Old path finder user - when did they go to subscription model? Very disappointed, its an ok app, but not so good that I'm willing to pay for it year in and year out
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Best Finder alternative
- Thread starter JonL12345
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PF going subscription was the final straw for me... so it's been at least a couple of years since it went subscription - I found my original purchase receipt - November, 2019.
Last edited:
Feb 2022
Cocoatech
www.cocoatech.io
Why if feels longer than that to some folks is that in the old days, it was years between paid upgrades, then it turned into annual paid upgrades.
v5 2008
v6 2012
v7 2014
v8 2018
v9 2020
v10 2021
v11 2022
Not sure what you mean by Forklift not having "preview"? In fact, you can show a "preview" of files in a sidebar. You can also press spacebar to get a "preview" just like Finder.
The iCloud drive is a major drag for users of all 3rd party finder replacements. Apple is just being jerks about shutting 3rd party finder replacements out.
Shift-Cmd-P will activate/deactivate the Preview pane. It's also on the menu under View > Show Preview.
It creates another column to the right of your directory and will show a preview of text, image and video files. You can also edit text files right in the Preview pane.
I have ForkLift configured to show two directory listings, one above the other (instead of side-by-side)... and the Preview pane is displayed to the right of that.
ForkLift 4 - most advanced file manager and FTP client for macOS
Manage your files quickly across local drives and remote servers with ease. ForkLift is a robust FTP/SFTP/WebDAV/Amazon S3/Backblaze B2/Google Drive/Rackspace Cloud Files client and a powerful and versatile file manager.
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interestingShift-Cmd-P will activate/deactivate the Preview pane. It's also on the menu under View > Show Preview.
It creates another column to the right of your directory and will show a preview of text, image and video files. You can also edit text files right in the Preview pane.
I have ForkLift configured to show two directory listings, one above the other (instead of side-by-side)... and the Preview pane is displayed to the right of that.
ForkLift 4 - most advanced file manager and FTP client for macOS
Manage your files quickly across local drives and remote servers with ease. ForkLift is a robust FTP/SFTP/WebDAV/Amazon S3/Backblaze B2/Google Drive/Rackspace Cloud Files client and a powerful and versatile file manager.binarynights.com
) and thanks for the help. Was hoping for something like in PF witting the sidebar in a small window 
I just received an email from Path Finder. They've changed their licenses to be more acceptable. They also claim to have new and better support people. Maybe they were reading this thread. I'm going to give them another shot and see what I think. If they still have the window sizing bug that drove me crazy, then I'll have to leave them again.
I gotta say, their email leaves me with low confidence in their attention to detail. It is self-contradictory and incorrect in one place. But, their website seems to fix things and is clear on the licensing model. Also, I followed the link from my iPhone and ended up on a page that wasn't properly written for mobile layout. I hope the application developers are completely different people from their website developers and PR people.
I gotta say, their email leaves me with low confidence in their attention to detail. It is self-contradictory and incorrect in one place. But, their website seems to fix things and is clear on the licensing model. Also, I followed the link from my iPhone and ended up on a page that wasn't properly written for mobile layout. I hope the application developers are completely different people from their website developers and PR people.
They wrote a blog entry about it, but there still are no non-subscription variants as far as I can see:
Licenses are Back! - Cocoatech
We now offer both subscriptions and a yearly license
www.cocoatech.io
They wrote a blog entry about it, but there still are no non-subscription variants as far as I can see:
Licenses are Back! - Cocoatech
We now offer both subscriptions and a yearly license
Yeah, you're right.
In the old days, you generally paid for an upgrade at certain points in feature additions (major versions). Now, the trend seems to be you pay for an upgrade at certain points in time. The big difference for me, is that those time windows are very short compared to the major version windows, so things are a lot more expensive these days. Also, you might be paying for upgrades when no significant work has been done.
Their model is now like what ForkLift has said they're planning for the next version. Here's how I read it. You pay for a certain time window and no matter what that window is, if you don't pay again, you just retain access to the version you were on just before the end of that window. Here's how I read their licenses:
If you decide to allow them to automatically renew (you can cancel before renewal)
- 1 month window - you end up paying $35.40/year.
- 6 month window - you end up paying $33.00/year.
- 1 year window - you end up paying $29.95/year.
If you don't want to agree to auto-renew, you get a 1 year window and pay $32.95/year.
I'd love to know if anyone reads their licenses differently than that.
They wrote a blog entry about it, but there still are no non-subscription variants as far as I can see:
Licenses are Back! - Cocoatech
We now offer both subscriptions and a yearly license
I want to add one thing.
I would never assert that the Path Finder model is not a subscription, since so many people use the word subscription to describe it. But, I use subscription to mean something different.
A subscription, to me, is on ongoing payment to ensure access to a service (or something). So, I pay for subscriptions like Dropbox, 1Password, Netflix, etc. They don't bother me since they are remote services that have ongoing costs that the vendor has to pay to continue to provide access and maintain server-side functionality. But many people, including myself, are bothered when you have to pay for continued access to something on your own machine that the vendor spends nothing to keep running.
Path Finder used to be this reasonably offensive kind of subscription. By my definition, they are no longer have a subscription offering. (Though, even they call it that on their website.)
One of the things I like about Window's File Explorer is the ease of folder and file navigation. What I mean is that the left hand pane is set up like a folder tree and the righthand pane shows the contents of the selected folder. The closest that Finder gets to this is the Column view, which is both ugly and a bit clunky--in a word, inelegant.
Based on the marketing, it doesn't look like there is any alternative to finder that uses a "tree" structure like File Explorer. I'd love to be wrong about this, so if I am, please provide any recommendations.
Thanks!
Based on the marketing, it doesn't look like there is any alternative to finder that uses a "tree" structure like File Explorer. I'd love to be wrong about this, so if I am, please provide any recommendations.
Thanks!
Tree views always were a PC feature, as discussed on Hacker News. Mac users never had them, so they never "missed" them. There are a couple of file managers which do implement a directory tree, like Easy Explore, but they are mostly unmaintained as far as I can see.
Thanks, and understood. It just seems very unlike Apple to create an inelegant solution--column view--to a problem that should theoretically be easily fixed. What is ironic about the situation is that Apple does have a tree view, but that view shows the files as part of the tree and not in a different pane.
Hopefully Apple will include this "feature"--which has been in Windows since the early 90s--in a new release of Finder.
I much prefer Apple Finder's tree view (called "list" view) to the Windows Explorer's one. I want to see the files as part of the tree. They are easily collapsed if I don't want them there in some particular case. This aspect, missing from Windows Explorer, makes working on Windows particularly hard for me.
I do spend a lot of time in Finder and Windows Explorer, so this is not a minor point for me.
You'll be waiting forever.
Finder doesn't even have intuitively accessible cut & paste of files from one folder to another.
Unfortunately there's almost zero incentive for Apple to make Finder more feature-rich. And the vast, vast, vast majority of folks won't pay for a better Finder, so there's little incentive to developers.
You'll be waiting forever.
Finder doesn't even have intuitively accessible cut & paste of files from one folder to another.
Unfortunately there's almost zero incentive for Apple to make Finder more feature-rich. And the vast, vast, vast majority of folks won't pay for a better Finder, so there's little incentive to developers.
We'll be waiting forever to get bug fixes to Finder. They drive me crazy!!
Regarding moving files, doing operations in Finder with drag and drop is buggy for me. In list view (tree view), sometimes the file refuses to move. Even though I see the target location highlighted in preparation for the drop, completing the drop leaves the file in its original location. Also, command-alt dragging to create an alias only sometimes changes the mouse pointer to the special symbol indicating an alias is to be created.
Both of those bugs are transient errors. I can get them to fix by doing other things (like dragging a different file) and then returning to the effort. Changing the mouse pointer size does sometimes address the pointer symbol problem.
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Forklift is only US$20 for a single-user license. They no longer offer the "one time fee" option.
They recently changed their pricing model.
Lower prices and a new business model
ForkLift price drop, new business modellblog.binarynights.com
Lifetime license sounds like a "one time fee" to me. Nice price change, btw!
it is - BUT version 4 is in the makes and will be a new license :-((
Has the Path Finder forum been discontinued?
It is not where it was and can't see it on their site.
I would not be surprised as it was one of the negative forums I ever visited.
It is not where it was and can't see it on their site.
I would not be surprised as it was one of the negative forums I ever visited.