41. File Manager¶
The File Manager shows your folders and files in one of two views:
- The tree view (the default) is the one you know from Windows Explorer or the Finder: your folders as a tree on the left, the contents of the chosen folder on the right. You work with the mouse: the right mouse button opens a menu, and files are dragged to where they should go.
- The two-panel view shows two folders side by side: one where things are, one where they should go. Copying a file is then one key, F5. Anyone who knows Midnight Commander or Total Commander will feel at home, and the function keys are printed at the bottom of the window.
View → Tree (Ctrl+1) and View → Two Panels (Ctrl+2) switch between them. The File Manager remembers your choice.
Start it with the File Manager slot of the Front Panel, which opens your home folder, or with amade-files.
The tree view¶
- The folder tree on the left starts with your Home folder, the Trash, the File System (everything, from
/) and every USB stick or disc that is plugged in; a stick appears a few seconds after you plug it in. Click the small handle in front of a folder to open it. Click a folder to see what is in it. - The list on the right shows the files of that folder with name, size, date and permissions. Click a column heading to sort by it. Click a file to select it, Ctrl-click to add more, Shift-click to select a range. Double-click opens a folder or opens a file with its program.
- The path bar at the top shows where you are, one button per folder (see Typing a path below).
- The status line at the bottom shows the selected files with their size and the free space on the disk, and on the right what the File Manager has just done.
The menu on the right mouse button¶
Click a file with the right mouse button for what you can do with it: Open, View, Edit in Text Editor, Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename…, Move to Trash, Delete Permanently… and Copy Path. If several files are selected, the commands work on all of them.
The right mouse button on a folder in the tree offers New Folder…, Paste into Folder, Rename…, Move to Trash and Open in Two Panels; on the free space below the files New Folder…, Paste and Show Hidden Files. In the trash the menu offers Restore and Empty Trash…. Your home folder, the trash, the file system and USB sticks cannot be moved, renamed or deleted.
The keys work as in the menus. While the folder tree has the keyboard focus (click a folder, or Tab to switch between tree and list), F2, Del and Ctrl+X work on the folder chosen in the tree.
Cut, copy and paste¶
Ctrl+X (cut) or Ctrl+C (copy) puts the selected files on the clipboard; Ctrl+V in another folder moves or copies them there. Pasting copied files into their own folder makes a copy beside them, called report (2).odt. The clipboard also works with other file managers, so you can copy files between amadeOS and, say, Thunar or Nautilus.
Drag and drop¶
Drag files with the mouse onto a folder, in the tree or in the list. A note next to the mouse says what will happen when you let go:
- Without a key, files are moved within the same disk and copied onto another one, such as a USB stick.
- Hold Ctrl to copy, Shift to move. Esc cancels.
- Dropping files on the Trash moves them to the trash.
- If you rest the mouse on a closed folder of the tree, it opens, so you can go deeper.
Files can also be dragged between the File Manager and other programs.
Coming from Windows or macOS
This is how Windows Explorer behaves: drag within a drive moves, drag to another drive copies. The Finder of macOS does the same. Only the keys differ: on a Mac, Option copies.
The two-panel view¶
- The path bar above each panel has one button per folder of the path, as in CDE: click one to go to that folder. The active panel has the coloured path bar.
- The list shows name, size, date and permissions; the line
..leads to the folder above. - The status line below each panel shows the selected files with their size, and the free space on the disk.
- The function-key bar at the bottom: each button does what its key does.
View → Show Second Panel (Ctrl+F1) switches to one panel and back. The menu on the right mouse button, cut, copy and paste and drag and drop work here as well, also from one panel to the other. Open in Two Panels in the menu of a folder in the tree opens that folder here.
Typing a path¶
Click the free space of the path bar, or press Ctrl+L, and the path becomes text you can type in. Type a folder, such as ~/Pictures (~ is your home folder), and press Enter; a file's path opens its folder with the file selected. Tab completes the name of a folder, as in a terminal. Esc goes back. The path is selected, so Ctrl+C copies it.
The right mouse button on the path bar offers Copy Path, which copies the path of the folder you clicked, and Edit Path.
Moving around¶
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enter or double-click | Opens a folder, or opens a file with its program |
| Backspace | Goes to the folder above |
| Ctrl+1 / Ctrl+2 | Tree view / two-panel view |
| Tab | Switches to the other panel; in the tree view between tree and list |
| Ctrl+L | Type a path in the path bar (~ for your home folder, Tab completes) |
| Ctrl+H | Shows or hides hidden files |
| Ctrl+U | Swaps the two panels |
| Ctrl+= | Shows the same folder in the other panel |
| Ctrl+R | Reads the folder again |
Selecting files in the two-panel view¶
Selecting, called marking, is separate from the cursor bar. Ins or Space marks the file under the cursor and moves down; marked files are bold and red. With the mouse, Ctrl-click and Shift-click mark. Ctrl+A marks all, Ctrl+Shift+A none, Ctrl+I turns the marks around. Without marks, the commands work on the file under the cursor.
Copying, moving, renaming¶
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| F5 | Copies to the folder of the other panel (the target can be changed; in the tree view it asks) |
| F6 | Moves to the folder of the other panel |
| Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V | Cut / copy / paste files |
| F2 | Renames |
| F7 | Makes a new folder |
| F3 / F4 | Opens the file in its program / in the Text Editor |
| Ctrl+Shift+C | Copies the paths of the files to the clipboard |
Copying and moving run in the background with a progress window and a Cancel button. If a file of the same name is already there, the File Manager shows both and asks: Overwrite, Skip, Keep Both (the copy is called report (2).odt), or the same for all files.
A copy is written under a hidden name first and gets its real name only when it is complete. A cancelled copy, a full USB stick or a pulled plug never leave a half file behind that looks like the real one.
The trash¶
F8 or Del moves files to the trash, and so does dropping them on the Trash in the folder tree. The Trash Can at the right end of the Front Panel, the Trash in the tree, or Go → Trash, shows what is in it, with the folder each file came from and when you threw it away.
- File → Restore from Trash puts the marked files back where they were.
- File → Empty Trash… deletes everything in the trash for good, after asking.
- F8 inside the trash deletes the marked files for good, after asking.
Shift+F8 or Shift+Del deletes for good straight away, after asking. Files on a USB stick go to a trash on the stick itself, so throwing them away is quick and emptying the trash frees space on the stick.
Coming from Windows or macOS
The trash is the Recycle Bin or Bin you know. It follows the freedesktop.org standard, so other Linux programs see the same trash.
Planned
Folders that refresh by themselves, quick search by typing, tabs and bookmarks, an icon view, dragging files onto the desktop and the Front Panel, file properties and Open With…, archives as folders, and folders on other computers (SFTP).
Under the hood
The settings, such as the view, hidden files and the folders of both panels when you closed the File Manager, are in ~/.config/amadeos/files/files.conf. amade-files /tmp /media opens the File Manager with these folders in the left and right panel, and amade-files trash: opens the trash.