5 ms·

Please, I beg you dear developer, replace my stupid MacOS finder with your superpowers!

CharlesW 2y ago
There are a few good Finder alternatives for macOS, including Path Finder, ForkLift, Commander One, and Double Commander (FOSS).
- kstrauser 2y ago
  I ended up with ForkLift after much trial and error. Commander One was nice. Double Commander is also great but not "native" on Mac. Path Finder is super powerful but has a rep for being overcomplicated and also crashy, but I can't personally vouch because it wasn't quite what I was looking for anyway.
  - fatboy 2y ago
    Forklift is the one I settled on as well. I had the experience you describe with Path Finder before and finally I gave up. Forklift has a couple of things that annoy me daily though. Often I will have to refresh a pane to see a file I know has recently been added. Eg in downloads. I may even have navigated to downloads after the download finished and it's still not visible until I refresh. The other is that it doesn't reuse existing tabs if I "reveal in finder" or whatever, so after a while there's a million tabs open, most pointing to the same directory.
    - kstrauser 2y ago
      Oof. Those hit close to home for me, too.
- code_biologist 2y ago
  Path Finder went to a subscription-only model, no way to outright purchase a license sadly.
  - lylejantzi3rd 2y ago
    The quality of Path Finder went downhill many years ago as well.
- knackundback 2y ago
  also, https://marta.sh/ https://marta.sh/
linsomniac 2y ago
What is the deal with MacOS file dialogs? A couple days ago I was trying to open a project in Cursor, and I click on "home" and my name, and then it has the directories grouped by year created. So I type in the search box, but it's now searching some other context, like the whole system or something? I don't even have tons of files/directories in my home directory "ls | wc -l" gives 36. It's like they designed it while watching High Fidelity: "I sorted my albums autobiographically. So if I'm looking for <this album> I have to remember that it's under albums I bought for a girl but ended up not giving to her." "That sounds like a great idea!"
- kstrauser 2y ago
  If you start searching, I think it defaults to scope "This Mac". That's probably right for most cases. If you want to open a Word doc named Fnord, you'd kind of hope Finder would... find it... wherever it was. But you can also click next to "This Mac" to switch it the context of the directory you're in. Also, cmd-shift-G (the Finder shortcut for "Go to Folder...") will let you start typing a path.
  - sureIy 2y ago
    > If you start searching, I think it defaults to scope "This Mac". Correct, and it's the first setting I change. Finder > Settings > Advanced > When performing a search: "Search the Current Folder"
- wpm 2y ago
  Sounds like it was sorted by “most recent” (not the column, but the view mode). That said the Open dialog is a sad sack stand in for even the flawed Finder. 20 year Mac user here: I developed the muscle memory to just have a Finder window open to the file I want so I can drag and drop from that into the Open dialog.
- sureIy 2y ago
  > then it has the directories grouped by year created That's a setting you set. Right click on empty space > uncheck "Use groups" Or in that context menu, select "Show View Options" and customize it to your liking. My liking is "Group by kind" (folders to the top) then "Sort by name"
tiborsaas 2y ago
I've found this article recently: https://www.xda-developers.com/4-finder-alternatives-on-macos-to-level-up-your-file-management/ https://www.xda-developers.com/4-finder-alternatives-on-maco...
- lylejantzi3rd 2y ago
  Hahaha, that's great. Halfway down this article, there's a link to an old article on File Pilot.
keyle 2y ago
I don't think it's technically possible to even replace Finder. If you type "open ." in terminal, it will open in Finder. There is not an optional "set this as default" like browsers. Something we should really push Apple to do. Finder is trash.
- asyncze 2y ago
  Is it not possible to alias the open command?
- kstrauser 2y ago
  It’s possible to get pretty close. For example, Forklift’s instructions (go to https://binarynights.com/manual https://binarynights.com/manual, search for “Default File Viewer”) nearly replaces it, except you still have a Finder icon in the dock.
spython 2y ago
ForkLift is really good.
vjekoslav 2y ago
If everything goes well with Windows and the project becomes financially stable, a macOS version is planned.
- nguyenkien 2y ago
  Mac user tend to buy premium apps more, so you should just made for mac anyway.
  - deburo 2y ago
    It does seem like there are more well made, premium apps on Mac. I’ve always been jealous. Eventually a clone is made that supports Windows, but it always seems a bit worse.
darek 2y ago
On macOS my daily driver is Nimble Commander (https://magnumbytes.com/ https://magnumbytes.com/). Super fast, powerful and inspired by Total Commander. It used to be paid but now is free and open source so give it a try. It deserves to be better known.

There are a few good Finder alternatives for macOS, including Path Finder, ForkLift, Commander One, and Double Commander (FOSS).

kstrauser 2y ago
I ended up with ForkLift after much trial and error. Commander One was nice. Double Commander is also great but not "native" on Mac. Path Finder is super powerful but has a rep for being overcomplicated and also crashy, but I can't personally vouch because it wasn't quite what I was looking for anyway.
- fatboy 2y ago
  Forklift is the one I settled on as well. I had the experience you describe with Path Finder before and finally I gave up. Forklift has a couple of things that annoy me daily though. Often I will have to refresh a pane to see a file I know has recently been added. Eg in downloads. I may even have navigated to downloads after the download finished and it's still not visible until I refresh. The other is that it doesn't reuse existing tabs if I "reveal in finder" or whatever, so after a while there's a million tabs open, most pointing to the same directory.
  - kstrauser 2y ago
    Oof. Those hit close to home for me, too.
code_biologist 2y ago
Path Finder went to a subscription-only model, no way to outright purchase a license sadly.
- lylejantzi3rd 2y ago
  The quality of Path Finder went downhill many years ago as well.
knackundback 2y ago
also, https://marta.sh/ https://marta.sh/

linsomniac 2y ago

What is the deal with MacOS file dialogs? A couple days ago I was trying to open a project in Cursor, and I click on "home" and my name, and then it has the directories grouped by year created. So I type in the search box, but it's now searching some other context, like the whole system or something? I don't even have tons of files/directories in my home directory "ls | wc -l" gives 36. It's like they designed it while watching High Fidelity: "I sorted my albums autobiographically. So if I'm looking for <this album> I have to remember that it's under albums I bought for a girl but ended up not giving to her." "That sounds like a great idea!"

kstrauser 2y ago
If you start searching, I think it defaults to scope "This Mac". That's probably right for most cases. If you want to open a Word doc named Fnord, you'd kind of hope Finder would... find it... wherever it was. But you can also click next to "This Mac" to switch it the context of the directory you're in. Also, cmd-shift-G (the Finder shortcut for "Go to Folder...") will let you start typing a path.
- sureIy 2y ago
  > If you start searching, I think it defaults to scope "This Mac". Correct, and it's the first setting I change. Finder > Settings > Advanced > When performing a search: "Search the Current Folder"
wpm 2y ago
Sounds like it was sorted by “most recent” (not the column, but the view mode). That said the Open dialog is a sad sack stand in for even the flawed Finder. 20 year Mac user here: I developed the muscle memory to just have a Finder window open to the file I want so I can drag and drop from that into the Open dialog.
sureIy 2y ago
> then it has the directories grouped by year created That's a setting you set. Right click on empty space > uncheck "Use groups" Or in that context menu, select "Show View Options" and customize it to your liking. My liking is "Group by kind" (folders to the top) then "Sort by name"

tiborsaas 2y ago

I've found this article recently: https://www.xda-developers.com/4-finder-alternatives-on-macos-to-level-up-your-file-management/ https://www.xda-developers.com/4-finder-alternatives-on-maco...

lylejantzi3rd 2y ago
Hahaha, that's great. Halfway down this article, there's a link to an old article on File Pilot.

keyle 2y ago

I don't think it's technically possible to even replace Finder. If you type "open ." in terminal, it will open in Finder. There is not an optional "set this as default" like browsers. Something we should really push Apple to do. Finder is trash.

asyncze 2y ago
Is it not possible to alias the open command?
kstrauser 2y ago
It’s possible to get pretty close. For example, Forklift’s instructions (go to https://binarynights.com/manual https://binarynights.com/manual, search for “Default File Viewer”) nearly replaces it, except you still have a Finder icon in the dock.

spython 2y ago

ForkLift is really good.

vjekoslav 2y ago

If everything goes well with Windows and the project becomes financially stable, a macOS version is planned.

nguyenkien 2y ago
Mac user tend to buy premium apps more, so you should just made for mac anyway.
- deburo 2y ago
  It does seem like there are more well made, premium apps on Mac. I’ve always been jealous. Eventually a clone is made that supports Windows, but it always seems a bit worse.

darek 2y ago

On macOS my daily driver is Nimble Commander (https://magnumbytes.com/ https://magnumbytes.com/). Super fast, powerful and inspired by Total Commander. It used to be paid but now is free and open source so give it a try. It deserves to be better known.