Getting Started

Introduction

Nimble Commander is a free dual-pane file manager for macOS, designed with a focus on speed, keyboard-based navigation, and flexibility. The project aims to blend the user experience of classic file managers from the '80s and '90s with the modern look and feel of Mac computers. Nimble Commander follows the design principles of orthodox file managers, specifically dual-pane file managers. This website contains an in-depth study of this kind of software: Less is More: Orthodox File Managers as Sysadmin IDE.

System Requirements

The current version of Nimble Commander supports any Mac running the following versions of macOS:

macOS 15 Sequoia
macOS 14 Sonoma
macOS 13 Ventura
macOS 12 Monterey
macOS 11 Big Sur
macOS 10.15 Catalina

It runs natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon (ARM) architectures.

Below is the compatibility table for older releases of Nimble Commander:

Versions	Architecture	Minimum macOS Version
1.2.9 - 1.7.0	x64 & ARM64	macOS 10.15
1.2.0 - 1.2.7	x64	OS X 10.11 El Capitan
1.1.0 - 1.1.5	x64	OS X 10.10 Yosemite
1.0.7 - 1.0.9	x64	OS X 10.9 Mavericks
1.0.5 - 1.0.6	x64	OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
0.1.0 - 1.0.4	x64	Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

Installation

Nimble Commander is portable; it doesn't require the installation of additional components and can run from any folder. When downloaded from the Mac App Store, Nimble Commander is automatically placed in the /Applications folder. If it was downloaded from the website, it can be copied into the /Applications folder by dragging the icon there. You can also run Nimble Commander directly from a .dmg disk image; in this case, Nimble Commander will offer to move itself to the /Applications folder.

Running the Application

Simply double-click on the Nimble Commander icon to start it.

Access Permissions

If you downloaded Nimble Commander from the Mac App Store, the application will request permissions when navigating to a new location. This requirement is imposed on all applications published in the Mac App Store as a safety measure to prevent unauthorized access outside of the sandbox container. You can revoke granted access permissions at any time by clicking Settings > General > Granted filesystem access > Reset. The permission request will appear as shown below:

Even if you downloaded Nimble Commander outside of the Mac App Store, accessing certain locations will require granting permissions. As of this writing, the list of such locations includes:

Desktop Folder
Documents Folder
Downloads Folder
Network Volumes
iCloud Drive

To use Nimble Commander in these locations, you need to grant the necessary permissions in System Settings under Privacy & Security > Files and Folders section. Alternatively, you can grant Nimble Commander Full Disk Access in System Settings under Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access section.

Version Differences

There are two existing versions of Nimble Commander: the sandboxed version available in the Mac App Store, and the standalone version available for direct download from the website. Both versions are mostly equal in terms of functionality. The sandboxed version consumes slightly more resources due to sandboxing, but it provides an additional layer of protection. The notable features missing from the sandboxed version are:

Admin mode, as sandboxed applications are not allowed to install privileged helper tools.
Integrated terminal, as sandboxed applications are not allowed to send termination signals to other applications.
Mounting network shares, as sandboxed applications are not allowed to use the NetFS framework.
Interceping F1..F19 keystrokes as functional without holding the Fn modifier, as sandboxed applications cannot ask for accessbility permissions.

File Panels

Introduction

Below is a screenshot of a typical interface of Nimble Commander:

The main window is typically split vertically between the two panels. Sometimes these panels are called panes; both words will be used interchangeably later on. Only one panel is active at a time, which is indicated by highlighting. To change the active panel, you can click on the desired panel or use hotkeys:

Tab: focuses on the opposite panel
Shift + Cmd + Left: focuses on the left panel
Shift + Cmd + Right: focuses on the right panel

The proportion between the left and right panels can be changed by either dragging a vertical separator line or by using the hotkeys: Ctrl + Alt + Left and Ctrl + Alt + Right. A panel can also be collapsed entirely so that only one is visible. This can be achieved by changing the width proportion until one panel is completely removed or by using the hotkey Shift + Cmd + P, which toggles between dual-pane and single-pane modes.

Each panel is vertically divided into three logical parts:

Header: contains the path of the current location and the indicator of the sorting mode.
File items: displays a list of the file items in the location of this panel.
Footer: shows the filename of the focused item, its size and modification date, the total number of items in the panel, and the free space available on this storage.

Navigation

Nimble Commander supports both mouse-based and keyboard-based navigation inside the file panel, although the keyboard is preferred. Use a single mouse click to change the cursor position (i.e., the focused item) and scroll gestures to scroll through the contents of the file panel without changing the cursor position. The navigation hotkeys are the following:

Up: moves the cursor up
Down: moves the cursor down
Left: moves the cursor left
Right: moves the cursor right
Home: moves the cursor to the first element
Opt + Home: scrolls the contents to the first element
End: moves the cursor to the last element
Opt + End: scrolls the contents to the last element
Page Up: moves the cursor to the previous page
Opt + Page Up: scrolls the contents to the previous page
Page Down: moves the cursor to the next page
Opt + Page Down: scrolls the contents to the next page

To navigate to a different folder inside the file panel, either double-click on it or press Return when the folder is focused. To go to a parent folder, do the same with the .. pseudo-folder located at the beginning of the items. Displaying the .. folder is optional and can be turned off in the Settings dialog. Pressing Backward Delete (Backspace) or Cmd + Up navigates to the parent folder, regardless of the current cursor position.

Nimble Commander stores location history for each file panel. To navigate the history back and forth, use the Cmd + [ and Cmd + ] hotkeys.

There are some locations that can be navigated to using hotkeys:

/: Root of the filesystem
~ and Shift + Cmd + H: Home folder
Shift + Cmd + O: Documents folder
Shift + Cmd + D: Desktop folder
Opt + Cmd + L: Downloads folder
Shift + Cmd + A: Applications folder
Shift + Cmd + U: Utilities folder

To navigate to a commonly used location, you can use the Go To popup, which can be opened by pressing the F1 / F2 hotkey or via the menu: Go > Left Panel... / Go > Right Panel.... This popup provides quick access to favorite locations, volumes, connections, and locations of other panels. Elements of this popup have hotkeys associated with them in the order of appearance: 0, 1, ..., 9, 0, -, =. Any text typed while the Go To popup is open will act as a filter, hiding locations that do not contain the typed text in their names. Once you click on the selected location, the panel will navigate there and become focused if it wasn’t already. Here is what the popup looks like:

To navigate to an arbitrary location on the filesystem, you can use the GoTo dialog opened by the Shift + Cmd + G hotkey or through the menu: Go > Go To Folder.... In this dialog, you can type any path, and after clicking the Go button Nimble Commander will navigate to the specified folder. Below is the view of this dialog box:

If the cursor is currently pointing to a file that is a symbolic link, the Cmd + Right hotkey can be used to navigate to the location the symlink points to.

Opening Items

The Return key does more than just navigate into folders. The action performed when you press Return depends on the type of item:

For regular folders, it navigates into them.
For archive files, it opens the archive and takes you to its root directory.
For executable items, it runs the file inside the built-in terminal emulator.
For all other items, the default macOS association is used to open them.

If you need to open an archive with a non-standard extension (.xlsx, .pak etc), you can force Nimble Commander to navigate into it instead of opening the item with an external application by using the Cmd + Down hotkey or the Go > Enter menu item.

The Shift + Return hotkey opens an item in macOS using its default association, regardless of the item type.

To open an item outside of Nimble Commander using a specific application, select the application from the Open With menu, which is available in the context menu or the File menu.

Panel Management

You can swap the contents of the left and right panels using the Cmd + U hotkey or the menu item View > Swap Panels. This operation also transfers the focus to the opposite panel.
To sync the contents of the opposite panel with the contents of the current panel, you can use the Opt + Cmd + U hotkey or the menu item View > Sync Panels.
In most cases, Nimble Commander will automatically refresh the contents of the file panel whenever the underlying part of the filesystem changes. Sometimes, however, it's not possible to automatically detect these changes. In such cases, the panel can be manually refreshed using the Cmd + R hotkey or the menu item View > Refresh.

The two panels in a Nimble Commander's window normally have the same width. If needed this proportion can be changed by either dragging the splitter located between them or by using the Ctrl + Opt + Left / Ctrl + Opt + Right hotkeys. Here is an example of panels with different widths:

A panel can be collapsed entirely, turning the UI into single-pane mode. This can also be done via the Shift + Cmd + P hotkey or the View > Toggle Single-Pane Mode menu item. To return to dual-pane mode, expand the collapsed panel the same way it was previously collapsed, or use the Shift + Cmd + P hotkey or the View > Toggle Dual-Pane Mode menu item. The following screenshot provides an example of how single-pane mode looks:

Selection

Nimble Commander follows the UX of orthodox file managers and diverges from the typical MacOS UX when it comes to item selection. It treats item selection and cursor position separately, which means moving the cursor does not change the selection of items in the panel. Below is an example of a panel with some selected items and the cursor focused on an item that is not selected:

There are numerous ways to manipulate the item selection using the keyboard or mouse in Nimble Commander:

Cmd + A: selects all items.
Opt + Cmd + A: deselects all items.
Ctrl + Cmd + A: inverts the selection.
Shift + Up / Shift + Down: inverts the selection of the currently focused item before moving the cursor. The behaviour (selection or deselection) is determined when the Shift key is pressed and persists while it is held down.
Shift + Cursor Movement: changes the selection within the range starting at the current cursor position and ending at the new cursor position. The selection is inverted depending on the state of the initially focused item: if it was not selected, the entire range will be selected; if it was already selected, the whole range will be deselected.
Enter: inverts the selection of the currently focused item and moves the cursor to the next item.
Cmd + Click: inverts the selection of the clicked item.
Cmd + =: selects all items with a filename matching the specified file mask or regular expression.
Cmd + -: deselects all items with a filename matching the specified file mask or regular expression.
Alt + Cmd + =: selects all items with the same extension as the currently focused item.
Alt + Cmd + -: deselects all items with the same extension as the currently focused item.

Sorting Modes

Nimble Commander offers various ways to organize items in a folder. You can sort the items in ascending or descending order based on the following properties:

Name
Extension
Size
Modified Time
Created Time
Added Time
Accessed Time

A letter indicator in the top-left corner of the file panel shows the current sorting criteria:

Indicator	Criteria	Order	Example
`n`	Name	Ascending	a ... z
`N`	Name	Descending	z ... a
`e`	Extension	Ascending	csv ... zip
`E`	Extension	Descending	zip ... csv
`s`	Size	Descending	10 MB ... 1 MB
`S`	Size	Ascending	1 MB ... 10 MB
`m`	Modified Time	Descending	20:43 ... 18:15
`M`	Modified Time	Ascending	18:15 ... 20:43
`b`	Created Time	Descending	20:43 ... 18:15
`B`	Created Time	Ascending	18:15 ... 20:43
`a`	Added Time	Descending	20:43 ... 18:15
`A`	Added Time	Ascending	18:15 ... 20:43
`x`	Accessed Time	Descending	20:43 ... 18:15
`X`	Accessed Time	Ascending	18:15 ... 20:43

This is an example of the sorting pop-up menu shown after clicking on the sorting indicator:

You can change the sorting order by clicking on the indicator and selecting a new option in the pop-up menu, by using the menu View > Sorting, by clicking the column headers in List View mode, or via the following hotkeys:

Ctrl + Cmd + 1: Sort by Name.
Ctrl + Cmd + 2: Sort by Extension.
Ctrl + Cmd + 3: Sort by Modified Time.
Ctrl + Cmd + 4: Sort by Size.
Ctrl + Cmd + 5: Sort by Creation Time.
Ctrl + Cmd + 6: Sort by Added Time.
Ctrl + Cmd + 7: Sort by Accessed Time.

When changing the sorting order via hotkeys or the menu, the behavior depends on the previous sorting order. If the criteria are different, it will switch to the selected criteria with its default order (as shown in the table above). Selecting the same sorting criteria again will toggle the order between ascending and descending.

Nimble Commander also provides some customization options to fine-tune sorting:

Separate Folders from Files places all folders before any regular files.
Extensionless Folders forces extension-based sorting to treat any folder as if it doesn't have an extension.
Comparison affects how filenames are compared when determining the order:
- Natural: takes into account locale-specific collation rules and treats digits as numbers. This is the same ordering used by Finder and approximately follows the Unicode collation algorithm. The slowest of the three.
- Case-Insensitive: A Unicode-based comparison that ignores the case of letters in filenames.
- Case-Sensitive: A simple Unicode-based comparison that compares characters one by one without transformations. The fastest of the three.

Quick Search

Nimble Commander offers a fast way to locate a file in a folder by typing a few letters from its name. This keyboard-based navigation is called Quick Search. It's highly customizable and can behave differently based on your settings, but at its core, the idea is simple: any keyboard input can be used to filter folder items. To remove the filtering, press the Esc button to clear the search query.

Quick Search underscores the items with matching filenames and offers two ways to handle non-matching items: either continue showing them or hide them from the listing. This behavior can be changed in the Settings dialog: Panel > Quick Search > When searching: Show all items or Show only matching items. The following screenshot shows how Quick Search filters out all items except the two that match the input query 'color':

An optional key modifier can be specified so that only keypresses with the chosen modifier will be registered as input for Quick Search. There are 5 different options for the modifiers that can be chosen in Panel > Quick Search > Key modifier:

Opt
Ctrl + Opt
Shift + Opt
No modifier (default)
Disabled (turns off Quick Search altogether)

The input query can be interpreted in different ways. There are 5 options for matching filenames against it, configurable in Panel > Quick Search > Where to search:

Fuzzy: Letters from the input query must appear anywhere in the filename, in the same order.
Anywhere (default): The input query must appear as a whole anywhere in the filename.
Beginning: The filename must start with the input query.
Ending: The filename must end with the input query.
Beginning or ending: The filename must start or end with the input query.

When filtered-out items are configured to still be shown, and a key modifier is set, it can be used to lock navigation within the matching files. Using normal keyboard navigation (Arrows, Home, End, etc.) while holding the modifier will restrict the cursor movement to only the matching files.

View Modes

Nimble Commander can display the contents of a panel in two modes: Brief and List. The Brief mode shows only basic item information, such as the filename, icon, and tag colors, and arranges the items in consecutive columns. This allows more items to fit on the screen and enables the cursor to move both vertically and horizontally. The List mode, on the other hand, displays panel items in a table format, where each row represents a single item and each column represents an attribute. This mode allows only vertical cursor movement. The screenshot below shows how the same folder, /usr/bin, is displayed in Brief and List modes:

By default, Nimble Commander has 4 preconfigured modes, which you can switch using the View > View Mode menu or via the hotkeys listed below:

Ctrl + 1 - Short: A Brief mode that shows 3 equal-sized columns per panel.
Ctrl + 2 - Medium: A Brief mode that uses dynamically sized columns depending on the widths of filenames.
Ctrl + 3 - Full: A List mode that shows the following columns: filename, size, date created, date modified, and date added.
Ctrl + 4 - Wide: A List mode that shows two columns: filename and size.

You can fine-tune, rearrange, and add new custom panel layouts in the Settings dialog: Settings > Panels > Layout.

Quick Lists

Quick Lists is another mechanism in Nimble Commander for accessing specific locations with minimal keypresses, tailored for keyboard use. It is similar to the Go To popup but provides more locations and does not mix different types of locations. A Quick List popup is shown inside the focused panel, and its content can depend on the panel itself. There are 6 kinds of Quick Lists, which can be accessed via the menu Go > Quick Lists or via the hotkeys below:

Cmd + 1 - Parent Folders: A list of parent folders up to the root of the filesystem.
Cmd + 2 - History: A history of recent locations visited in this panel.
Cmd + 3 - Favorites: Favorite and frequently visited locations.
Cmd + 4 - Volumes: Currently attached system volumes.
Cmd + 5 - Connections: Network locations that Nimble Commander can connect to. Clicking on a connection establishes it and navigates the panel to the default location on that remote resource.
Cmd + 6 - Tags: A list of known file tags. Clicking on a tag shows all items with the selected tag in the panel.

This screenshot shows a Volumes Quick List:

Tabs

File panels support a tabbed interface, allowing multiple locations to be opened simultaneously on either the left or right pane. The tab bar appears automatically if more than one tab is open in a pane, but it can also be forced to always show via the menu View > Show Tab Bar or by using the hotkey Cmd + Shift + T. The screenshot below shows Nimble Commander's window with two tabs in the left pane and three tabs in the right pane:

A new tab can be opened in several ways:

Menu File > New Tab or the Cmd + T hotkey creates a new tab with the same location.
Pressing the "+" button next to the tab bar. A long click or right click will display a list of recently closed locations.
Hitting the Shift + Cmd + R hotkey restores the last closed tab and activates it.
Alt + Cmd + Return reveals the currently focused item in a new tab on the opposite pane.

To switch the active tab, the following hotkeys can be used:

Shift + Cmd + ] or Ctrl + Tab to switch to the next tab.
Shift + Cmd + [ or Ctrl + Shift + Tab to switch to the previous tab.
The File Panels > Show Tab №1..№10 hotkeys can be assigned to activate a specific tab.

To close tabs, you can use the following hotkeys:

Cmd + W - closes the current tab.
Alt + Cmd + W - closes all other tabs.

Favorites

Favorites is a list of frequently accessed locations, similar to those in other software. Nimble Commander provides quick access to these locations through the following:

The Go > Favorites menu.
Go To popups (F1/F2).
The Favorites quick list (Cmd + 3).

You can manage the list of favorite locations in the Favorites window, which can be opened via the Go > Favorites > Manage Favorites... menu or the hotkey Ctrl + Cmd + B. To add a directory to the list, use this window, click the + button, and select a path from the drop-down list. Alternatively, you can add a directory with the hotkey Cmd + B or the File > Add to Favorites menu item. Use the - button in the Favorites window to remove a location. The Favorites window also allows you to synchronize the list with Finder Favorites or reset it to the default set of location. A favorite location can represent any path available in the macOS filesystem or any virtual filesystem supported by Nimble Commander, such as network filesystems, archive contents, file extended attributes, or the process list.

This screenshot shows the Favorites window:

Searching for Files

To recursively search for filesystem items that meet specific criteria, you can use the Find Files dialog. Press Cmd + F or select the File > Find menu item to open it.

This dialog allows you to search for files based on various criteria:

Filename Matching.
Search for files whose names match a specified pattern. Both file masks and regular expressions are supported.
Content Search.
Find files containing or not containing specific text. You can customize the search’s case sensitivity, specify whether an exact phrase match is required, and set the appropriate text encoding.
File Size.
Search for files of a specific size. You can specify the size and indicate whether it should be smaller than, equal to, or larger than the specified value.

Once files are found, you can:

Quickly view a selected file with the built-in viewer while keeping the dialog open.
Navigate to a selected item in the file panel, which closes the dialog automatically.
Reveal all found items in a temporary file panel for further actions, also closing the dialog in the process.

Operations

Introduction

Nimble Commander executes file operations in the background whenever possible to ensure the user interface remains responsive. Most operations are tied to the window where they originated, allowing you to monitor progress and providing options to pause or cancel as needed. When file operations are in progress, they are displayed in the central part of the window, just above the file panels:

Copy

You can initiate the copying of filesystem items in several ways:

Using the F5 hotkey or selecting the menu item Command > Copy To...: This opens the Copy dialog, where you can choose the destination (defaulting to the location of the opposite panel), select which file attributes to retain, and decide whether the copy should be verified.
Using the Shift + F5 hotkey or selecting the menu item Command > Copy As...: Similar to the option above, but it pre-fills the dialog with the original item's name, allowing you to quickly duplicate the item with a new name.
Using the Cmd + V hotkey: If the pasteboard currently holds a path to a filesystem object, pressing this hotkey will copy that item into the folder displayed in the active file panel.
Dragging items with the mouse while holding the Opt key: This action copies the selected item(s) to the destination.

Duplicate

Pressing the Cmd + D hotkey or selecting the menu item File > Duplicate duplicates the selected item(s) in the active panel within their current folder.

Move

To move items from one location to another, you can use the following methods:

Using the F6 hotkey or selecting the menu item Command > Rename / Move To...: This opens the Move dialog. Similar to copying, it allows you to select which file attributes to preserve when moving between different filesystems and whether the result should be verified.
Using the Shift + F6 hotkey or selecting the menu item Command > Rename / Move As...: Similar to the option above, but it pre-fills the dialog with the original item's name. This allows you to quickly rename the item or move it into a sub-folder.
Using the Opt + Cmd + V hotkey: If the pasteboard currently contains a path to a filesystem object, pressing this hotkey moves that item into the folder displayed in the active file panel.
Dragging items with the mouse: This action moves the selected item(s) to the destination.

Rename

To quickly rename an item in place, single-click its filename or press Ctrl + F6.

Batch Rename

Nimble Commander allows you to rename multiple items at once by applying a rename pattern. To open the Batch Rename dialog, select the items you want to rename, then press the Ctrl + M hotkey or choose Command > Batch Rename from the menu:

The renaming process consists of the following steps:

Decomposing the original filename and constructing a new one by combining a sequence of placeholders.
(Optional) Searching and replacing parts of the filename.
(Optional) Transforming the letter case.

The placeholders mini-language includes the following elements:

Based on the original filename:
- [N]: File name (e.g., example.txt -> example).
- [E]: File extension (e.g., example.txt -> txt).
- [A]: Full filename (e.g., example.txt -> example.txt).
- [P]: Parent filename (e.g., Parent/example.txt -> Parent).
- [G]: Grandparent filename (e.g., Grandparent/Parent/example.txt -> Grandparent).
- All these placeholders have options to query substrings:
  - [Nx]: The xth character of the string.
    example.txt → [N4] → m
  - [Nx-y]: Characters from the xth to the yth position.
    example.txt → [N2-4] → xam
  - [Nx,y]: y characters starting from the xth position.
    example.txt → [N5,2] → pl
  - [Nx-]: Characters starting from the xth position to the end.
    example.txt → [N5-] → ple
  - [NOx-y]: Characters from the xth to the yth position, padded with zeros.
    example.txt → [N05-10] → 000ple
  - [N x-y]: Characters from the xth to the yth position, padded with spaces.
    example.txt → [N 5-10] → ␣␣␣ple
  - [N-x,y]: y characters starting from the xth-last position.
    example.txt → [N-5,3] → amp
  - [N-x-y]: Characters from the x-last to the y-last position.
    example.txt → [N-5-2] → ampl
  - [Nx--y]: Characters from the xth to the yth-last position.
    example.txt → [N2--2] → xampl
  - [N-x-]: Characters starting from the xth-last position to the end.
    example.txt → [N-4-] → mple
Based on the file's modification time:
- [d]: Localized date (e.g., 07-12-2024).
- [Y]: Year in 4-digit format (e.g., 2024).
- [y]: Year in 2-digit format (e.g., 24).
- [M]: Month in 2-digit format (e.g., 12).
- [D]: Day in 2-digit format (e.g., 07).
- [t]: Localized time (e.g., 13.58).
- [h]: Hours in 2-digit, 24-hour format (e.g., 13).
- [m]: Minutes in 2-digit format (e.g., 58).
- [s]: Seconds in 2-digit format (e.g., 43).
Based on the counter settings:
- [C]: Default counter; all settings are taken from the dialog.
  [C] → 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
- [Cx]: Counter starting at x.
  [C5] → 5, 6, 7, 8, 9...
- [Cx+y]: Counter starting at x and incrementing by y.
  [C5+5] → 5, 10, 15, 20, 25...
- [Cx+y/z]: Counter starting at x, incrementing by y, and grouping every z items.
  [C5+5/2] → 5, 5, 10, 10, 15...
- [Cx+y/z:w]: Counter starting at x, incrementing by y, grouping every z items, and padding to w digits.
  [C5+5/2:3] → 005, 005, 010, 010, 015...
- Custom settings are optional and can be omitted. For instance, [C:w] or [C+y:w] are valid.
Capitalization commands:
- [U]: Converts the following text to UPPERCASE.
- [L]: Converts the following text to lowercase.
- [F]: Capitalizes the first letter of each word in the following text.
- [n]: Resets capitalization; the following text retains its original case.
Other placeholders:
- [[: Inserts an opening square bracket ([).
- ]]: Inserts a closing square bracket (]).

The Rename Dialog provides a preview of how the renamed list of files will look. No renaming will take place until you click the OK button or press Cmd + Return.

Delete

Nimble Commander allows you to delete filesystem items or move them to the Trash, where supported. To quickly move an item to the Trash, press the Cmd + Backspace hotkey or select the menu item Command > Move to Trash. If the Trash functionality is not supported on the current volume, a Delete dialog will appear, asking you to confirm whether you want to delete the item permanently. You can also invoke the Delete dialog using the F8 / Shift + F8 hotkeys or their corresponding menu items: Command > Delete... and Command > Delete Permanently.... When applicable, the dialog provides an option to choose between deleting and moving to the Trash. The difference between the two commands lies in the default selection presented in the dialog.

Create Folder

There are two ways to create a folder in Nimble Commander:

Using the F7 hotkey or the menu item Command > Create Directory. This command opens the Create Directory dialog, where you can specify the name of the new folder before making any changes to the filesystem. This method also allows you to create missing folders in a nested path. For example, entering New 1/New 2/New 3 will create three nested folders if they do not already exist on the filesystem.
Using the Shift + Cmd + N hotkey or the menu item File > New Folder. This command creates a new empty folder with a temporary name and opens an in-place rename editor, allowing you to change the name immediately.

Create File

Press Alt + Cmd + N or select the menu item File > New File to create a new, empty file with a temporary name. An in-place rename editor will appear, allowing you to rename the file immediately.

Change Attributes

You can change an item's attributes using the Ctrl + A hotkey or by selecting the Command > File Attributes menu item:

This dialog displays the current permissions, flags, ownership, and timestamps. It supports changing these attributes for multiple items simultaneously. In such cases, differences between the items will be indicated by indeterminate checkbox states.

If any of the selected items is a folder, the dialog provides an option to apply the changes recursively to all nested items.

Please note that changing certain attributes requires administrator rights and will fail if executed without enabling Admin Mode.

Compress

Nimble Commander includes a built-in compression tool that allows you to archive files. Currently, only the ZIP archive format is supported. Archives can be password-protected using AES-256 encryption.

To create an archive in the same location as the source items, press F9 or select Command > Compress... from the menu. To place the resulting archive in the location of the opposite panel, press Shift + F9 or select Command > Compress To....

Manage Links

In Nimble Commander, you can create new hard links and create or edit symbolic links. By default, these actions do not have assigned hotkeys. They can be accessed via the Command > Links menu, which includes the following options:

Create Hard Link.
Create Symbolic Link.
Edit Symbolic Link.

Virtual File Systems

In addition to browsing the "real" filesystem available on MacOS, Nimble Commander allows you to interact with other resources as if they were part of the normal filesystem. Most operations, such as browsing, searching, viewing, and modifying, work seamlessly with these virtual filesystems (VFS). When a file on a VFS is modified using an external editor, Nimble Commander automatically reflects the changes in the underlying VFS.

Currently, the following virtual filesystems are supported:

Archives and Compressed files
File types include ar, bz2, bzip2, cab, cpgz, cpio, gz, gzip, iso, jar, lha, lz, lzma, lzo, lz4, mtree, pax, rar, tar, xar, xz, z, zip, zst, 7z. Archives can be opened in read-only mode, and modifications are not allowed. Paths of archived folders will include a prefix derived from the archive’s own path.
Network protocols
- FTP
  Enables connection to FTP servers. Paths for these resources will have an ftp:// prefix.
- SFTP Enables connection via the SSH protocol when the SSH File Transfer Protocol is enabled.
  Paths for these resources will have an sftp:// prefix.
- WebDAV
  Enables connection to WebDAV servers. Paths for these resources will have http:// or https:// prefixes.
- DropBox
  Enables direct connection to Dropbox storage. Paths for these resources will have a dropbox:// prefix.
Extended attributes
You can open an item’s extended attributes (xattrs) as a read-write folder and interact with these attributes as though they were regular files.
Process list
This VFS displays all processes running on the computer as files in a folder. Each file represents a process and contains textual information about that process. Deleting a file from this VFS will terminate the corresponding process.

External Editors

You can configure a list of editor applications in the Settings dialog. To modify these settings, navigate to Nimble Commander > Settings > Editors. When you press F4 or select the Command > External Editor menu item, Nimble Commander selects an appropriate editor based on the file extension of the currently focused file and opens the file in that editor. External editors can be executed either as standalone macOS applications or as command-line tools within Nimble Commander’s terminal emulator.

Tools

Similar to external editors, tools allow you to define a set of applications that Nimble Commander can execute. The key difference is that, with tools, you have full control over the parameters passed to the application at startup.
Additionally, tools can be assigned a designated hotkey, and their icons can be placed on the toolbar for easy access. To define external tools, navigate to Nimble Commander > Settings > Tools.

To execute a tool, you can:

Press its hotkey (if specified).
Click its icon in the toolbar (if added).
Select its menu item from the Command > Tools menu.

External tools can only be executed when a panel points to a location on the macOS filesystem. Virtual File Systems (VFS) are not supported.

When called, tools can run in one of two modes, depending on the Startup Mode setting:

Run Detached: Executes the tool as a standalone macOS application.
Run in Terminal: Executes the tool as a command-line utility within Nimble Commander’s terminal emulator.

The parameters passed to an external tool are defined using placeholders. Nimble Commander replaces these placeholders with specific values when the tool is executed.

Supported placeholders:

Insert the focused item:
- From the source (current) panel:
  - %p: Item's path.
  - %f: Item's filename.
  - %n: Item's filename without the extension.
  - %e: Item's extension.
  - %r: Panel's path.
- From the target (opposite) panel:
  - %-p: Item's path.
  - %-f: Item's filename.
  - %-n: Item filename without the extension.
  - %-e: Item extension.
  - %-r: Panel's path.
Insert the selected items:
- From the source (current) panel:
  - %P: File paths as parameters.
  - %xP: File paths as parameters, limited to x files.
  - %LP: File paths in a temporary text file.
  - %xLP: File paths in a temporary text file, limited to x files.
  - %F: Filenames as parameters.
  - %xF: Filenames as parameters, limited to x files.
  - %LF: Filenames in a temporary text file.
  - %xLF: Filenames in a temporary text file, limited to x files.
- From the target (opposite) panel:
  - %-P: File paths as parameters.
  - %-xP: File paths as parameters, limited to x files.
  - %-LP: File paths in a temporary text file.
  - %-xLP: File paths in a temporary text file, limited to x files.
  - %-F: Filenames as parameters.
  - %-xF: Filenames as parameters, limited to x files.
  - %-LF: Filenames in a temporary text file.
  - %-xLF: Filenames in a temporary text file, limited to x files.
Ask for a value when executed:
- %?: Prompts for the parameter value.
- %"message"?: Prompts for the parameter value with a custom message.
Other placeholders:
- %%: Inserts the % character (escaping).
- %-: Switches between source/target panels and left/right panels.
- %xT: Limits the total number of files passed to the tool to x.

Integrated Viewer

Nimble Commander features a built-in viewer that lets you examine files without leaving the application:

The viewer works seamlessly with both real and virtual filesystems. For instance, you can view compressed files without unpacking the archive first.
When viewing large files, the integrated viewer loads only a small portion of the file at a time, keeping memory usage minimal.
If a file is modified while being displayed, the viewer automatically refreshes its contents.
When viewing the tail of a file, such as an actively updating log file, the viewer adjusts the scroll position automatically to follow new appended data.

The built-in viewer supports three modes:

Text Mode (Cmd + 1)
Displays the file contents as readable text based on the selected encoding.
When applicable, syntax highlighting is applied according to the file’s extension.
Hex Mode (Cmd + 2)
Displays the file contents in 16-byte rows as hexadecimal values.
Each row includes:
- Its offset.
- Two 8-byte blocks of hexadecimal data.
- A textual representation of the bytes.
  The selected encoding is used to interpret the file’s bytes as human-readable text.
Preview Mode (Cmd + 3)
Renders the file contents using Quick Look for a graphical or more detailed preview.

The viewer can operate within the application window where it was launched, replacing the file panels with its interface. Alternatively, it can be configured to appear as a separate floating window.

To open the built-in viewer, press the Alt + F3 hotkey or select the Command > Internal Viewer menu item. To close it, simply press Esc.

Integrated Terminal

Nimble Commander includes a built-in terminal emulator, allowing you to run command-line utilities without switching to another application. The terminal emulator supports most VT100 commands and many extensions, such as 256 colors and mouse support.

The terminal is context-aware and synchronizes the current panel's folder with the shell's path. This synchronization is bi-directional, executing cd in the terminal updates the panel path, and changing the folder in the panel updates the terminal’s working directory. Supported terminal shells include bash, zsh, csh, and tcsh.

There are two ways to use the terminal emulator in Nimble Commander:

Full-Window Mode.
In full-window mode, the terminal occupies the entire application window, temporarily hiding the file panels. This mode is ideal when you need to focus exclusively on command-line tasks. You can toggle this mode by pressing Alt + Cmd + O or selecting the View > Show Terminal menu item. To exit and return to the file panels, press Alt + Cmd + O again or select the View > Hide Terminal menu item.
Overlapped Mode.
In overlapped mode, the terminal is positioned below the file panels, allowing both to remain visible simultaneously. This configuration is particularly useful for users familiar with orthodox dual-pane file managers, where a command-line interface is always accessible. If desired, you can configure Nimble Commander to redirect keyboard input directly to the overlapped terminal even when it isn’t focused by enabling the option under Settings > Panels > Behavior > Redirect keyboard input to the overlapped terminal. To reveal the terminal in overlapped mode, press Ctrl + Alt + Up to move the file panels upward. You can hide it again by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Down. For a clearer view of the terminal, you can fully hide the file panels by pressing Ctrl + Alt + O, and press the same shortcut again to bring the panels back into view.

Hotkeys

The available hotkeys are listed below. These are the default settings, which can be customized as needed. Some actions do not have default hotkeys but can still be accessed through the application’s menu.

Action	Key Equivalent
Nimble Commander Menu
About
Preferences	Cmd + ,
Enable Admin Mode
Hide Nimble Commander	Cmd + H
Hide Others	Opt + Cmd+H
Show All
Quit Nimble Commander	Cmd + Q
Quit and Close All Windows	Opt + Cmd + Q
File Menu
New Window	Cmd + N
New Folder	Shift + Cmd + N
New Folder with Selection	Ctrl + Cmd + N
New File	Opt + Cmd + N
New Tab	Cmd + T
Enter	Return
Open	Shift + Return
Reveal in Opposite Panel	Opt + Return
Reveal in Opposite Panel Tab	Opt + Cmd + Return
Paste Filename to Terminal	Ctrl + Opt + Return
Paste Filenames to Terminal...	Ctrl + Opt + Cmd + Return
Calculate Folders Sizes	Shift + Opt + Return
Calculate All Folders Sizes	Ctrl + Shift + Return
Duplicate	Cmd + D
Add to Favorites	Cmd + B
Close	Cmd + W
Close Window	Shift + Cmd + W
Close Other Tabs	Opt + Cmd + W
Find...	Cmd + F
Find with Spotlight...	Opt + Cmd + F
Find Next	Cmd + G
Edit Menu
Copy	Cmd + C
Paste	Cmd + V
Move Item Here	Opt + Cmd + V
Select All	Cmd + A
Deselect All	Opt + Cmd + A
Invert Selection	Ctrl + Cmd + A
View Menu
Toggle Single-Pane Mode	Shift + Cmd + P
Swap Panels	Cmd + U
Sync Panels	Opt + Cmd + U
View Mode Submenu
Toggle Short View Mode	Ctrl + 1
Toggle Medium View Mode	Ctrl + 2
Toggle Full View Mode	Ctrl + 3
Toggle Wide View Mode	Ctrl + 4
Toggle View Mode V	Ctrl + 5
Toggle View Mode VI	Ctrl + 6
Toggle View Mode VII	Ctrl + 7
Toggle View Mode VIII	Ctrl + 8
Toggle View Mode IX	Ctrl + 9
Toggle View Mode X	Ctrl + 0
Sorting Submenu
Sort By Name	Ctrl + Cmd + 1
Sort By Extension	Ctrl + Cmd + 2
Sort By Modified Time	Ctrl + Cmd + 3
Sort By Size	Ctrl + Cmd + 4
Sort By Creation Time	Ctrl + Cmd + 5
Sort By Added Time	Ctrl + Cmd + 6
Sort By Accessed Time	Ctrl + Cmd + 7
Separate Folders From Files
Extensionless Folders
Natural Comparison
Case-Insensitive Comparison
Case-Sensitive Comparison
Show Hidden Files	Shift + Cmd + .
Panels Position Submenu
Move Left	Ctrl + Opt + Left
Move Right	Ctrl + Opt + Right
Move Up	Ctrl + Opt + Up
Move Down	Ctrl + Opt + Down
Show Panels	Ctrl + Opt + O
Focus Overlapped Terminal	Ctrl + Opt + Tab
Show Tab Bar	Shift + Cmd + T
Show Toolbar	Opt + Cmd + T
Show Terminal	Opt + Cmd + O
Go Menu
Left Panel...	F1
Right Panel...	F2
Back	Cmd + [
Forward	Cmd + ]
Enclosing Folder	Cmd + Up
Enter	Cmd + Down
Follow	Cmd + Right
Documents	Shift + Cmd + O
Desktop	Shift + Cmd + D
Downloads	Opt + Cmd + L
Home	Shift + Cmd + H
Library
Applications	Shift + Cmd + A
Utilities	Shift + Cmd + U
Root
Processes List	Opt + Cmd + P
Favorites Submenu
Manage Favorites...	Ctrl + Cmd + B
Recently Closed Submenu
Restore Last Closed Panel	Shift + Cmd + R
Quick Lists Submenu
Parent Folders	Cmd + 1
History	Cmd + 2
Favorites	Cmd + 3
Volumes	Cmd + 4
Connections	Cmd + 5
Tags	Cmd + 6
Go To Folder...	Shift + Cmd + G
Connect To Submenu
FTP Server...
SFTP Server...
WebDAV Server...
Dropbox Storage...
Network Share...
Manage Connections...	Cmd + K
Command Menu
System Overview	Cmd + L
Detailed Volume Information
File Attributes	Ctrl + A
Open Extended Attributes	Opt + Cmd + X
Copy Item Name	Shift + Cmd + C
Copy Item Path	Opt + Cmd + C
Copy Item Directory	Shift + Opt + Cmd + C
Select With Mask	Cmd + =
Select With Extension	Opt + Cmd + =
Deselect With Mask	Cmd + -
Deselect With Extension	Opt + Cmd + -
Preview	Cmd + Y
Internal Viewer	Opt + F3
External Editor	F4
Eject Volume	Cmd + E
Batch Rename...	Ctrl + M
Copy To...	F5
Copy As...	Shift + F5
Move To...	F6
Move As...	Shift + F6
Rename In Place	Ctrl + F6
Create Directory	F7
Move To Trash	Cmd + Backward Delete
Delete...	F8
Delete Permanently...	Shift + F8
Compress...	F9
Compress To...	Shift + F9
Links Submenu
Create Symbolic Link
Create Hard Link
Edit Symbolic Link
Window Menu
Minimize	Cmd + M
Enter Full Screen	Ctrl + Cmd + F
Zoom
Show Previous Tab	Shift + Ctrl + Tab
Show Next Tab	Ctrl + Tab
Show VFS List
Bring All To Front
Special Hotkeys
File Panels
Move Up	Up
Move Down	Down
Move Left	Left
Move Right	Right
Move to the First Element	Home
Scroll to the First Element	Opt + Home
Move to the Last Element	End
Scroll to the Last Element	Opt + End
Move to the Next Page	Page Down
Scroll to the Next Page	Opt + Page Down
Move to the Previous Page	Page Up
Scroll to the Previous Page	Opt + Page Up
Toggle Selection
Toggle Selection and Move Down	Enter
Change Active panel	Tab
Previous Tab	Shift + Cmd + [
Next Tab	Shift + Cmd + ]
Go into Enclosing folder	Backward Delete
Go into Folder
Go to Home Folder	Shift + ~
Go to Root Folder	/
Show Preview	Space
Show Tab №1
Show Tab №2
Show Tab №3
Show Tab №4
Show Tab №5
Show Tab №6
Show Tab №7
Show Tab №8
Show Tab №9
Show Tab №10
Focus Left Panel	Shift + Cmd + Left
Focus Right Panel	Shift + Cmd + Right
Show Context Menu	Ctrl + Return
Viewer
Toggle Text	Cmd + 1
Toggle Hex	Cmd + 2
Toggle Preview	Cmd + 3
Show GoTo	Cmd + L
Refresh	Cmd + R

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I have an idea for Nimble Commander!
A: That’s fantastic! Feel free to contribute your ideas. The entire source code and build instructions for Nimble Commander are available in this repository. Be sure to read through the CONTRIBUTING guidelines carefully before you start.

Q: Nimble Commander crashes/behaves incorrectly/etc. Can you fix it?
A: Possibly. However, it is often difficult to track down the problem without a detailed description of the setup and a set of reproducible steps. Please spend some time describing in detail what happened and how it can be reproduced. This will greatly help in resolving the issue.

Q: Can you implement a specific feature or request?
A: Likely not. As Nimble Commander is maintained by a single contributor, resources are limited, and I cannot accommodate all requests due to time and energy constraints. However, contributions from the community are welcome. You can consider implementing the feature yourself. Check out the contribution guidelines for more information.

Q: Preview lacks a feature XYZ, is it possible to add it?
A: This might be challenging. The entire preview functionality is managed by macOS via the Quick Look framework. Rendition and behaviour for various file types is provided by various plugins in that system-wide framework, and Nimble Commander has no control over it. Currently it doesn’t even have any content-specific logic. While it’s possible to start providing special handling for some specific file types, like images, it would require significant resources to implement, test, and maintain.

Q: Can Nimble Commander access iCloud storage?
A: Nimble Commander does not provide first-class access to iCloud. Apple does not have an official API to allow applications to directly manipulate items outside of their own containers. At least that’s my understanding of the status quo at the moment of writing (I’d be glad to be proven wrong). However, you can manually navigate to ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs and access the items there using the normal UI of Nimble Commander. This usually works, but there is no guarantee that the content of that folder is properly synchronized.

Q: Nimble Commander crashes with EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION.
A: This has been observed when macOS Catalina is installed on hardware that is not officially supported. Nimble Commander/x64 requires SSE4.2 since v1.2.9, which is available on all Mac models officially supported by Catalina. If this OS version is installed on a machine with a CPU lacking these instructions, Nimble Commander v1.2.9+ cannot run. The only workaround is to use an older version.

Q: How can I download a previous version?
A: All previous releases are available here: https://github.com/mikekazakov/nimble-commander-releases

Q: Do you plan to add capabilities to modify existing archives?
A: There are no plans to add this feature at the moment unless someone steps up to implement it. The reasons why were discussed here: https://magnumbytes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=205

Q: How to make Nimble Commander restore the state of its windows after it has been closed and restarted?
A: Turn off the checkbox System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Close windows when quitting an application. By default, this option is turned on.

Q: Can I see folders which are starting with dot (for example, ".folder")?
A: Yes, it’s possible to see hidden folders. Toggle this option by selecting Menu > View > Show Hidden Files or by pressing Shift + Cmd + ..

Q: Can I open an archive which has an improper extension (for example. .xlsx, .pak etc)?
A: Yes, an archive with an improper extension can be opened by selecting Menu > Go > Enter, or by using the hotkey Cmd + Down.

Q: Do dialogs in Nimble Commander have hotkeys?
A: Yes, many dialogs have hotkeys using the Ctrl (^) key modifier. Hovering the mouse cursor over a UI element will display context help, which may show the hotkey for that element.

Q: Where does Nimble Commander store its state?
A: In these locations:

Main configuration files (managed by NC):
~/Library/Application Support/Nimble Commander/Config
Volatile state file (managed by NC):
~/Library/Application Support/Nimble Commander/State
Windows state (managed by macOS):
~/Library/Saved Application State/info.filesmanager.Files.savedState
Application defaults (managed by macOS):
~/Library/Preferences/info.filesmanager.Files.plist
Admin Mode helper binary (managed by macOS):
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/info.filesmanager.Files.PrivilegedIOHelperV2
Admin Mode helper configuration (managed by macOS):
/Library/LaunchDaemons/info.filesmanager.Files.PrivilegedIOHelperV2.plist

Files

Help.md

Latest commit

History

Help.md

File metadata and controls

Getting Started

Introduction

System Requirements

Installation

Running the Application

Access Permissions

Version Differences

File Panels

Introduction

Navigation

Opening Items

Panel Management

Selection

Sorting Modes

Quick Search

View Modes

Quick Lists

Tabs

Favorites

Searching for Files

Operations

Introduction

Copy

Duplicate

Move

Rename

Batch Rename

Delete

Create Folder

Create File

Change Attributes

Compress

Manage Links

Virtual File Systems

External Editors

Tools

Integrated Viewer

Integrated Terminal

Hotkeys

Frequently Asked Questions