FileCommander Help
Browsing window

The main browsing window:


[1] Drive selection bar

You switch between very available drive here. Just click on any drive symbol to switch to that drive.
This drive list will be updated automatically on adding/removing a drive.


[2] Display mask editor

You can define any display mask here. Only files, which fit into this mask, will be displayed. You can apply the mask by pressing return. This mask will effect the display of files only. Folders are visible all the time.

Explanation:

* : any number of any character
? : place holder for any character

Some examples:

  • *.*: every file will be displayed (default)
  • *.exe: only files with the .EXE-extension will be displayed
  • *.exe;*.?xt: only files with the .EXE-extension or with any TX-extension will be displayed.

    Example
    1. FileCommander.exe: fits
    2. FileCommander.bexe: does not fit
      (no character is allowed at this position; *.*exe would work)
    3. FileCommander.txt: fits
    4. FileCommander.axt: fits
    5. FileCommander.xt: does not fit
      (not enough characters; *.*xt would work)
    6. FileCommander.abxt: does not fit
      (too much charactes; *.??xt/*.*xt would work)
Attention: If the display mask is not *.*, the current folder [3] will be drawn red.


[3] Current folder

The current displayed folder is shown here. You can enter any folder here (press return to apply).
You can view the browsing history by clicking on

The background color indicates the state of the window. Dark blue background means active window, grey background means inactive window.


[4] Directory tree

You can switch to any folder by clicking on it. This tree is synchronized with the main window [5].


[5] Browsing window

This is the heart of FileCommander. Here you can see the content of any folder.

Browsing
You can browse through the folders by double click on them or by pressing return. You can switch to the parent folder by double click on empty space (e.g. at the position of the number [5] or [13]), by pressing backspace (button above return) or by pressing the button [9].

ZIP and RAR files
By default, ZIP and RAR files are opened in the browsing window. You can open ZIP or RAR files like browsing through the folders.

Sorting
You can sort the list by ether clicking on the columns or by selection the sort option at [10]. If you have activated File highlighting, the sorted column will have another background.

File operations
You can do lots of things with files. The view the available operations, just click right on the file (view File popup menu for details).

Columns

  • File: the name of the files
  • Files: number of sub files (only if Count folder size {at [10]} is enabled)
  • Sub folders: number of sub folders (only if Count folder size {at [10]} is enabled)
  • Size: size of the files
  • Changed on: date of last change
  • Type: name of the file type
  • Attribute: Attribute(s) of the file
           R: read only
           S: system file
           H: hidden file
           V: volume file
           D: directory
           A: archived file
           C: compressed file
  • Created on: date of creation
  • Accessed on: date of last access


[6] Status bar (number of files)

Here, you can see, how many files are in the current folder and how many files are currently selected.
Attention: If any error has occurred while loading the content of the folder, the Windows® error message is displayed here.


[7] Status bar (size of files)

Here, you can see, how big the current folder is and what size the selected files have together


[8] Status bar (drive status)

Here, you can see the status of the current drive.
( [Driveletter]: [Drivename] total: [total space] free: [free space ; in percent])
The color indicates the free space:
  - red means, that the drive is (almost) full,
  - black means, that the drive has enough free space.


[9] go to parent folder

You can go the parent folder by pressing this button


[10] Browsing window options

You can set up the browsing window here.

(see Browser window options for details)


[11] Drive operations

You can make some drive operations here

(see Drive options for details)


[12] Splitter

You can set up the size of the directory tree and the browser window here


[13] Size of directories

You can enable the directory size calculation in [10].
Not calculated sizes are marked as waiting.