MacCommander is intended to manage your files and folders. Fortunately, it supports browsing not only local directories but also FTP sites and remote data storage services. The app is undoubtedly inspired by the old two-pane commanders. Actually, it also looks quite similar to many of the tools of this type available nowadays. However, the help documentation is poor and you will probably need to discover its features on your own.
MacCommander goes beyond the traditional two panes as it also lets you open various tabs in each of those panes. This way you can switch from one location to another in the blink of an eye. There is also the possibility of bookmarking given directories to keep them always at hand.
Most of the operations, such as copying, highlighting, pasting and switching between panes are keyboard-supported. In this regard, there is a set of shortcuts you can use. However, if you are not good at remember keyboard combinations, you can still use your mouse as drag-and-drop operations are also allowed.
In addition to common operations like browsing folder contents and searching for files, you can also use this tool for some other things. In this regard, it is great news that it lets you compare the contents of two directories, edit text files and preview file contents. Likewise, it can create and unzip a long list of archive types, even those which have been protected with passwords.
In my opinion, one of the best advantages of this file explorer is that it can mount remote directories and treat them as though they were local. For such purpose, there is a built-in FTP/SFTP client. Similarly, you can use Bonjour to mount remote file services, with support of most protocols, including AFP, SMB and WebDAV.
In general, what is best about MacCommander is that it facilitates file operations and integrates various services into a single app. Regrettably, this product has not been updated for some years, which means that it has not been optimized to work on the latest macOS versions. Finally, it is always good news that using this tool involves no cost.
v1.1
Minor improvements in GUI (the panels alignment when the tab bar is off, no vertical grid in the file browsers)
Add an option for the user to show file extension in ‘Name’ column
Content of an FTP/SFTP directory containing lot of symbolic links is loaded much faster
Use of anonymous FTP services is simplified
Allow re-trying failed FTP/SFTP operation (when “Continue?” dialog is shown)
The user can now go to an enclosed folder of a found file from the search results panel
(BUGFIX) the app does not ask for permission for accessing protected folders (like Desktop) which results in no-access
(BUGFIX) the app should not allow for AppNap when it is performing a user requested operation
(BUGFIX) a FTP symlink is always recognized as broken when its target has a space in the name
(BUGFIX) when uploading, the calculated size does not take into account the symlinks handling strategy
(BUGFIX) synchronizing patches between the panels when there is a SFTP opened may lead to multiplying connections
(BUGFIX) when the app was closed with ftp/sftp dir shown, it will always show the tab bar next time it is started
(BUGFIX) unable to close the progress dialog when an operation completes while the app is minimized or hidden
(BUGFIX) counting directory size for FTP/SFTP makes progress dialog appear and disappear sometimes
