File managers for MacOS that seem to fly under the radar
A particular project I work with recommends that, if you’re on a Mac, you avoid using Finder because of “.DS_Store pollution”.
Now, I do use an old MacBook (early 2015!)—although I mostly work on Ubuntu—and dislike Finder. But today on a whim I thought I’d follow the link they provide for alternative file managers. Plenty of articles come up with titles like “Best File Managers for Mac in 2024”, or even “The Best Alternative File Managers for Windows, Mac, and Linux”. Oddly enough, the ones that I use every day don’t create a ripple of interest.
Marta for Mac!
I remember my delight in finding Marta for MacOS file management. It is a “native” app, has all the features I need, and is readily customizable. So it’s functional, elegant, and ... absent from all the alternative file managers for MacOS that I’ve looked at.
Oh, and it’s also free (although I can’t find any licensing information) with an invitation to support via Patreon.
Double Commander
If you’re a fan of the Apple aesthetic, then Double Commander isn’t that pretty, at least on a Mac, but it is highly functional and (a real bonus) is cross-platform, so you can use it on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. I’ve used it on all three, and it is certainly a help having a familiar file management tool no matter which OS one happens to be working in.
It also has a very full feature set, and is also customizable. And also free, in this case FOSS (LGPLv2).
So those are my “missing” file-managers. If, like me, you prefer the classic two-panel arrangement, both of these are excellent choices.