DCommander Basics
File Management
DCommander allows you to manage files quickly across multiple drives. This article assumes you understand the basic navigation concepts of DCommander.
Select
In the active file list, you will always have one active item. This item also acts as the selected file or folder if you don't have other items selected. You can change the currently active item by clicking on another file or folder in the file list, or by pressing Up/Down Arrow on your keyboard.
To select multiple items, press and hold ⌘ Command while clicking on items. An alternative way of selecting multiple items is by holding ⇧ Shift while pressing Up/Down Arrow on your keyboard.
In a folder with many items, DCommander helps you select specific items with a set of built-in commands. Open the Mark menu and you'll see commands such as Select All, Unselect All, Invert Selection, Select All with Same Extension. If you find yourself selecting the same files often, you can even Save and Restore the selection any time you need it.
In the Mark menu you'll also find two useful commands: Expand Selection and Shrink Selection. They allow you to select/unselect items based on patterns. For example typing system* will select all items starting with system. Typing *.jpg will select all jpg images. The same patterns apply to unselecting items as well.
Copy and Move
To copy a file, you'll need to select it in the active file list, then click on Copy (or press F5). This will copy the file from the active file list to the inactive file list's path. Folders will be copied recursively, meaning DCommander will copy all items in it's contents.
Before performing any Copy or Move operation, DCommander will show a prompt, allowing you to verify that the destination path is correct. If you don't want to receive this prompt, you can turn it off from the Preferences.
Moving a file is done in a similar way, with the change being that you click on Move (or press F6).
Rename
To rename an item, select it and press F2. You can also press ⌥ Option + ⏎ Return or right-click to open the context menu and choose Rename.
If you are renaming a file, it will automatically select just the filename portion, without modifying the extension. If you want to rename the file extension, press ⇥ Tab to switch between the file name and file extension.
Open
To open an item, double-click on it or press ⏎ Return.
Opening containers and archives will show their contents by default. To change this behavior, open Preferences and go to the Navigation section.
View, Edit and Delete
To view the contents of a file without opening it in a dedicated application, press F3. This will open the internal viewer, allowing you to see the file contents as text, hexadecimal or as media contents.
An alternative way of viewing a file is through the QuickLook panel. Select a file and press ⌥ Option + ⌴ Spacebar
To edit a file, press F4. This will open the dedicated file editor, which can be specified in the Preferences.
To delete a file or folder, press F8. This will show a prompt, confirming that you want to delete the selected item(s).