User Reviews for Commander One: File Manager

0 out of 5

0 Ratings

3 years ago, Artur Azman

Nice Finder alternative

This is a great piece of software, that can speed up your routine file management. But, for me personally, it lacks one important option - the ability to hide second pane, when not necessary. Most of the time, I need to see all my files at once, using the second pane only occasionally, and in my workflow dual pane design just gets in the way of what I’m doing. Giving the ability to turn second/third pane on and off will make use case scenarios much more versatile, in my opinion. Thanks!

3 years ago, et,

What does this do?

I am failing to understand the function or purpose of this program. You're supposed to get a free 14 day trial of the "Pro" features, however if you try and use a pro feature it prompts you to pay for it. This was recommended to me as a time saver add on to my finder, however I can't tell why you would need this or what for. There are no hints, no tutorials, no nothing. You get a menu that appears to have shortcuts to open stuff you can open on your own. It seems to have folder functions that do what the finder does. SO WHY DO I NEED THIS AGAIN? This might be a great program with great timesaving features, but how are you supposed to understand them if the program doesn't even give you a hint as to what it can do or why you should spend $30 to upgrade it? This reminds me of the company that hired me years ago, but never sent me any work, told me what was expected, or even told me who my boss was or where to go. Who thought a mystery program would sell for $30 without a clue of it's capabilities or hints on its use or why you might need or benefit from it? I give up, this is pointless.

5 years ago, Wizard since before dos or Mac

I am so. thankful for Commander One

I have used both Mac and Windows OS extensively over many years, and it blows my mind that any program can call itself a file manager (finder) that runs in just one window. WHY? It’s clumbsy and error prone. This program indeed lacks the warm fuzzy, look and feel of native mac programs, but lets talk about usability. Invest the time in this program and you will be rewarded with clear safe file manipulation. No more files dropping into the wrong folder as you drag files to a different folder or window. Try and track down a few of those lost files, and you will understand how much better it is to open your source on the left window and destination on the right, then just the click copy or move button. Its easy and reliable. If that is all it did, it would be wortth it. Add to that the tons of other things it can do, and this is a no brainer. The best, even if it does look clunky.

3 years ago, rowettd

There's "crippleware" and then, there's this.

There are many apps available in "lite" or "pro" versions. The lite versions perform basic functions, sometimes with little ads encroaching on the app window, sometimes without. The pro versions do everything or kill the ads or both. Either way, you know what you're getting. The Commander One developers are offering this as "free." Yes, it is. It's free to download, free to install, free to launch and free to upload a file. But if you want to download a file, well, you're going to have to upgrade to pro for that. This software might do what it's supposed to do, but I'm giving it one star for the deceptive marketing practice. Guys, if you're too greedy to offer a trial period or lite version that does the basics, just be honest and tell the market that this software is for sale to paying customers only.

3 years ago, mikejboss

Best alternative to Finder in Big Sur

If you're looking for a file explorer that goes beyond Finder and is a little more Windows-like, try this. I jumped into the Apple Universe with Big Sur and didn't want to get into a subscription-based offering for functionality so basic that it should really be part of the OS. No-cost options were not many in early 2021 so I tried pretty much all that were available in the App Store. This is the best that I've found. That's why I give 5 stars - not because it's perfect but because it was the best of limited options given my search criteria.

5 years ago, Pupkinsan

I hope devs will listen to these

Nice tool except for lack of these features that I've had in a different file manager: 1. No shortcut to a list of recent folders. 2. No shortcut to a list of recent files (this should be separate from recent folders). 3. Highlight recently added/modified files in panels (a couple of days as recent). Color should be configurable. 4. The Preview dialog should close on ESC. Multiple previews should be tabbed in one dialog. 5. Preview for images should have Next/Previous shortcuts to quickly view other files in the same folder without reopenning the dialog. 6. Shortcut in settings should at least warn if the same shortcut is already assigned. One last important deal breaking feature - add drag-drop, to drag file paths to other windows, such as Finder and file open dialogs. Right now it works only if Commander is in foreground and covers the window where I want to drag. That's it for now. Please fix and this will make it a great tool.

5 months ago, Old Statistician

"Norton Commander" Again!

For those of you who can remember sorting file allocations under the DOS era, there were a couple of simple programs that really made life simple and one was Norton Commander. Well, Commander One is this generations version and is well worth the price. Instantly you can see both source and destination directories with all sorts of supporting utilities (like copying, moving, deleting, previewing) files in both the source and destination directories side-by-side! I seldom use "Finder" on my MAC anymore thanks to this wonderful product.

6 months ago, gac99

Not useful for search

I was expecting to find a search function which indexed over (at least the previous searched spaces) and supported multilevel searches (filename, file type, cereation date, modification date ...). Not here. Definitely not indexing, so no speed improvement and no support for multilevel search. When the tool is running you have to grant it access some / all of the file system; however, the software seems confused when it restarts after access is granted and asks again to have accesss granted even thought it already has. Disappointing. If you have no need for a search function, perhaps this is a good tool, but I'm not willing to spend the time if the search function is weak.

7 years ago, BigFootNomad

Great Double Panel View

I have started using this app for it’s tab panel views. It is great for moving files from on location to another easily without wasting the time of playing with stacked or side by side finder windows. Unfortunately, it would have been better if the devs kept the shortcuts the same as finder. Because I cannot quickly preview files or use the osx wide hotkey commands (such as command + delete) this has become a niche app for me instead of the finder replacement I was looking for. Regarldess, good app for me, and great for anyone who doesn’t mind having to learn new software, versus the software learning from you (as we say in the Human Computer Interaction field).

6 years ago, apcsb

Good, but alien

Pros: It's great that it exists, since other dual-pane file managers I've tried for Mac are even worse. Good old well-known F# shortcuts, built-in archiver and network browser. Cons: it feels like a direct port of Midnight Commander/FAR/Total Commander - straight outta console. It doesn't feel like a native Mac app, and as a result the usability suffers greatly. Some part of UI are super-cluttered, easy to miss buttons and features, while in other parts there is a lot of wasted whitespace. To its defence, there is a tabs implementation that seems to be native and is very useful! Quick suggestion: Let the dropdown in the "Disk Info" panel also provide quick access to the same items that Finder has: Documents, Pictures, Downloads, Recents, etc. Ideally, pull them from the same place the Finder takes them, so that they are always in sync. It took me forever to notice the Favorites button :)

6 years ago, Randomuser07030

Avoid this company

Avoid this company. I bought other software from this company, and found it doesn't work as advertised. Unfortunately they don't offer a trial version of this "pro" features. You MUST buy a license to even try them out. Some features are extremely buggy. The company claims to have a money back guarantee, but I found this to be a false claim. I sent them screen capture videos demonstrating the bugs and shortcomings of the software. Basically, it does not work as advertised . In spite of having this proof, they STILL REFUSED to refund my money. I recommend avoiding purchasing or even using this company's software. Late last year their software was found to be bundles with malware. Just do a google search.

1 year ago, Scott M. Forbes

It's very good for my purposes.

This apps has all the features I need, and has a free version. The paid version has every feature I think I could ever need in a file manager app. I'm using the free version, but I plan to upgrade just to use the built in SFTP manager. I like the interface of this app better than other apps. Everything is straightforward, and has a decently low learning curve. All in all, it makes an excellent Finder alternative for the Mac.

7 years ago, Mlbin55

A dual-pane file manager is a must

I first used a dual-pane file manager on the Amiga over 30 years ago and haven’t been able to abide anything less since. When I started a new job recently and got a Mac for the first time, this was the first upgrade I looked for. The free Commander One worked great, but then I was looking for a better terminal for the Mac, and found that the Commander One pro pack had that, so I gladly upgraded. Plus, there are even more tools included that I can explore. Commander One is great!

4 years ago, JeffBDVS

Ugly and klunky

File selection requires special key combos and drag/drop is fiddly at best. The interface is more Windows-like than Mac-worthy and gets tiresome to look at even with user customization. This applies to both color and UI gadgets. I paid the Pro upgrade price because I wanted to test the FTP client, but after reading some online reviews, it seems I didn't have to do that because a trial version is available. I didn't find that option on the web site or the app store, so if it is available I would appreciate a more consipicuous notification from Eltima. Note that I'm not upset with the cost of the Pro pack; it's a fair price for the functionality.

5 years ago, ElectronicTeamIncIsScam

Beware of scam

Found this software in app store when switched to Mac from PC. Didn't have apple ID so I just downloaded this software from their website, huge factor was that they are present at App Store, so I had certain level of trust. However company utilizing shady technics to squze money from customers. When you order license from their website, they just say Personal license ... however license is limited per one device, so if you want to use it at work/home then you need to buy another license.. This applies to version downloaded on their website, if you ordered from appstore then it is up to 5 machines, but it is different in functionality compared to version from their website...

5 years ago, Yiyu Zhou

some advice

I decided to try it out the moment I saw its dual pane feacture, it is so needed! But after just two days of using it, I have to give up and rank it down from 4 stars to 2 starts, there are so many problems! There are problems, I will keep updating this review along the way. First, please set quick look with space as the default, I mean, why not? Second, please, please make the experience more seemless, more smooth! Third, please add "open folder or file" and "go up one level" hot key. Fourth, it would be much better if a sidebar similar to that of the finder can be added to the UI. Fifth, while using quick view, if the viewed PDF has multiple pages, you can not navigate among files with arrow keys. And navigating downwards is not working, but you can navigate upwards among files. Navigating among folders is not working either. Sixth, when there is only one tab on one pane, clicking on the tab banner dose not change the focus of the mouse. Thanks and good luck!

2 years ago, Bully4u

Indespensible with Supernote

I use this with my Macbook Pro and Supernote to transfer files between the two. Works great. Does everything I need it to and more. My only caveat is that it does some weird things if files already exist at the target destination. Took me awhile to figure out what it was doing. I sort of highlights multiiple files as if you were trying to select more than one. That was rather unintuitive. But aside from little things like that, I'm very happy with Commander One.

6 years ago, taskswap1

Good but short on features

Almost good enough to switch from Crax, but missing a few important features. 1. When sorting / grouping by extension, directories are unsorted/disorganized (most other apps sort directories separately at the top). 2. No way to "open in other" - open a selected directory in the other window (useful for quickly moving files to a subdirectory). 3. No multi-rename feature. It's a good app, and you get a lot in the free version. Just needs one or two more features to go over the top.

4 years ago, FireBirdReborn

Great

I enjoy using this app, it's better than Finder in some ways, it's more predictable, if you open in list view (which I primarily use it in) it will always open in list view. Another cool feature is to switch back to Finder to do more developer-specific things. If you like to open files with enter this is the app for you. Shortkeys work. Double panes always stay open and if you need one pane to match the other, there's a shortkey for that.

12 months ago, December user

Best Finder ever!

This program is the best way to organize every file on your system! The split screen (panel) allows you to copy, move or rename any file. It has the best seach function ever. It can find any file easily and take those search results to put in the active window. So, you can take this seach list them move/copy any of them into any folder, or a new folder that you create.

3 years ago, PCP812

Better than the competition but still has issues

After Teracopy started crashing every time I tried to launch it, I needed to find a new app for transferring large files. Commander One is the only free option I’ve been able to find that does the trick. However, it’s got one very big issue in that every time I try to view the queue, the app freezes and needs to be force-quit.

5 months ago, SESCOGS

Awesome Dual Screen File Manager

Extremely pleased with the functionality this program provides. Has everything I wanted, especially easy way to see folder sizes and customizing the look. Only wish I have is to be able to drag and drop between screens, rather than selecting and hitting the copy or move button, minor gripe, but ould be nice.

4 years ago, vjeafx

Great App!

Gets the job done when I need something more powerful than finder especially when I am managing remote drives / NAS backups, etc. I did find that performance gets to be a little laggy when I was processing my music folder, but that is also because I had roughly 400,000 files under a single folder on both sides. Five stars, because in that use case, both Windows Explorer and Finder struggle as well.

3 years ago, GeekmanG

Very helpful supplement to Finder

Ever since I switched to Macs (because that's what my company uses), I've missed so many things about Windows file managers such as FreeCommander. Commander One seems to come as close to FreeCommander as I've found on the Mac, so despite missing a few features I wish it had, I definitely recommend it for those like me who wish for more than Finder. Keep up the good work!

11 months ago, John12341231

Great tool

When I need to organize my files, this application's set up is great. Instead of toggling through multiple listed folders, I can work in a single window with tabbed folders. I also like the search tools. It finds items that are invisible to me using Finder - like items in my user library.

2 years ago, theshippingnews

Nice, when it works

I love the design and intent of this application but I find that it freezes constantly. I rarely need to Force Quit an application and I have needed to do that four times since I purchased this app over a month ago. If it actually worked, I would give it five stars, but a file browser that doesn't actually let you get to your files is pretty useless. Though, I will say, it's really nice when it does work. It just doesn't work well all that often.

2 years ago, FeaturedSpace

100% worth the money

I got this client and it works fantastic! Love all the feature and the interface. I would say there are some intuitiveness issues sometimes where I wish it would act more like a file explorer by default but I enjoy some of the more advanced features which are useful.

4 years ago, WA9T

A great app

I love this app!! It is almost identical to the old Windows Commander. It is so quick and easy to view, edit copy or move files from folder to folder, make a new folder or delete files!! You no longer have to go through all those awkward steps Mac makes you go through!! Thank you for providing one of my most valuable apps!!!

6 years ago, ESCist

Disappointing at best

I thought this app would be an ideal solution to my Finder frustrations. Although they have a lot of good ideas, they are poorly executed. I work drives like Dropbox and Google Drive a lot. This app has very poor support for those drives. 1. The drag and drop functionality does not work well if at all. You try to select a file and drag it, but it highlights files instead. Then you have to select the “-“ (minus) key to unselect them. 2. Documentation is minimal. 3. Even after upgrading to Pro (a waste of money by the way), you can not double-click on a file to open it. That’s not a problem in Finder. If you are looking for a solution for local files, this app may will work for you. If you want to work with Dropbox or other hosted drives, don’t waste your time and definitely don’t buy the Pro version.

6 years ago, Charley V

Commander

After the Finder on my Macbook Pro started loosing tags — Apple tech support suggestions for a fix don’t work — I started using Commander. Commander is a great program in my opinion, and works very well for organizing my many files without having to spend time to open and resize two finder windows. Commander reminds me a lot of the very old Norton Commander I grew up with.

5 months ago, Steohen Walker

Great so far

This thing seems to be pretty great above MacOS Finder, however, I cannot figure out why the transfer queue does not complete one transfer before starting another, when dealing with mechanical drives, this seems like a no brainer... but I cannot figure out how to make it do this. If the Developer could reach out and explain if this is possible, Ill change the rating and buy the software.

2 years ago, Andisen.D

The best all-round tool needed.

I saved myself from having to use 3-4 different tools and have my complete needs in one package. Having multiple cloud based storage services and a constant need to move files between systems has now been made so much easier.

4 years ago, gregsf76543

Works well, can increase fonts

I like the product. I can increase the font size of the display, which is important as the Finder is really hard to see on my 27 inch high resolution. It is also easy to have two tabs open and copy files between them.

5 years ago, John el Magnifico

Hangs Up

Love the program layout. However, when moving more than just a few folders and files, it consistently hangs up and quits running, especially when transferring files to USB external drives. It consistently does this on more than one machine and diferent Osop systems. Other than that, it has the features I really needed in a file management program, but won’t buy pro until the glitch is fixed.

3 years ago, Make it efficient

Commander One replaced Finder a long time ago

I love Commander One. I've used it under Linux and Apple a long toime ago. It replaces the current Finder. It does so much more and gives me all the shortcuts I'm used to. It's an easier file manipulation tool than most native apps. It's a must for journalists who relies on quick typing, shortcuts, and a comprehensive file manager.

1 year ago, davedunaway

Total Commander Alternative

I'm a long time Windows user who loves Total Commander. Commander One has been able to help me convert to using a Mac. About 90% of the features of Total Commander are available in Commander One. I've interacted with their tech support a couple of times already and they are gfreat. Love it!

2 months ago, Luap49931

Does Not Do Much

Apart from offering a two-pane browsing experience with microscopic icons, it is not clear what this offeres the user unless they are really in to browsing network drives. It appears to lack much in the way of interface customization, no batch rename, no folder synchronization, If I line up two finder windows on a screen, I have more features without it. The only thing might be that copying bypasses the finder, but I cannot determine that.

2 years ago, Slampants

Great app

This app is reliable and easy ot use. I don't totally love the interface; it can get confusing what's selected and deselected sometimes because of how it works with having two sides where you can select things. But I highly recommend this app.

1 year ago, JCPaul999

Good Finder alternative

This is a great Finder replacement, especially if you are a fan of the commander interface. There is still some functionality that could be added, but the support team is very responsive and willing to listen to feedback.

2 years ago, Xmyz123

Works great with Garmin XT

As many XT users discovered you can no longer transfer gpx files from your Mac to the XT since Mac doesn't recognize the XT as a Drive. Commander One solved this beautifully with a reliable and easy to use interface to transfer files. Highly recommended.

7 years ago, -diam-

works where finder miserably falls on it’s face

I can’t even start complaining of how miserable and poor performing finder is as an app. Moving a file - falls on it’s face, creating a file - on it’s face, searching - horrendously falls on it’s face. Commander One basically works like regular windows explorer (and I never had a need for additional “app” for PC). Thank you.

6 months ago, Anthony Bardoll

Doesn't delete stuff

As many know, MacOS Finder will often not let you move, delete or rename files and folders that you clearly have read/write access to. And then mintues later, you can do all those things. I tried this program thinking it would let me override MacOS's idiotic randonmess and just delete/move/rename files I need to delete. But it doesn't do that. So I deleted Commander One. It is probably useful for other functions, just not what I need.

4 years ago, Noop_Dawg

Good, but small quirks make it less useful than something like Double Commander

This is a great dual pane file manager with a lot of pros to it. I love the tab usage, as well as most of the shortcuts, however there are a few issues: - Can't set extensions to automatically open in specific programs based on extension. - There is a frustrating minimum size, especially annoying for a file manager

6 years ago, RevRichard66

Absolutely Essential

When I moved from Windows to Mac one of the first things I missed was Windows File Manager. I couldn't get the hang of Finder, especially for moving files from one directory to another. Commander One takes care of all that, and does it well. Highly recommended.

8 months ago, Doron Kudesh

Excellent File Commander.

With all my attempts over the years in handling files and directories, eventualy the Windows Total Commander was always the best. This one is an excellent Mac version with all the fitures and then some, like iCloud, OneDrive etc. Beats drag and drop almost always.

3 years ago, LaniBriding

Cannot pull files from iphone

I got this app after making sure that I have the latest updates on both my macbook and my iphone. I wanted to sync photos from my iphone to the new macbook (photos that had been synced to the phone from another macbook). I cannot even find a button or a slider that allows this app to find the iphone, let alone allow photos and music to be easily synced to the new macbook. It feels hopeless!

1 year ago, Logitol

Essential software!

Commander One is essential software for anyone that needs to copy files from one location to another. The side by side view makes copying, locating, and comparing files and folders a breeze.

5 years ago, Kapdani

Much Better Than Finder

I'm a recent Mac Newbie, having recently divorced Windows 10. Finder drove me nuts and I find Commander One to be far more intuitive. Maybe it's partly because of my experience with Windows but I'm also a Unix/Linux guru and have used many different file managers and all of them were more intuitive than Finder.

7 years ago, Rico&€123

SImple yet powerfull

Really good application. The only thing I would really like Commander One to have is a better way to customize the shortcuts, for example adding search functionality would be really useful, having a configuration file that can be shared between computers would help a lot too.

3 years ago, Eholhos

best file manager

ever since i switched to mac i've been looking for a comprehensive file manager. Every power user on windows uses total commander and since old habits die hard ... Great manager.... Thank you!

Description

A high level of file management can be reached with the updated version of Commander One v3.0. Commander One is a free file manager created in Swift, has a dual-pane interface that helps you handle your files in the most efficient way. Besides being easy-to-use, the app is rather fast and powerful that offers necessary features for seamless and full control over your files and folders. Cultofmac.com - “Commander One looks like a great app to have on your Mac if you’re frustrated with OS X’s built-in file management.” Lifehacker.com - ”Once it’s installed, you get dual pane browsing, unlimited tabs, a variety of sorting options, an easy toggle for revealing hidden files, and more. It also adds a handful of new keyboard shortcuts to make moving files around a little less painful. If you’re not a fan of how Finder does things, Commander One’s a more than capable alternative.” Dual-pane view: - Classical dual-panel appearance that can be adjusted according to your taste (color theme, fonts). - Support for the Dark Mode to be in tune with the times (available starting from 10.14 only). - Multiple tabs for browsing as many folders as needed. - Support for three view modes, namely Full, Brief, and Thumbs for convenient work with different types of files. Slick navigation and display: - Hidden files are revealed with one click. - Support for file operations queuing including already in progress. - Support for drag and drop functionality. - Rename files and folders while moving. Different search methods: - Built-in search with support for Regex. - Search by file contents. - Spotlight search. Commander One can offer more useful features that can simplify your work routine: - Configure hotkeys for most frequently used operations. - Brief mode to view and handle many files simultaneously. - Process viewer. - Support for Finder Tags. - Archive and unarchive files and open ZIP as regular folders. - Work with .ipa, .apk, .jar, .ear, .war files as with regular folders. - Preview all types of files, including Hex and Binary, before opening them. - Detect over the network and conveniently list computers that use NetBIOS protocol. - Seamlessly obtain access to the folders that are open or you use the most through History and Favorites. - Select the program to open the file using 'Open with' in the main menu - File or via the context menu. - Choose UI language. *PRO version of Commander One is available via in-app purchase* Additional features available in Commander One Pro - Built-in FTP, SFTP, FTPS Manager including the possibility to set up file permissions via these protocols. - Fast FTP transfer speeds: copy/move/edit/send/upload larger files with one click. - 7zip support with compressing, extracting, full access, and search. - Support for RAR format with extracting, full access, and search. - Support for TarGz with compressing, extracting, search, and full access. - Custom themes to make an individual appearance. - Connect MTP devices, browse files, and effortlessly work with your photos and videos. - Map Dropbox and Dropbox Business accounts as a drive for comfortable access. - Ability to share Dropbox links with ease. - Mount as many Google Drive accounts as required and deal with your files and folders, including “Shared with me” folder, without copying data on your Mac. - Map unlimited number of WebDAV connections and access your online files. - Mount and handle files in Amazon S3 storage and S3-compatible storages. - Access, manage and organize files stored on Box.com. - Manage online files stored on Microsoft OneDrive accounts as if they are stored on your Mac. - Map and deal with files in Backblaze B2. - Access pCloud accounts with one click. - Map Mega cloud service and manage files stored there. - Mount OpenStack SWIFT to get flawless access to your online files. - Easily transfer files between cloud accounts and web servers. - Protect your files with encryption on all online connections.