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Best Finder alternative

For me I’m loving Qspace over Forklift because of:
- more frequent updates
- once I got used to the different way multi-tabs are handled I find it more useful
- many more options allowing it to tailored exactly how I want it
- better archive handling
Those are the main reasons I guess.
 
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MacBH928 said:
can dfx access icloud drive and treat it like local macos folder?
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The answer to your question is yes.

The explanation:
Default Folder X (DFX) is just a File Import/Export/Save/Save As dialog box utility (at its core), so if the app you happen to be in at any given moment can access iCloud Drive in a dialog box, then yes, it works. I don't have a single app that I can think of that has file access dialog boxes that DFX doesn't work with (though I'm sure there are a few out there that exist).
 
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MacBH928 said:
can dfx access icloud drive and treat it like local macos folder?
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure what you're asking with this since there are two interpretations of accessing iCloud drive.

All applications can access the iCloud folders on the Mac; those are in ~/Library/Mobile Documents (and possibly in ~/Documents, ~/Desktop, if you've chosen to sync those). Heck, you can even create a file in terminal and see it show up on the iCloud website. There is some subtlety to using those folders as an application developer, but it's probably pretty trivial. After manipulating the local iCloud folders, the Mac takes care of keeping them in sync with the iCloud server's contents. I suspect dfx just uses the local iCloud folders in this way.

I've not used any application which can directly access iCloud over the internet. QSpace and ForkLift can do such a thing with other cloud providers like Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive, but not with iCloud.
 
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There seems to be some confusion about what Default Folder X (DFX) does. It's simply a File Dialog Box enhancement utility. It doesn't care WHERE a file is stored or saved... if there is a File Dialog Box, DFX works with it. This includes FTP sites (if they're mounted), Cloud folders, regular folders, etc.
 
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MacGizmo said:
There seems to be some confusion about what Default Folder X (DFX) does. It's simply a File Dialog Box enhancement utility. It doesn't care WHERE a file is stored or saved... if there is a File Dialog Box, DFX works with it. This includes FTP sites (if they're mounted), Cloud folders, regular folders, etc.
Click to expand...

Then I don't understand what you meant when you said that DFX doesn't work with QSpace. Is there some special QSpace file dialog box that disables DFX?
 
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svenmany said:
Then I don't understand what you meant when you said that DFX doesn't work with QSpace. Is there some special QSpace file dialog box that disables DFX?
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I should have been more clear. It's not that DFX doesn't work at all, but one of the most useful features of DFX doesn't work with QSpace.

It's hard to explain, but the Finder Window Click feature is what I'm talking about. Basically, when you're in an Open/Save File Dialog box you can hover over any Finder (or Forklift) window that is open to highlight it, then click on it to make it the active folder in the Open/Save Dialog box. It's fantastic for people who have multiple folders open in the Finder and navigating to them in a Dialog box is a pain because the folder(s) are buried deep in the file system.

There may be other features that don't work with QSpace, or that might be the only one that doesn't... but it's one of the top features that matter to me. It's probably DFX that needs updating (it had to be updated to work with Forklift 4), but it still precludes me from using QSpace.
 
MacGizmo said:
I should have been more clear. It's not that DFX doesn't work at all, but one of the most useful features of DFX doesn't work with QSpace.

It's hard to explain, but the Finder Window Click feature is what I'm talking about. Basically, when you're in an Open/Save File Dialog box you can hover over any Finder (or Forklift) window that is open to highlight it, then click on it to make it the active folder in the Open/Save Dialog box. It's fantastic for people who have multiple folders open in the Finder and navigating to them in a Dialog box is a pain because the folder(s) are buried deep in the file system.

There may be other features that don't work with QSpace, or that might be the only one that doesn't... but it's one of the top features that matter to me. It's probably DFX that needs updating (it had to be updated to work with Forklift 4), but it still precludes me from using QSpace.
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Got it. Thanks for the explanation. I guess DFX has a list of applications which it monitors for events and QSpace is not in that list. It might be trivial for them to add it.
 
svenmany said:
...It might be trivial for them to add it.
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You're probably right. Forklift 4 didn't support this feature at first. I sent a bug report to both DFX's developer and filed one with BinaryNights as well.

As it happened, both released an update to their apps at the same time that said their update fixed the incompatibility (which it did). The problem for me is that I don't know which updated app actually fixed the problem or if it was something needed from both of them to get it to work.

In the end though, I'm a happy user of both apps and really have no specific, game-changing reason to leave Forklift. Though I can see that QSpace has a lot of customization and capability, and I'm sure it's a great app, Forklift does what I want it to do perfectly well. So that coupled with the possibility of losing some of the functionality of DFX by switching to QSpace keeps me from even giving it a thorough walk-through.
 
It seems most people agree that QSpace is the best Finder alternative.
I agree and use that as my default filemanager.

There are a few downsides though, but I'm not sure if it's because I did something wrong or if it's a problem in macOS which would mean every alternative to Finder would have those problems, or if it's really a QSpace problem

cmd+click on a Dock Icon should open a Finder/QSpace window showing the App. It doesn't do anything now.
cmd+r in Music (the App formerly known as iTunes) should show the selected file in Finder/QSpace. It doesn't do anything now.

Also I have a smb share mounted all the time, I use the QSpace desktop feature, there it shows the mounted share, but when I double click that Icon it opens a window telling me the location doesn't exist, I need to click the share in the sidebar, that works. In earlier versions of QSpace it did work. I guess I need to write a mail about this, but I'm wondering why this isn't fixed already, as it's very obvious, or this a problem in my setup?
 
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Re QSpace Pro:
  • cmd+click on a Dock Icon works fine for me still opening a Finder window.
  • I make all my SMB shares in Finder, and those 'blow through' into QPace Pro just fine.
 
yup, any new updates on the best alternative? So far Qspace seems to be the champion of this thread. Whatever happened to the other project called "space" or something like that from some threads ago I completely forgot its name.

EDIT: found it ! https://www.spacedrive.com/

---
check this out, looks very promising: https://www.fileside.app/
 
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I've tried most file managers out there on MacOS. On mobile now and can’t remember them all. Forklift was the best IMHO until I found QSpace Pro. No regrets in moving over.
 
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dbrewood said:
Re QSpace Pro:
  • cmd+click on a Dock Icon works fine for me still opening a Finder window.
  • I make all my SMB shares in Finder, and those 'blow through' into QPace Pro just fine.
Click to expand...

I guess you didn't set QSpace as the default filemanager?

If you are using QSpace Pro, just go to Preferences > Open Mode > "Reveal in Finder" with, choose "QSpace Pro". (Restart the apps to take effect)

QSpace - Tutorial

QSpace is a clean and efficient Multi-Pane File Manager, also can be a FTP,SFTP,WebDAV,OneDrive client. It has the same operating habits and interface presentation as Finder, but also supports more flexible and practical features.
qspace.awehunt.com

And also not using the QSpace Desktop feature?
 
dbrewood said:
I've tried most file managers out there on MacOS. On mobile now and can’t remember them all. Forklift was the best IMHO until I found QSpace Pro. No regrets in moving over.
Click to expand...

whats your opinion on FileSide?
 
JonL12345 said:
I've never been that keen on Finder, having been a Windows user for most of my life. I notice there are a few pimped up alternatives to Finder on the market.

What is the best Finder alternative? Are they indeed better than Finder?
Click to expand...

PathFinder
 
MacGizmo said:
There are only three "Finder Alternatives" (Pathfinder, Forklift, and Commander One), the rest are simply add-ons that bring a few features to the existing Finder. To me, those are not Finder alternatives because you're just enhancing the existing Finder.
Click to expand...

I do not think this is accurate, even though the apps you list are the most popular ones.

There are multiple open-source options which can be used on macOS, starting from KDE (Dolphin) and Gnome (Nautilus) solutions to some more obscure ones.
There are other FTP clients (which Forklift is, originally), that can also be used as a Finder replacement, though perhaps not the most convenient one. FileZilla is one of those.
 
AZhappyjack said:
Pathfinder is a hot mess. It used to be good... but that was 5+ years ago... ForkLift is better, and QSpace is better still.
Click to expand...

In all honesty I don’t get how you can use an FTP client as a Finder replacement. Yeah, it is technically possible, but why?

P. S. BTW I agree that PathFinder quality deteriorated somewhat, but so did macOS…
 
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