Best File Managers Compared. Files vs One Commander vs Directory Opus vs Anchorpoint vs Eagle

File and Asset management is not always fun or pretty but it can be. With the right tools you can easily manage your work and get things done! Here are some of my favorite applications that make it easy.

[@Tony.Zed.]

This video deserves way more views, you got a good camera personality for sure, and you did a really good job of explaining the functionality of all these. Only thing I'd say is that the perspective was hyper focused on the things that appeal to you specifically that may be more or less important to others specific needs. Like personally, I don't really care about tagging, so the whole video is ranking these based on a function that doesn't really hold that much weight to me. I've been going through the rounds though. RX-explorer, onecommander, just downloaded files so I'm gonna try that now, fingers crossed the functionality that has been added in the last 9 months since this was made has only gotten better. Personally, I have 4 monitors and two of them are vertical and used as file/folder screens, so one thing that's a make or break for me is if it can collapse down into a more bare bones explorer, then pop open all the panels I need for all my meticulous navigation systems I have in place (btw, that's why tagging doesn't really matter to me, I have a file structure that's nothing short of insanely thought out.) that's one thing that onecommander has really impressed me about, the toggling off all the side bars and panels and stuff. Still can't seem to find an explorer that integrates with the windows system as seamlessly as I need. I might just end up registry hacking and modding the crap out of explorer when all is said and done. It's always clumsy little silly stuff that ends up being the deal breaker. like in rx explorer you can't use custom thumbnail on any of the files (again, another reason I don't need tagging, I have certain icons for certain folders), and onecommander can't access shell folder. Like it can't even open recycle bin without reverting to explorer. all in all I've grown skeptical that there is one perfect solution. as for win 11 explorer, I just wish I could get rid of that stupid ribbon with the cut/copy/paste and all that crap. it's a bar of stuff I never use or rarely use, or have shortcut keys for. It literally exists to be in the way. aside from that, I wish toggling the left side navigation tree wasn't a clumsy menu inside a menu inside a menu thing. probably going to try and write an autohotkey to get that think to auto open/collapse with a shortcut key. that is probably the biggest deal breaker, and finally, to have that panel be about a million times more customizable. be able to get rid of stuff I don't need and better categorize the stuff I do need. explorer truly feels like an idea that had a great concept but was then never finished. a lot of it's functionality feels like they were heading in a cool direction, got halfway there and said screw it. (again, you can see why I'm most impressed with onecommander to-date. becuse that pop out side bar with the group stacks is fantastic. If they bult that into explorer (which has proper shell integration), I would be absolutely sold on keeping explorer. as of now, it just still needs a lot of tweaking. The hunt continues.

[@FinalGrade]

Hey Thanks for watching! Toggling panels is an interesting use case I had not thought of. SInce I am a filmmaker I mostly concentrated on file formats and playback and finding files quickly.The original title of this video actually was geared towards filmmakers but it seemed it made it harder to find than just targting general file manangement. Can Rx explorer use custom thumbnails if you change them in regular windows explorer first? Cause I noticed with all of these programs they just use what native explorer is already using. I actually have been creating an app the last year to change and customize windows icons more easily and it is almost done. It also lets you choose between windows 7 ,10, and 11 icons for people who miss the older icons or want to use different ones on different OS. I am curious if Directory Opus can do what you need. Cause it lets you customize pretty much everything.

[@Tony.Zed.]

@@FinalGrade I downloaded 'files' today, and the best way I can describe 'files' is: it's what RX-Explorer was clearly trying to be. Or to rephrase, RX-Explorer is a buggier version of 'files'. But to answer your question, almost all of my folders in explorer have custom thumbnails, and when I open rx-explorer, all gone.. You would HATE rx-explorer. there's a bug where when you set up all your tag folders, it will get the names all crossed and the colors with go all out of wack. Like, I went in today, and I tried to set up rx-explorer again and just give it one more chance. and I went into settings and I setup like: 1. Blue - Windows 2. Orange - Software 3. Green - Clients 4. Purple - Projects etc. Then I restarted rx-explorer a short time later, and when I re-opened it, it was literally like: 1. Blue - Software 2. Green - Projects 3. Orange - Clients 4. Purple - Software But if you're familiar with how "aesthetically pleasing" 'files' is, rx-explorer is as well. custom background image, nice animations when sidebars fly out, just overall a pleasing look to it. But files is clearly a superior version of the exact same thing from what I can tell. I still haven't found anything that I'm 100% happy with yet though, so I definitely will check out Opus next, and thank you for that lead. I'm definitely big on customization. I am a filmmaker as well, but additionally I'm a graphic designer, so I just design all my own thumbnails. I'm a very very very visual person. So my biggest peeve with... well... MOST of Windows, is the bloat, and being forced to have things on screen you don't want or use. So for example I have a setup where I open photoshop but there's a slit of open space at the top of my screen I reserved for file explorer to peek out from for quick access to drag n drop images. which means that that big thick stupid (new/cut/copy/paste/sort/view) unremovable ribbon at the tope of win11 explorer eats up almost half my folder real estate for that layout. Alternatively, I like having a navigation pane and consider it very necessary, but when I pop explorer into one of my vertical (portrait) side monitors, again, it eats up half the real estate. Yes you can dig into the menu and turn it off and on. but it's not intuitive and seems kinda ridiculous they didn't think to make a toggle button or shortcut key or something. Anyway, I could go on to explain my whole complex file structure system and all that craziness, but this message is already way too long, so I'll leave it there for now.

[@Otto500206]

Yeah, OneCommander's tagging abilities are not good. However, if you are organized enough, the shortcut menus on left side of OneCommander is incredibly useful. You can create seperate groups in there, then add folder shortcuts to it(including adding same shortcuts on different groups). And these shortcuts can have what names you want them to have, different from the the actual name of the folder. Plus, it also haves a viewing mode, which shows folders in vertical. That mode actually shows the contents of the parent folders of the folder you are browsing. These two features makes OneCommander very great for working with a lot of files. Also, it can be set up so it uses a different quick look program. So it might be way more useful for you if you select to use one of the options about it. Fun fact: That view is the original view of the OneCommander! It was the first one. It was way less useful though.

[@PhuongNguyen-ly1np]

Hi, I’m interested in the tagging feature of apps like Eagle and One Commander. Can these tags be read by Python? I often automate tasks like moving files to folders using Python.

[@zaneberry]

Woah a new FinalGrade classic

[@XavierYThandle]

DIRECTORY OPUS IT BEST!!!! handdown, ever! the most powerful on this list, it 100% percent configurable. if you know how to script it can do anything you want. furthermore... they updated sense this video. with a great many more options. and as for viewing odd file formats if there's a background codec you can install to view a particular file type chances are Dopus can view if you ad that codec to its plugin list. not only has dopus replaced every other file explorer option (along with everything 1.5a) its has sooo much functionally its replaced a handful of 3rd party utilities, for example, programs for adding\controlling context menus. it can do alllll that and more. \ so much more that is over my head. its complex for sure, but... if you're a power user its worth every penny to never look windows file explorer again!!! haven't used that in a decade.

[@PhuongNguyen-ly1np]

I’m interested in the tagging feature of apps like Eagle and One Commander. Can these tags be read by Python? I often automate tasks like moving files to folders using Python.