Far Manager
A two-pane text-mode file manager and shell for Windows, extended by plugins for archives, FTP and network browsing.
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4 more ways to get Far Manager
Other download sites
Run by third parties, not by Far Group. Prefer the official page above when it works.
Package managers
- winget
winget install --id FarManager.FarManager - Chocolatey
choco install farmanager
About Far Manager
Far Manager is the Windows descendant of the Norton Commander two-pane layout: files on the left, files on the right, keyboard commands along the bottom. It views, edits, copies and renames files, with colour highlighting and sort groups to make navigation faster.
Nearly everything beyond the basics is a plugin, through a documented API. Archive support, an FTP client, a temporary panel and a network browser all ship as plugins in the standard distribution, and the community has written many more. It is multilingual, highly configurable and still actively developed, with builds for x64 and ARM64.
Strengths
- Two-pane keyboard-driven layout that is much faster than Explorer for bulk work
- Plugin API with archive, FTP and network browsing plugins in the standard distribution
- Colour highlighting and sort groups make large directories readable
- Actively developed with x64 and ARM64 builds
Limitations
- Windows only
- The text-mode interface looks archaic and takes learning
- Much of the community and documentation is Russian-language
- Configuration depth is high; defaults are not especially friendly
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source under a BSD 3-clause licence.
- License
- BSD-3-Clause
- Developer
- Far Group
- Platforms
- Windows
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Fast keyboard-driven file work on Windows, especially over many files at once
- Categories
- File managers
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Utilities); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 2 sources on file.
Alternatives to Far Manager
Compare allSoftware that can replace Far Manager for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Total Commander
The dual-pane Windows file manager people have been using since 1993, still updated, still shareware.
Total Commander keeps the two-pane keyboard workflow in a graphical interface with archives, FTP and a large plugin ecosystem, but it is paid and closed source.
Double Commander
A free dual-pane file manager in the Total Commander tradition, running on Linux and macOS too.
Double Commander offers a free GPL graphical two-pane manager with multi-rename and FTP that also runs on macOS and Linux, though its releases are infrequent.
Midnight Commander
Two-panel file manager for the terminal, with an editor and remote access.
Midnight Commander is a text-mode two-panel file manager with an editor and remote filesystem browsing, but on Windows it needs Cygwin or WSL.
Multi Commander
Free multi-tab, multi-pane Windows file manager aimed at power users.
Multi Commander swaps text mode for a free graphical multi-pane interface with a scripting engine, but it is closed source rather than BSD licensed.
FreeCommander
Free dual-pane Windows file manager with tabs, search and archive handling.
FreeCommander provides a graphical dual-pane Windows interface with tabs and folder synchronisation, but it is closed source and extra features sit in a paid donor edition.
Directory Opus
Professional Windows file manager with tabs, dual pane, scripting and FTP.
Directory Opus provides a graphical dual pane with scripting, FTP and archive handling, but it requires a paid closed-source licence and has many options to learn.
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