XYplorer 21.50.0000

Overview

If you find Windows explorer boring, slow or just not enough, XYplorer is here for you. It is a tabbed file manager that will take explorer’s place and will let you navigate through your computer’s files and folders, search for them, queue file operations for more efficiency, define commands to simplify tasks and in general will give you the power to do a multitude of things while keeping the difficulty of use at low levels.

Installation

There are two installation methods: using the installer package or using no-install package. If you use the installer package you will be guided through a series of steps to setup this program in your computer normally. The no-install package is useful if you want to use the software on different computers. You can run it from your USB flash disk just like a portable application. The no-install package is a RAR or ZIP archive (you can choose which one you want to get in the downloads section of the homepage) that contains all the necessary files needed for XYplorer to run. All you have to do is extract it and launch the application.

The supported operating systems are Windows 7, 2008, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, NT, Me and 98. Both 32 and 64-bit systems are supported.

Interface

The main window consist of the menu bar, the toolbar, the address bar, a disk explorer pane on the left and the contents of each folder in the center. The files can be shown in different styles; such as details, icons or thumbnails in different sizes. You can have multiple folders open at once since XYplorer supports tabbed navigation. The whole interface is very customizable, with tons of viewing options that change the look of every feature in the program.

Pros

An impressive and unique feature is Mini Tree. When you open one folder after another in order to find the buried one you’re looking for, you consume time and make the tree structure more complicated. Mini Tree is a smart way to help you avoid all this hassle by showing you only the paths that you have visited. You don’t have to look for nested folders anymore, as they appear right under the main folder they are located in. You can enable and disable Mini Tree any time from the View options in the menu bar.

With XYplorer, tasks like Copy and Move become background processes so that you can keep on working while they happen. In the configurations menu you can alter the settings for various file operations to be processed in the background. Tasks involving file operations can be queued too, which means that if multiple file operations are taking place then they will not be processed in parallel but sequentially. For example if you copy a folder from one path to another, and while this task is taking place you delete another folder, the deletion will not happen until copying has finished. This is more efficient and convenient for your disk since it doesn’t place too much strain on your disk.

User-Defined Commands (UDCs) is a handy way to manage usual tasks like opening a file, going to a location, running a script etc. automatically. The tasks that you decide to convert into commands appear in the User menu and can be performed whenever you want to. For faster access you can assign hotkeys to each command too.

Cons

Not a con per say but you should be aware that it has so many features and options that will confuse you if you just want to use it for simple tasks. Many sub-menus in every menu exist and that makes it difficult to find the option you’re seeking.

Alternatives

Total Commander (shareware) and FreeCommander (freeware) are two file managers for Windows. They both have an excessive list of features, such as file compare and batch rename tool, but XYplorer has some interesting features (like Mini Tree) that none of them has implemented. EF Commander is another good option to try.

Conclusion

Want to perform advanced tasks that explorer can’t handle easily? Check out XYplorer. It is the best tool for multiple and unusual tasks that will save you both time and effort.