About electron-file-manager

Linux File Manager built with electron.js

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michael-vanderford

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README.md

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Electron File Manager for Linux

A fast, keyboard-friendly file manager for Linux, built with Electron and native GIO bindings.

Screenshots

Features

Navigation

Multi-tab browsing with persistent tab history and back / forward navigation
Breadcrumb bar with inline location input and path autocomplete
Sidebar with quick links to Home, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, Recent Files, and File System root
Recent files view

File Operations

Copy, cut, paste files and folders
Drag-and-drop to move or copy between locations (hold Ctrl to copy)
Rename files and folders inline
Create new folders
Delete files and folders
Overwrite conflict resolution — choose to replace or skip per file

Views & Sorting

List view and Grid view
Configurable columns (name, size, modified, created, accessed, type, path, count)
Resizable columns with persistent widths
Sort by name, size, modified, created, or accessed — ascending or descending
Filter files by name in the current view
Show / hide hidden files

Selection

Click, Ctrl+click, and Shift+click selection
Drag-select with a rubber-band rectangle
Auto-scroll when dragging near the top or bottom edge of the view
Select all (Ctrl+A)

Compression & Archives

Compress selected files to tar.gz, tar.xz, or zip
Extract archives in place
Progress indicator with cancel support

Network & Devices

SSHFS and SSH connections (public key or password authentication)
SMB / Windows Share connections
Mount and unmount drives and removable media
MTP mobile device support (phones, tablets)
Disk usage indicator per device in the sidebar
Connect to Network button in the Devices panel

Workspace Bookmarks

Pin folders to the Workspace sidebar for quick access
Rename, remove, and reorder bookmarks
Folder icons displayed per bookmark

File Properties

Size, permissions, MIME type, timestamps, and more
Folder size calculation in the background

Icons & Thumbnails

System-resolved file and folder icons via native GIO
Lazy-loaded icons for large directories
Resizable icons (Ctrl+Wheel)

Settings

View preference (list / grid)
Default sort order and direction
Startup location
Disk utility application
Show / hide hidden files
Icon sizes (grid and list independently)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
New folder	`Ctrl+Shift+N`
Cut	`Ctrl+X`
Copy	`Ctrl+C`
Paste	`Ctrl+V`
Rename	`F2`
Delete	`Delete`
Select all	`Ctrl+A`
Open in new tab	`Ctrl+T`
Navigate back	`Alt+Left`
Navigate forward	`Alt+Right`
Go to location	`Ctrl+L`

Requirements

Linux (x86-64)
Node.js ≥ 18
sshfs (optional, for SSHFS network mounts)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/Michael-Vanderford/electron-file-manager.git
cd electron-file-manager
npm install
npm start

Build

Produces a .deb package for Debian / Ubuntu:

npm run build

Output is written to the dist/ directory.

Deb Install

sudo dpkg -i dist/electron-file-manager_2.0.2_amd64.deb

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Shell	Electron
Native FS / Icons	GIO (custom N-API addon)
Icons	Bootstrap Icons
Workers	Node.js Worker Threads
Tests	Jest

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and pull requests are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss significant changes.

License

Licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 or later (LGPL-2.1-or-later). See LICENSE for details.

Author

Michael Vanderford — [email protected] https://github.com/michael-vanderford/sfm

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