorting and Renaming Files
You are in full control. Easily choose what is sorted how and in which direction in menu Tools / Configuration / Sort and Rename.
Sort and Rename Configuration.
Other Features
Folders Sizes shown. Empty folders are marked by "[Empty]" (configurable).