Corresponding Medium.com article with further explanation: "Working with Windows feels tedious?"
In this repo you can finding a custom configuration for the Windows File Explorer tool FreeCommander XE. It offers a lot of benefits in contrast to the standard Windows Explorer, but the user experience on the default UI is not optimal. So I tweaked it. Feel free to download and modify it to your liking.
- 2022-01-08: Added custom color scheme: Dark mode!
- 2022-01-08: Updated to the latest configuration.
For me, the features of the standard Windows Explorer are not sufficient. So I evaluated some alternative file explorers and stuck with FreeCommander XE. It's a great freeware and I can really recommend checking it out (see Features below).
But: The interface and the sheer number of features can be overwhelming for new users. Without extensive customization in the settings, the default FreeCommander is quite bulky to use.
Solution: I created an optimized starter pack configuration, which in my opinion addresses these challenges. The number of UI elements is reduced, further settings are streamlined. This hopefully helps people to get a head start with this powerful file explorer.
Screenshot Comparison
| Vanilla FreeCommander UI | Customized FreeCommander Configuration (this) |
|---|---|
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| Cluttered UI and bulky default settings | Optimized settings for better user experience |
I generally customized a lot of UI colors and margins. Following some FreeCommanderXE features I edited:
| Feature | Description | Shortcut | Screenshot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tabs | Use tabs instead of having to open multiple windows (similar to your browser). I edited the tab size and coloring to be easier recognizable. | New tab: Double click on empty space right of a tab. Restore tab: Right-click in tab area an select Recently closed... |
|
| Split View | Two parallel views for comparison use cases. Powerful feature, now easily accessible. | Press Ctrl + Spacebar to activate/deactivate |
 |
| Property-based file name colorizing | My configuration colors read-only files & folders in red and recently edited files in dark blue. This really usefull in finding recently changed items (believe me). | Done automatically. Colors are editable under Settings/View/File-Folder-List |
 |
| Quick Filters | Easily pin down the one file you are looking for. Works in an instant. Capable of search expressions like logical ANDs. | See the documentation on the FreeCommander Website. |  |
| Custom Action Toolbar | I rearranged all the items and show only a small set of useful ones. | Customizable with right-click on the Action Toolbar. |
 |
| File Quick View | You can preview files in a sperated area with the click of a button. I chose spacebar (like on MacOS). The quick viewer can display text files, pdfs, images, and much more. |
Press space to open/close quick file view. |
 |
| Copy file paths to clipboard | You can select multiple files and get all their paths copied into the clipboard. Often handy in development tasks. | Just hit the marked button from the action toolbar. |   |
| Dark Mode (new) | I added a custom dark mode based on the colors of VS Studio Code. Note: Not all colors can be changed currently. | Make sure you copied the ColorSchemes folder to your FreeCommanderXE installation location. Then change the schema via View/Color Schemes/ Dark_Midnight_by_vii |
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| Fast parent folder navigation | Small gem at the end: You can double click on a free area in the file list to move up to the parent folder. So basically inverse to double click on a folder. You will miss this in Windows Explorer after 5 minutes of usage. I promise. | Double click on a folder: Move hierarchy down. Double click on a free area: Move hierarchy up. |
 |
There are many more things FreeCommanderXE is capable of doing:
- You can start command prompts from your current folder. I disabled the input field for this, as I use a different approach (
Right click -> open PowerShell here) and wanted to save UI space. You can reenable this, if you want to. - You can work with multiple "quick access" lists / favorite shortcut list. This is handy, if you want to separate your work folders from personal folders.
- FreeCommanderXE has a very useful search function, where you can even fine-tune search parameters, e.g. search only for files or folders, set maximum file size and so on. Compare this to the Windows 10 search (not).
- FreeCommanderXE is capable of doing diffs on two folders.
- FreeCommanderXE has a built-in multi rename capability (not yet tested).
- Install FreeCommander XE.
- Clone this git repository.
(For beginners: Click on the green "Code" button and then on
Download ZIP. Unzip the downloaded folder.) - Open up FreeCommander. Go to
Tools / Restore all settings. Select the cloned folder. - Confirm and wait for FreeCommander to restart.
- Done!
Remarks
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You have to update the links in the favorites section or create new ones yourself (right-click in the favorites section)
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When you change settings, hit the
Tools / Save Settingsbutton. These are not saved automatically to reduce the closing time of the software. You can re-enable this in the settings if you want to. -
You can change the UI language under
Tools / Settings / General.
If you have questions just drop me a message. For further information I can recommend checking out the mentioned Medium article above.
Happy exploring!