XplorerXplorer

Features Overview

A complete overview of every feature in Xplorer.

Features Overview

Xplorer is a modern desktop file manager packed with features that go far beyond basic file browsing. This page provides a high-level map of everything Xplorer offers.

File Management

Xplorer handles all standard file operations with extras like progress tracking, conflict resolution, and undo/redo.

  • Copy, cut, paste with real-time progress bars and cancellation
  • Accelerated copy using memory-mapped I/O for large files
  • Rename inline or in bulk with regex, sequential numbering, and date prefixes
  • Paste and Rename for clipboard items with custom name transforms
  • Duplicate files in place
  • Clipboard history to re-paste previous copy/cut operations
  • Move to Trash or permanently delete with confirmation
  • Secure delete using multi-pass overwrite (DoD-standard)
  • Restore from Trash individual items or empty the entire recycle bin
  • File conflict resolution during copy/move (skip, overwrite, rename, apply to all)
  • Symlink creation for files and directories
  • Lock/Unlock files (read-only toggle)
  • Undo/Redo for file operations with full history
  • Create from template (README, .gitignore, HTML, React component, Python, Rust, Dockerfile, and more)

See File Operations for details.

Navigation

  • Breadcrumb address bar with autocomplete and tilde expansion
  • Back/Forward history with keyboard shortcuts
  • Tabs with add, close, switch, and reorder
  • Split panes (horizontal or vertical) with independent navigation
  • Cross-tab selection for batch operations across tabs
  • Pin folders to sidebar for quick access
  • Protocol URLs: xplorer://home, xplorer://trash, xplorer://settings
  • Type-ahead search to jump to files by typing

See File Browsing for details.

View Modes

Xplorer supports eight view modes, each suited to different browsing tasks:

| View | Best for | |------|----------| | Large / Medium / Small Icons | Visual browsing with thumbnails | | List | Scanning large directories quickly | | Details | Sortable columns (name, size, date, type) | | Gallery | Image-heavy folders with filmstrip navigation | | Tree | Expanding nested folders inline | | Column | Miller columns drill-down (macOS Finder-style) |

Additional view features:

  • Smart View auto-selects the best mode based on folder contents
  • Per-folder saved view remembers your preference for each directory
  • Group by date for chronological organization
  • Size heatmap badges showing relative file sizes
  • Size distribution chart in the status bar

See View Modes for details.

File Preview

The right sidebar renders inline previews for 50+ file formats:

  • Images: PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, SVG, BMP, ICO, TIFF with zoom
  • Documents: PDF, DOCX, XLSX
  • Code: 100+ languages with syntax highlighting
  • Data: JSON (tree view), CSV (table), Markdown (rendered)
  • Media: Video and audio players
  • Preview scrubber to cycle through selected files
  • Compare preview for side-by-side file comparison
  • Hover thumbnails with dimensions and size

See File Previews for details.

Search

  • Smart Search with local, AI-powered, and natural language modes
  • File content search with match highlighting
  • Regex search and structured query parsing
  • Filters: file type, date range, size range, extension
  • Saved searches and search history
  • Tokenizer indexing for instant search across the filesystem
  • Semantic search using vector embeddings (requires Ollama)
  • Hybrid search combining keyword and semantic results

See Search & Tokenizer for details.

AI Integration

Xplorer supports multiple AI providers for chat, file analysis, and automation:

| Provider | Models | Setup | |----------|--------|-------| | Anthropic | Claude Sonnet, Haiku, Opus | API key | | OpenAI | GPT-4o, o1, o3, o4 | API key | | Google | Gemini | API key | | DeepSeek | DeepSeek models | API key | | Mistral | Mistral models | API key | | Ollama | Any local model | Local server |

AI Features

  • AI Chat panel with context-aware conversations about your files
  • Chat sessions saved and resumable
  • Chat-as-Files (.chat files stored in directories)
  • File analysis and AI filename suggestions
  • Agent mode with autonomous file read/write, command execution, and plan creation
  • Agent permissions for granular tool and path access
  • Agent memory persisted across sessions
  • Semantic search with vector embeddings
  • File recommendations based on the selected file

See AI Integration and AI Agent for details.

Git Integration

A full Git GUI built into the file explorer:

  • Commit graph visualization
  • Branch management (create, switch, delete)
  • File history and blame view
  • Staging/unstaging and commit creation
  • Stash operations (list, create, apply, drop)
  • Remote operations (pull, push, fetch)
  • File diffs for uncommitted and committed changes

See Git Integration for details.

Extension System

Xplorer ships with 25 extensions and a marketplace for discovering more. Extensions can register:

| API | What it does | |-----|-------------| | Theme.register() | Custom color themes | | Sidebar.register() | Right sidebar panels | | SidebarTab.register() | Left sidebar tabs | | Command.register() | Named commands with optional shortcuts | | ContextMenu.register() | Right-click menu items | | BottomTab.register() | Bottom panel tabs | | Editor.register() | Custom file editors | | Preview.register() | Custom file preview renderers |

Built-in Extensions (25)

Themes: Tokyo Night, Dracula, Nord, Cyberpunk, Ocean Deep

Code and Editing: Code Editor (CodeMirror 6), IDE Mode (project sidebar + file tree)

File Tools: File Hasher, JSON Formatter, Word Counter, Batch Image Processor, Image Editor, 3D Model Viewer, SQLite Browser, Folder Statistics

Integrations: Git, Google Drive, Docker Manager, SSH Manager, Claude Code, Collaboration

Productivity: Architecture Visualizer, Incremental Backup, Problems Panel, Software Finder

See the Extension System documentation for the full reference.

Keyboard and Input

  • Customizable shortcuts with profiles and context-aware bindings
  • Global shortcuts that work even when the app is unfocused
  • Vim Mode with normal, visual, insert, and command modes
  • Command Palette (Ctrl+P) with fuzzy search, favorites, and history
  • Extension-registered shortcuts

See Keyboard Shortcuts for details.

Compression and Archives

| Format | Compress | Extract | |--------|----------|---------| | ZIP | Yes | Yes | | TAR / TAR.GZ / TAR.BZ2 / TAR.XZ | Yes | Yes | | RAR, 7Z | -- | Yes |

Features include archive inspection, selective extraction, and progress tracking.

Security

  • AES file encryption with password protection (.enc files)
  • File decryption with password
  • Secure delete with multi-pass overwrite
  • Extension permission system with review dialog before installation

File Comparison

  • Text diff with character-level and line-level comparison
  • Side-by-side and unified diff views
  • Folder comparison (left only, right only, both)
  • Hash comparison (SHA-256, SHA-1, MD5)

Tags, Notes, and Metadata

  • File tags with colored categories and batch tagging
  • Auto-tag files using AI
  • File notes with search across all notes
  • File annotations with resolved/unresolved status
  • Custom key-value metadata with batch editing

Cloud and Sync

  • Google Drive multi-account integration (browse, upload, download, manage)
  • Bookmark sync and tag sync to the cloud
  • Auto sync on startup or interval

See Google Drive for details.

Terminal

  • Integrated terminal (XTerm.js with full PTY)
  • Multiple terminal sessions
  • Auto-detect system shell
  • Open in terminal from any directory context menu

Additional Features

  • Storage Analytics with disk usage charts, file type distribution, and cleanup suggestions
  • Duplicate Finder with parallel hashing and progress tracking
  • File Versioning with auto-version on save, restore, and per-directory configuration
  • Docker Management for containers and images
  • Image Processing (resize, convert, rotate, crop, brightness, grayscale, batch)
  • SQLite browser for .db files
  • Workspace layouts (save and restore pane arrangements)
  • Drag and drop with cross-pane support and drop validation
  • Folder colors for visual organization
  • Onboarding tour with spotlight walkthrough
  • Auto-updater with download progress
  • Backup and restore for settings (export/import JSON)
  • Audit log with operation history, filtering, and export
  • i18n in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Indonesian

See Accessibility, Themes, and Onboarding Tour for more.