Chapter 03

Working with files

Marking files

File commands act on the marked files in the active panel. If no files are marked, they act on the file or folder under the cursor.

Marked entries are shown in a different color, and the bottom line of the panel shows how many are marked and their total size.

Action	Keys and mouse
Mark or unmark the entry under the cursor and move down	Space or Insert
Mark or unmark an entry with the mouse	⌘-click or right-click / Ctrl-click or right-click
Mark all entries	+ or ⌘A / Ctrl+A
Unmark all entries	- or ⌥⌘A / Ctrl+Alt+A
Invert the marks	*

Files → Select all and Files → Clear selection do the same as ⌘A and ⌥⌘A.

Marks are cleared when you open another folder and after a file operation completes.

Copying

Mark the files and folders you want to copy.
Press F5.
Check the destination. It is the folder of the other panel. To copy somewhere else, edit the path.
Click Copy or press Enter.

Folders are copied with everything they contain.

To make a copy in the same folder under a new name, open the same folder in both panels (⌘E / Ctrl+E), place the cursor on the file and press F5. The dialog suggests the file name; change it and press Enter.

You can type a destination path that is:

absolute, for example /Volumes/Backup/2026 or E:\Archive;
relative, which is resolved from the active panel's folder, for example backup or ../old. When copying out of an archive, it is resolved from the folder that contains the archive.

Moving and renaming

F6 moves the marked files to the other panel's folder. It works like copying, and the original files are removed after they have been moved.

To rename a single file or folder:

Place the cursor on it, with nothing marked.
Press F6.
Replace the destination with the new name and press Enter.

A name without a path keeps the file in the same folder.

To rename many files at once with a pattern, use Multi-rename.

When a file already exists

If a file with the same name exists at the destination, the File exists dialog shows both files with their size and date. Choose:

Button	Key	Result
Overwrite	O	Replace this file
Overwrite all	A	Replace this file and all further existing files
Skip	S	Keep the existing file and continue with the next one
Skip all	K	Skip this and all further existing files
Cancel		Stop the operation

Progress and cancelling

While copying or moving, a progress window shows the current file, the number of files done and the amount of data copied. Click Cancel to stop. Files that were already copied before you cancelled stay at the destination; the file that was being copied is removed.

Only one copy or move operation can run at a time.

Creating a folder

Press F7.
Type the name of the new folder and press Enter.

To create several levels at once, type a path such as 2026/March. The cursor is placed on the new folder.

Deleting

Mark the files and folders you want to delete.
Press F8, Delete, or ⌘⌫ / Ctrl+Backspace.
Confirm with Move to trash.

The files are moved to the macOS Trash, the Windows Recycle Bin or the Linux trash, from where you can restore them.

Servers have no trash. On a server, the confirmation is titled Delete permanently and the files are deleted immediately. This cannot be undone.

Showing information about an item

Press ⌥Enter / Alt+Enter to open a window with information about the item under the cursor (on .., about the folder you are in):

its name, path and type,
its size; for a folder, the size of everything in it and how many files and folders it contains, plus the free space on its disk,
when it was modified, created and last opened,
its permissions and owner (macOS and Linux) or attributes (Windows), and where a link points.

For a folder, Space used shows what takes up its space: a ring chart of its biggest items in your color scheme's colors, with a list of their sizes and shares. The folder is measured in the background, so the numbers fill in while you watch; big folders take a while. Close the window with Esc, Enter or ⌥Enter / Alt+Enter.

Opening files

Action	Result
Enter or double-click on a file	Opens the file with its default application
Shift+Enter or ⌘Enter / Ctrl+Enter on a file or archive	Opens it with the default application (an archive opens in the system's archive tool instead of being browsed)
Shift+Enter on a folder	Opens the folder in Finder, File Explorer or your desktop's file manager

Files on servers and inside archives are downloaded to a temporary folder first and then opened from there. Changes you make to such a temporary copy are not written back.

Read-only locations

Some locations can't be changed: archives, the results of a search (as a folder; the files themselves can be changed), and servers or folders where you lack permission. Commands that would change them show a message such as "Can't create a directory here: archives are read-only — extract the files first (F5)".