Ranger: A modern and lightweight file explorer for Windows and Linux

There are many file managers or explorers for Linux, and most are well-known and widely used, as they are quite similar to each other. Good examples of some of them, which are often integrated into a desktop environment or window manager, include: Caja , Deepin File Manager , Dolphin , Nautilus , Nemo , PCManFM , and Thunar . However, from time to time, here at "From Linux," we introduce you to interesting and useful alternatives to the most well-known and widely used ones. Good examples of these are Sunflower , Spacedrive , and HiFile . Today, we're featuring one called "Ranger . "

And if the first thing that comes to mind is the CLI file explorer also called Ranger, well, no, it's not the same. The well-known Ranger CLI file explorer is an excellent console file manager with keyboard shortcuts for VI, offering a minimalist and elegant curses-based interface with a directory hierarchy view, and including Rifle, a file launcher that automatically detects which program to use for each file type. This new Ranger GUI file explorer, on the other hand, is a reliable file explorer that, among other things, is developed within a single executable file, requiring no installer, no administrator privileges, and no internet connection.

But before we delve into this interesting post about this novel and alternative file explorer solution called "Ranger ," which boasts a pleasant and simple graphical user interface, we recommend exploring a previous related post after you finish reading this one:

HiFile is the next evolution of file managers. Its mission is to increase your productivity whenever you work with files or folders. Its goal is to be better in every way: more convenient, more versatile, more efficient, more elegant, more customizable, and more fun.

Ranger: A useful, modern, and lightweight file explorer for Linux

About the Ranger File Explorer

Description

According to the official section of this Linuxverse development on GitHub , it is described as follows:

Ranger is a reliable file explorer developed as a single executable file, requiring no installer, no administrator privileges, and no internet connection. It can split views in any direction simply by dragging and dropping. Most importantly, it allows you to save complete workspaces: workspaces, game spaces, specific projects, and more. A workspace is a specific configuration that stores a saved arrangement of views and tabs, along with its working settings. It also includes additional features, such as a column displaying file age or size/last modification date, up to N levels deep. For graphic designers, there's also a column showing texture resolution and bit depth.

However, it is worth noting that, due to its early stage of development, its creator highlights the following particularity about his product:

First, Linux still has a limitation with Wayland, which prevents tabs from opening in separate windows, but I'm waiting for the update. Aside from that, there aren't many differences between the two platforms (Windows and Linux). Second, he was able to create it with the assistance of AI. However, he adds the following: Nothing was accepted simply because it compiled. Every change was meticulously tested by hand on both Windows and Linux, lived with, and reworked until it worked correctly in both the most complex and the most obvious cases. These tests and the finalization process, which required a lot of patience, took much longer than the writing; in fact, they constitute the majority of this project.

Features

Among its most outstanding features, it is worth briefly mentioning some such as the following:

1. Modifiable columns: In addition to displaying them, the program allows you to hide them, change their size, and reorder them by panel.
2. Use of Workspaces: It allows you to create a workspace, save one per project, and restore the complete configuration with a single click.
3. Filtering implementation: It allows you to filter a folder or file by name while typing, or open the extension filter for a stricter selection.
4. Boosting via Keyboard: It offers 39 actions (tasks) that follow the usual conventions and all can be reassigned from its Settings section.
5. Implementing Favorites: Add shared shortcuts across all workspaces, so that familiar places don't depend on which layout is open.
6. Pleasant visual interface with good supportlurilingual: It currently supports English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian; light and dark themes; and adjustable scaling.
7. Customizable panels: It can split the window horizontally or vertically, into up to 16 panels. Each panel retains its own tabs, history, sorting, and columns.
8. Efficient file management: It allows you to copy, move, link, rename, create, send to the trash, and delete, with progress information displayed without the window freezing. It also allows you to perform multiple operations simultaneously. Furthermore, it supports multiple selection, drag and drop between panels and other applications, and reopening closed tabs.

Screenshots of its GUI

Spacedrive is a file explorer for all your files. With it, you can unify files from all your devices and in the cloud into a single, easy-to-use explorer. It's also specifically designed for creators, hoarders, and the painfully disorganized.

Summary

In short, "Ranger " is undoubtedly another modern and interesting application in the Linux universe, in the file explorer category, and is certainly worth knowing about, trying, and recommending for managing desktop and network files. While it's still under development, what's been shown so far looks promising. We look forward to hearing more about it soon.

And if you know of any other alternative and independent file explorer (manager) that is really worth knowing, trying, enjoying and recommending, we invite you to mention them via comments so we can address them in a future similar post.

Finally, remember to visit our " homepage " in Spanish . Or, in any other language (by simply adding two letters to the end of our current URL, for example: ar, de, en, fr, ja, pt, and ru, among many others) to discover more current content.