Commander Operations

The dual-pane workspace keeps source and destination visible during file operations.

Core file operations

Commander follows the classic function-key workflow: F2 rename, F3 view, F4 edit, F5 copy, F6 move, F7 new folder, F8 delete, F9 new file and F10 quit.

Copy and move operations run in the background, work across local and SFTP panes, and handle conflicts with overwrite, keep-both, skip or cancel choices. Clipboard operations also work in the Finder or Explorer style with Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V. On Windows, local file context menus can use the native Shell menu so installed Explorer extensions and standard system verbs remain available.

Delete, trash and recovery

Recoverable delete moves files to the operating-system Trash. Shift+F8 or Shift+Delete performs permanent deletion. Trash views include Put Back and Empty Trash actions, so cleanup can remain reversible unless permanent deletion is chosen explicitly.

Batch work

Multi-rename supports name, extension and counter masks, search and replace, case transforms, live preview and collision detection.

Find Files searches recursively by name and content, then jumps directly to a result. It can filter by date, size and kind, match extended attributes and search inside archives. Compare by Content opens a side-by-side line diff, while Directory Synchronization categorizes differences between panes and copies either direction.

Archives, documents and conversion

Commander can pack selected files into archives, unpack archives into the other pane, browse supported archives as virtual folders and extract only selected members.

Document tools cover file combining and splitting, PDF combining and page splitting, plus known file-type conversion across data, image, audio, video and document categories. Convert to PDF is part of this workflow where supported by the source format.

Remote and network panes

SFTP panes browse a remote host like a local folder and use the system OpenSSH client. Connection profiles live in the OS secret manager, not in Commander settings or browser storage.

Object Storage panes browse S3-compatible buckets and prefixes, preview objects and delete objects or prefixes. Commander keeps credentials in the same secret-manager-backed profile store and addresses the pane through an internal s3:// profile URI rather than putting credentials in paths.

On Windows, Network Neighborhood is an in-pane browser. It lists workgroups, then computers, then server shares; once a share is opened Commander continues through normal UNC paths.

Command line and system tools

The built-in command line runs shell commands in the active directory. cd navigates the active pane. Autocomplete learns from the current session and from real zsh, bash or fish history.

Advanced mode adds live processes, listening ports, open files, installed apps, startup items, package managers, external tool checks, hex view and binary inspection.

Updates and maintenance

Installed builds can check for newer Commander releases and apply updates. The current updater flow tracks the live release manifest used by the website downloads, so users can move from one published build to the next without manually checking every package.

Smart Clean includes large-file, large-directory, duplicate, Git repository and system-junk scans. Large-directory scanning is useful when reclaimable space is concentrated in folders rather than individual oversized files.