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Best Finder alternative

I don't know what the developer of Path Finder are doing.. it's not improving their app - that's for sure.

At this point I feel that there are only two viable competitors; ForkLift and Qspace with Marta on the outer most circle. Marta I have to say feels like the more reliable of the 3 file managers.

Marta has a more reliable Merge feature and I don't expect Marta to crash at any point during its operations.
I can't say that for Qspace. It's a heavy app to deal with and I think that feeds on my fear to have Qspace suddenly go belly up. ForkLift is similar to that of Marta with a more macOS-like feel.

Qspace has received so many updates recently that it's hard to keep track. There's some translation issues from Chinese to English in the app which I think is forgivable.

Qspace and their Show Qspace Desktop feature is much better than that of Path Finder's Show Path Finder Desktop. Even with Path Finder's new 2021 edition silliness. Sounds like a car model.

In all honesty file managers aren't used that much by me as they were on when I had an Amiga and a PC - Finder could do better with the Merge feature it has an show a little more details when Merging.
 
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I just tried QSpace. It seems nice, but has the same issue that ForkLift has; it doesn't remember the expansion state when working in tree view. That is, it doesn't remember which subdirectories were expanded when viewing a particular directory. So, you always have to click all the expanders again to get the collection of subdirectories showing. Finder and Path Finder do remember that state.

Also, I find it has an annoying delay when clicking on the expansion button before the actual subdirectories are exposed. It's so slight that many might not notice it. My computer is from 2018, so maybe a user with a more recent, faster computer wouldn't experience that at all.
 
I'm in the process of switching from Path Finder to QSpace Pro. In QSpace Pro, how do you save & restore multiple tabs ("workspaces"). I can only work out how to save one at a time.

(In PF it's "Save Set...")
 
With tears in my eyes I’m quitting PathFinder. They wanted to go the subscription business and I do not support subscription for tools. I pay monthly for services not for hammer. So, PathFinder is no longer an option for me. It was a great tool for me and I was one of this app advocates since day one. This time I can justify the monthly payment and for that reason I’m out.
 
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I WAS the one said:
With tears in my eyes I’m quitting PathFinder. They wanted to go the subscription business and I do not support subscription for tools. I pay monthly for services not for hammer. So, PathFinder is no longer an option for me. It was a great tool for me and I was one of this app advocates since day one. This time I can justify the monthly payment and for that reason I’m out.
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That was a huge turn in events. I thought that you would stick it out until the end of time for Path Finder. Welcome to the club. But, are you sure you won't take up on any of the offers that comes in the various BundleHunt discounts? Like Path Finder for a year for only $3 or $5 ?
 
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I've been using a couple of different file management systems for a while. One thing that seems to elude me is the ability to look at the EXIF/Metadata of images, especially RAW files (Canon's CR3, in particular).

With MacOS's native apps, Finder and then (open in Preview) I can open a window called Inspector to view all this data.

This is a long-winded way of doing things. It's been a while since I've used Windows but if I remember, opening a folder with images then right clicking on one to get info displays all of this.

Which app under MacOS is best to do this?
 
I used and enjoyed Pathfinder for several years, but have given up on it since OS Monterrey. I am sure I am not a common use case. I run two Parallels windows desktops, connect to multiple windows SMB shares, transfer very large files to and from these shares and FTP sites and have the entire network protected through Sonic Wall. I am sure that any of these things could contribute to my Pathfinder issues but since Monterrey I experienced one or two hard hangs a day when accessing files in Pathfinder which prevented a normal shutdown and disabled Finder. Since I have unistalled it, I have had zero issues. At present I am just using Finder,but may go back and try Forklift aagin.
 
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As someone who used Norton Commander on DOS, Forklift really is my tool of choice. Two panes, lots of optional views, batch renaming, keyboard controls, filtering, it just works. As every optional file manager it has some small omissions that make you go to finder for specific things, but it is what I install first on a new Mac. Really recommend it and I think it is maintained well.

For those of you upset by the new subscription model of Pathfinder (and to a smaller degree the new yearly model of Forklift), maybe give Setapp a try. It includes FL and PF and some other apps you might find useful and to me seems to be a better model than single-app-subscriptions. I wish the Apple App Store would go down this Spotify-route.
 
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In all honesty, Apple should just fix the finder but they are more interested in emojis

H_D said:
As someone who used Norton Commander on DOS, Forklift really is my tool of choice. Two panes, lots of optional views, batch renaming, keyboard controls, filtering, it just works. As every optional file manager it has some small omissions that make you go to finder for specific things, but it is what I install first on a new Mac. Really recommend it and I think it is maintained well.

For those of you upset by the new subscription model of Pathfinder (and to a smaller degree the new yearly model of Forklift), maybe give Setapp a try. It includes FL and PF and some other apps you might find useful and to me seems to be a better model than single-app-subscriptions. I wish the Apple App Store would go down this Spotify-route.
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If you mean all apps maybe, $10 and I can use any app I want in the app store but I do not think this business model works and I am not subscribing to each app I use.
 
bob_stan said:
I used and enjoyed Pathfinder for several years, but have given up on it since OS Monterrey. I am sure I am not a common use case. I run two Parallels windows desktops, connect to multiple windows SMB shares, transfer very large files to and from these shares and FTP sites and have the entire network protected through Sonic Wall. I am sure that any of these things could contribute to my Pathfinder issues but since Monterrey I experienced one or two hard hangs a day when accessing files in Pathfinder which prevented a normal shutdown and disabled Finder. Since I have unistalled it, I have had zero issues. At present I am just using Finder,but may go back and try Forklift aagin.
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Exactly my experience.
 
H_D said:
As someone who used Norton Commander on DOS, Forklift really is my tool of choice. Two panes, lots of optional views, batch renaming, keyboard controls, filtering, it just works. As every optional file manager it has some small omissions that make you go to finder for specific things, but it is what I install first on a new Mac. Really recommend it and I think it is maintained well.

For those of you upset by the new subscription model of Pathfinder (and to a smaller degree the new yearly model of Forklift), maybe give Setapp a try. It includes FL and PF and some other apps you might find useful and to me seems to be a better model than single-app-subscriptions. I wish the Apple App Store would go down this Spotify-route.
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Nope. Understand, we are not supporting subscriptions here. That would be crazy if Apple start doing that crap. Subscriptions are for services, not for tools. You buy a hammer, not rent one.
 
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I WAS the one said:
You buy a hammer, not rent one.
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But you (can) rent tools: air compressors, post hole diggers, Tillers and I assume (somewhere) hammers. No reason to buy a hammer if you just need to hit one nail. Adobe Photoshop meets the description of a tool:

A device or implement, especially one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function.

A thing used in an occupation or pursuit.

‘computers are an essential tool’

The transition to a subscription model, particularly for high end apps, is inevitable. The only place where it might not happen is when the software is used to promote other sales, such as Final Cut Pro.
 
HDFan said:
Adobe Photoshop meets the description of a tool
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As I said, if you BUY a hammer it is because you will be using it forever, or for a long time until you need a new one.

Let me give you a better example... There are two types of people. The ones that know the value of money and the ones that don't. One group will go to a dealership and will buy a car, and the other will go with the Lease (rent to buy) option. Both knows the car will drop value as soon they go out of the dealership. Who make the best decision? That's up to you to answer. I already answered mine.
 
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I WAS the one said:
There are two types of people. The ones that know the value of money and the ones that don't. One group will go to a dealership and will buy a car, and the other will go with the Lease (rent to buy) option.
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There are a lot of people who value their money but choose to splurge in some areas where it gives them pleasure, be it fine watches, wines, cars, etc. Doesn't mean that that they are careless with their money.

If I wanted to save the most money on a car purchase I wouldn't use any of the options presented. I'd buy used. Well, that has been my history. Not exactly a great bargain these days.
 
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I WAS the one said:
Yes they are. Used cars are great, by the way.
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@HDFan described some discretionary purchases that some people might make. To that you responded that such people were being careless with money.

Being careless with money means not carefully considering how one spends it. Discretionary purchases are often carefully considered.

Any Finder replacement is probably a discretionary purchase, whether by a subscription or not. I have no problem with subscriptions if they are fairly priced. I exercise the same care whether I’m purchasing with or without a subscription.
 
I'm checking out Forklift again after they lowered the entry price... my initial impressions is that I like it more than Commander One (I've been using the free edition of Commander since bailing on PathFinder earlier this year). I might even like it more than PF.

My last experience with Forklift many years ago seemed like it was primarily geared towards FTP, and while that functionality is still obviously there, it now feels much more like a Finder replacement than an FTP utility that has some Finder functionality. I'm generally impressed enough that I'm not missing PF anymore.

Forklift's new "hybrid" subscription pricing (which is effectively a subscription unless your Macs remains stuck in time) is at least better than a straight subscription, so I give them props for that. The single user license allows usage on all my Macs (they're used only by me). US $20/yr is reasonable, their hybrid subscription approach allows me to decide when Iwant to upgrade (based on my system needs rather than an arbitrary calendar date), and Forklift offers enough little touches over Commander that it's probably worth it to me to give it a go.
 
Looked back at 1Password -- I have *six* licenses for Path Finder. Damn I've spent a lot of money just to browse my files acceptably.

That said, I'm pretty sure I've only ever paid the Path Finder upgrade price, never more than $20 and even then only when I felt like it was time to upgrade. $30/yr is ridiculous for something where my usage has essentially not changed in years.

Anyways, sticking with 10.2 until it stops working... and then I guess I'll start looking around for something else?
 
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CubeApril said:
Looked back at 1Password -- I have *six* licenses for Path Finder. Damn I've spent a lot of money just to browse my files acceptably.

That said, I'm pretty sure I've only ever paid the Path Finder upgrade price, never more than $20 and even then only when I felt like it was time to upgrade. $30/yr is ridiculous for something where my usage has essentially not changed in years.

Anyways, sticking with 10.2 until it stops working... and then I guess I'll start looking around for something else?
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Forklift is a one time fee ($45) and does a great job. I believe they even offer a free trial.
 
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