Discussion summary
Users discuss the limitations of Finder on Mac and explore alternative file managers like Path Finder, Bloom, and others. Some suggest using terminal or specific apps for better file management.
What the discussion says
- Finder is considered inadequate by many users.
- Several alternative file managers are recommended, including Path Finder and Bloom.
- Terminal CLI is preferred by some for file management.
- Users share frustrations with Finder's features and bugs.
“Just switched from Windows to Mac and Finder is terrible.”
“I've been using Path Finder for years, but it was always so-so.”
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- Hacker News
- “Your Downloads folder has 847 files.” Oh no.. do I have a problem? +10k filesby thenthenthen
- Just add an Up Directory button and you’ll be infinitely better than Finder.by othmanosx
- That's a great tool dude! I was looking for similar thing would give it a tryby Z4cki
- First screenshot on the front page has a design issue: text of selected file is in black instead of white.by frizlab
- > First screenshot on the front page has a design issue: text of selected file is in black instead of white.
Good catch. That's already fixed (selected-row text is white now, matching Finder). Just an old screenshot on the site. I'll get it updated. Thanks for flagging it.
by whimbyte - I'm not familiar with .net on Mac, what binding did you use to make this? .NET MAUI? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/developer-tool...by kristianp
- Not MAUI. It's .NET's macOS target (net10.0-macos, the macos workload that descends from Xamarin.Mac), which ships C# bindings for the native Apple frameworks. So the UI is plain AppKit used directly from C#.by whimbyte
- Do you have any kind of public AI statement on the ways this product utilizes or is built with generative AI, if any?by seanclayton
- the point being? the battle of using agentic AI for software development being "stealing" has long been lost.by nubg
- I have a template if anyone wants itby lionkor
- //confused noises//
Wait, are you telling me that macOS has gotten so ensh---ified that many of its users feel the need to purchase a bespoke file manager, arguably one of the most fundamental functions of an operating system?
Surely this is a very specific product for a very specific class of users? This can't be a widespread need, right? RIGHT?
(Context: I haven't used modern macOS in roughly a decade and have no idea what it's like these days)
by ninefathom - Apple makes good hardware but their software is really sucky nowadays. Finder was always crap but today even Windows Explorer is crap so all the default OS file managers stand in the same shit pool.by lenkite
- Guess you have never used norton/windows/midnight commander either?by saithir
- I think most of us software engineering (or related) people don't use the gui interface for file management. I've been using macOS for the last 20 years and I only used the gui for files like 10 or 20 times maybe. Not sure who the target audience is but at $19.99 I would pay a lot of money to have a list of the people who bought the app.by phyzix5761
- (Context: similar to you)
I suppose it's similar to how people used to buy things like Directory Opus. The point isn't so much that the default one doesn't work. A bunch of functions like those listed here, e.g. batch rename and easy image conversion, would be a great help to power users, and should be better than having to install a separate program for each one.
I doubt it's aimed at everybody, but it shouldn't need to be. Software tailored to a specific group's needs is likely to be better for them than something too generic.
by abanana - It's not a widespread issue but it's hardly new. DiskTop was an add-in that's almost as old as the Mac itself, and PathFinder has had a business model for most of the life of OSX.
Alternative file managers are arguably a healthy property; the alternative is the phone where you cannot compete meaningfully with the Files app. And Finder works for most basic needs, something which is not true of its mobile counterpart.
by tl - I think it's more people would rather built their own opinionated file manager than explore or understand how much Finder can really do. This app does a tiny fraction of what Finder can do and has been able to do for decades.by msephton
- Finder has always been crap. When Windows Vista came out, using Finder was like playing with a toy. IYKYK.[1]
Sadly, it has received effectively zero updates since. The only amazing things about the Finder are column view and QuickLook, both of which we've had forever
For reference, both Windows Vista and QuckLook came out nearly 20 years ago. TWENTY.
[1]: One example: you could customize it to show fields from your MP3 files, including the artwork, and *edit* the files inline. Some goes for EXIF. macOS, today, won't even show you something as basic the image dimensions (not file size)by flyingshelf - I had a gap of 5-6 years of not using macOS, now I'm kind of forced as I want my cross-platform native applications to also be available on macOS.
The file manager definitely got a lot worse than it used to be. It doesn't even seem like you can properly move up/down the directory hierarchy anymore with just the keyboard, I think the sequence of holding down "CMD" then spamming "up arrow" no longer takes you to the root, as just one example of workflows they've broken since then.
In comparison though, Windows' file browser is a completely dumpster-fire that sometimes takes 10-20 seconds to load for me, in a relatively barebones Windows 11 installation with 0 network drives. The only stuff that keeps being the same or slightly improving, is the various file managers on Unix/Linux systems, although Gnome's latest iteration took some time before it was as good as the previous versions, for whatever reason.
- Why would anyone trust an app from an anonymous source access their whole filesystem with read/write access? Who are you hello@whimfiles.com and where are you from?by aagd
- nothing beside the lack of willing is stopping you from removing its internet access before giving it the file system permissionsby 217
- The 9MB size alone got my attention. It's refreshing to see a native macOS app that doesn't pull in Electron for everything.by mune2gu-chan
- Could be pulling in webkit. 9MB doesn't mean it isn't based on a web renderer. It would be awesome if software came with a nutrition label. IO, does it phone home, memory safety, does it use web renderer, memory usage, etc.by thx67
- I used to have a greater need for a file manager in other jobs. I don’t have the same need anymore but Forklift (https://binarynights.com/) has always been great and I still use it from time to time.by cloin
- does this index the disk to do this ? So the filemanager is working with an index rather than the files ? It could be stale ?
I haven't found a good file manager for mac since 15 years now. They all just about do the things I need but not good enough. I've never really done the dual pane thing, my favourite gui for file management was Windows XP. Every iteration of explorer since has gotten objectively worse.
On mac I don't even bother trying to filemanage. I remote in to a windows machine.
I need to be able to get paths and paste paths.
for my downloads I just sort by type in list view and delete whatever by type. just do that a few times a year no big deal. I don't understand why we can't have an AI that sorts out the files they half baked 'stacks' onto the desktop, but all that happens is i now have dozens and dozens of stacks which contain dozens and dozens of files.
by jaffa2 - > does this index the disk to do this ? So the filemanager is working with an index rather than the files ? It could be stale ?
Good question. There is no index. WhimFiles reads the actual directory live when you open it, and filtering runs in-memory on the real file list, so there's nothing to go stale. It also watches the folder and refreshes when things change on disk, so you're always seeing the real current state.
On getting/pasting paths WhimFiles does both: "Copy Full Path" in the right-click menu (or from the command palette), and "Go to Folder/File" where you paste a path and jump straight there. That was one of my own Finder annoyances.
by whimbyte - I’m in the same boat, I don’t like Finder (better than Windows Explorer though), nor do I like default macOS files / folders dialogs, and I really dislike drag and drop behavior on macOS
I dont understand why we are stuck in stone’s age with filesystems GUI
by ttoinou - I assume this just uses standard system API, so spotlight or mdfind.
There's an app called Hazel that does your stack sorting. And you can get paths (copy file populates pasteboard with multiple forms, one of which is the file path) and paste paths easily (I use keyboard shortcut but it's also on the context menu). You can paste paths into goto box or even into file selector to instantly change the directory to the location of the file and select it. There are so many "hidden" things like this throughout macOS that it's worth asking before giving up hope that something might not be possible.
by msephton - I like many of the ideas in this app, but IMHO it does not yet look like a macOS app: eg. strange blue focus outlines to denote active state, which on my system are larger vertically than the button they contain but not horizontally which results in a very untidy display, some buttons are smaller than the required/recommended minimum size. Some other things I've noticed, compared to Finder: far less items in the same vertical space, different keyboard shortcuts for same feature makes migration difficult.
My favourite Finder-likes: Nimble Commander, Marta
by msephton - After putting a lot of thought into this, I've ended up making my own dual pane file manager. Oops!by msephton