Portable Double Commander

Managing your files and folders is something that every user has to go through, irrespective of their machine's OS. While the built-in File Explorer on Windows is quite decent in terms of its functionality, third-party solutions always exist if you want to take it a step further.

A good case in point is Portable Double Commander, an installation-free variant of the already well-regarded file manager. The familiar dual-panel interface is here, along with several quality-of-life improvements to help users manage their files and folders more efficiently.

As this is a portable piece of software, there is no installation process to go through. Unpack the archive, then launch the executable — the usual procedure for portable apps. You'll notice the functional, no-nonsense interface right away, as it displays your directories.

Navigating through the interface is smooth, and there isn't much to explain here: navigate through your system as you would with File Explorer, and start organizing your files.

You can move things around more conveniently, thanks to the dual-panel layout, and the additional shortcuts make life even easier. Archive a file selection with the Alt+F5 hotkey, split larger files into smaller bits to store them across hard-drives, calculate occupied space in a given folder or drive, and transfer contents within archives without having to unpack them.

The dual-panel view has several functionality benefits over the regular view provided by File Explorer. Aside from the program affording you the option to work with multiple directories at once, you can also view text files directly through the Thumbnail View, without having to open them: their contents will be previewed just as if they were an image file.

What's more, the way in which users can organize multiple directories is additionally noteworthy: through the Commands menu, users can synchronize their directories automatically, which greatly helps improve efficiency when you want to back up certain data, for example.

Portable Double Commander is a capable tool when it comes to file management, thanks to the many useful features on offer: in addition, getting it up and running is no work at all, and the fact that it's entirely portable is also a bonus.