14 DAY TRIAL // With a continuously developing software market we tend - or at least we try - to embrace even the smallest changes. When we are talking about managing and organizing the directory structure for hard drives, computer users are divided in Windows Explorer and Total Commander adepts. Unfortunately, the latter file manager does not have a free license and the number of days you are allowed to use it as such is limited. But wouldn't it be better to have a software that combined the two concepts? So, do you care for a change?
Folder Manager is a free utility that allows you to manage the contents of a selected folder. The installation ZIP package is small and, once installed, the program is presented with a very colorful interface. The main window does not look at all like Windows Explorer nor Total Commander, but more like an aggregate of the two. This feeling is given by the two panels where you can see the folders tree in one of them, and the subfolders and files in the other.
In the upper left side of the program's panel you are able to see the hard drive's tree structure, where you can also navigate freely. You are more than welcome to use the directional keyboard keys, but the CR button does not have any action attached to it so the mouse is essential. Half of the interface is filled with the files and subfolders, and their display is optional. First of all, here you can have only the files with a certain name or extension. Secondly, in the Properties tab you can choose if files with certain attributes like hidden, system, read only and archive are to be shown.
Property Restriction button has 3 different states (|, +, =), with each state represented by a different caption and performing different functions, that change when we click on it (e.g. "+" means the table showing data will contain all the items from the current path that carry at least one of the selected properties). They are all sorted out by an explanatory window the program provides, to be found by right-clicking the Restriction button.
For more customizations, you are able to see only the files or only the folders of a selected directory, and set the order of their appearance (files first, folders first, no order). The yellow auto-sized area will tell the exact path where you currently are and underneath it there is a note concerning the number of files and directories, and the total file size in bytes. As all files have certain attributes preset these can be seen as well as their size, the date and time of their creation.
As the right click mouse button is highly used in this program, let's see what improvements the program brings. Well, there is the copy/move function we are familiarized with, but for this operation to happen we need to define (type in a text file ? awful) all the paths where a file might go to. This I consider a major minus and for me it is enough, as I am used to have operations like these done with a single mouse click (drag and drop are not supported either).
You may consider some features useless not because you will never work with them, but because an error message (Folder manager, 096, 058) will keep appearing on the screen. More than likely the build was not fully tested on Vista (as this is the OS used for tests), therefore the program comes with a few incompatibility issues.
There is a Comments window where you can't do anything (write or save) and the "Archive bit" option is not what you might think it is. I mean, fair enough, you can display certain filenames that "need archiving", but the actual compression is not available anywhere. Annoying is also the fact that you cannot create files other than TXT and the Find feature, for it appeals to the operation system option. It's a bit disappointing as you can clearly see.
If you indeed want to use this program, you have to look in the Options panel. The necessary settings are to be defined in here if you don't want to be asked over and over again while doing operations like delete, copy, move or find. A nice touch comes from the Backup feature the software provides. Better said, the idea of a backup, because what you get is a transfer (copy/remove) of the file/folder which is going to be backed-up to a new location, with its form or type unaltered.
The software supports printing features and a page setup customization. Regarding internationalization and languages, only English and Greek are accepted. As a general idea, there are alternatives on the market that are a bit more suitable for your needs as this application is not as easy to use as the developer says.
The Good
Folder Manager is a utility for managing the content of a selected folder. Assistance is provided at every step by mini-windows activated at a right-click of the mouse. The program has colored panel for the user to tell the difference with more ease.
The Bad
A full help file is not provided. The application is not handy as the operations are not being performed within a few mouse or keyboard touches. Enter keyboard button does not have any implementation in the code. More than this, the code itself has some glitches and doesn't perform flawlessly under Windows Vista OS.
The Truth
To be completely honest with you, I have developed a Midnight Commander-like software under Linux as a project in C programing language during my studies at the Computer Science Faculty and it performed the same as Folder Manager but using it was much easier (fair enough, it had no colors). Free professional tools for file management could exist on the market or not but you can always go for Explorer from your OS.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
