Description
Windows Explorer finally has tabs, but still no split panes, no filter box, and no way to bolt on an action of your own. Switch to a third-party file manager and you are usually installing tens or hundreds of megabytes, writing to the registry, and learning a file view somebody redrew from scratch with a context menu that has forgotten half your other software. Tablacus Explorer is under one megabyte in total, runs from an unpacked folder, writes nothing to the registry, and moves to another machine on a USB stick.
It does not redraw the file view — it uses the Windows shell, so mapped network drives, the context-menu entries other applications registered, and archive associations behave exactly as they do in Explorer, with no "that feature does not exist here" moments. What it adds on top is the part Explorer skipped: real tabs, side-by-side panes, an instant filter box in the toolbar, and keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures you define yourself.
Tabs and split panes: tabs can be locked, duplicated and restored in place, and the two panes each hold their own set, so moving files between directories does not mean juggling windows.
Filter box: type into the toolbar and the current folder narrows to matches immediately — far faster than waiting on the search index.
Built on the system shell: drives, network locations, libraries, context menus, icons and thumbnails all come from Windows itself, so shell extensions registered by other software still show up.
JavaScript add-on system: most of the feature set is add-ons, browsable and installable from inside the program. Batch renaming, tab colouring, quick launch and much else are one install away, and the scripts can be edited when they are nearly right.
Rebindable keys and gestures: any key or mouse gesture can be mapped to any command, so habits from another file manager come with you.
Genuinely portable: unpack and run, no registry writes and no background service, and deleting the folder is a complete uninstall — which also makes it usable on a locked-down work machine.
Free and open source: the source is public, and 32-bit and ARM builds ship alongside the x64 one.
It does not redraw the file view — it uses the Windows shell, so mapped network drives, the context-menu entries other applications registered, and archive associations behave exactly as they do in Explorer, with no "that feature does not exist here" moments. What it adds on top is the part Explorer skipped: real tabs, side-by-side panes, an instant filter box in the toolbar, and keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures you define yourself.
Features
Tabs and split panes: tabs can be locked, duplicated and restored in place, and the two panes each hold their own set, so moving files between directories does not mean juggling windows.
Filter box: type into the toolbar and the current folder narrows to matches immediately — far faster than waiting on the search index.
Built on the system shell: drives, network locations, libraries, context menus, icons and thumbnails all come from Windows itself, so shell extensions registered by other software still show up.
JavaScript add-on system: most of the feature set is add-ons, browsable and installable from inside the program. Batch renaming, tab colouring, quick launch and much else are one install away, and the scripts can be edited when they are nearly right.
Rebindable keys and gestures: any key or mouse gesture can be mapped to any command, so habits from another file manager come with you.
Genuinely portable: unpack and run, no registry writes and no background service, and deleting the folder is a complete uninstall — which also makes it usable on a locked-down work machine.
Free and open source: the source is public, and 32-bit and ARM builds ship alongside the x64 one.
