Which File Manager is best?

User Support General
1

Hi everyone, im newish and a UI user on; Qubes 4.3 & i like to use a lot of file management stuff, filing away files, editing them, working on them a lot & wondered what the best opensource file manager is that i need to do the stable job very well with lots of features etc as i currently using “Files” which came on Fedora 43 template & its rubbish, glitchy and has no features, worse one ever… :cold_sweat:

I want it as a repo as need to use it on a offline VM Qube (USB-Vault) type.
I do have repo FlatPac installed if that helps.

2

I recommend terminal-based file managers, like yazi, lf or ranger. As for GUI file managers, I use Thunar in rare cases.

3

how do i get Thunar?

4

In Debian template terminal: sudo apt install qubes-core-agent-thunar
In Fedora template terminal: sudo dnf install qubes-core-agent-thunar

1 Like
5

Thanks, i did so but it looks very limited, can i get better than Thunar pls?

7

Hi @betty. Generally we try to keep things more focused on Qubes. But sometimes it’s hard to set the boundary. In this case I think it’s OK to keep the post to help people understand the various file manager options but you may have more luck searching for file managers for fedora or debian and install those.

8

where im confused is that in QubesOS 4.2 in the native Files there was colour, highlighting files and folders options and so-forth yet in 4.3 i just cant understand how to get back these features in any given file manager of Qubes, maybe im doing something wrong?

9

My personal favourite is the nemo file manager. If you want to add Qubes-specific integrations to it, you can use: GitHub - Atrate/qubes-nemo-context-actions: Context actions for the Nemo file manager for Qubes OS · GitHub

10

Where did you see this “native Files” in 4.2? That would help people to
help you.
Are you looking for options to provide color, or to color files and
folders differently? What?

Generally, the best File manager is the one that works best for you -
some people prefer to manage files etc at the command line, or with a
tui, some fully featured GUI. Be specific about what you want, and
where you want it, and you will get help.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.

1 Like