Nexa Dir

File list and views

The file list is the heart of this app. 3 view modes and a column system sit on a virtualized list that draws only the visible rows, however many items there are.

• 3 view modes — Tree · Flat · Tile Tree view (default) expands folders in place inside the list with no separate tree pane, Flat view is a plain list without hierarchy, and Tile view is an icon grid. The view mode is saved in the session as per-tab state, and new tabs inherit the current mode.
• Virtualized list Only rows in the visible area are drawn. Frame cost scales only with window height, so scrolling does not slow down no matter how many items there are.
• Column system The default columns are Name · Status · Size · Date modified, and you can add Extension, Type, and others. "This PC" adds the Total size and Free space columns. Dragging a header boundary resizes only that column, dragging a header reorders it, and double-clicking a boundary fits it to its content.
• Multi-column sort · natural sort Clicking a header cycles through 3 states, ascending → descending → off, and Shift+click stacks columns (no sort = by name). Natural sort (on by default · file2 comes before file10) is the fifth tab view option. New and duplicated tabs inherit the current tab's sort, and per-tab sorting persists across restarts (v0.24.0).
• Inline expansion — the basis of multi-selection across folders Click the ▸/▾ marker or use →/← at the cursor to expand and collapse folders in place. The triangle marker (= expand) and the row body (= select) are separate, so you can pick items from different folders at the same time.
• Sync column widths Keeps the left and right column widths of dual panes matched in real time (on by default · persistent). When off, each pane is independent.
• Quick filter (v0.27.0) Ctrl+F (macOS ⌘F) opens a search box inside the pane. The default is fuzzy matching, with Aa (case) · ab (whole word) · .* (regular expression) · Search Subfolders toggles. You can use * ? patterns and ; (or), and the filter is per tab.
• Background folder reading (v0.26.0) Folders are enumerated on a worker thread, so large or network folders do not freeze the window. The previous list stays until the new one is ready, and "Reading folder…" is shown.
• NFD name handling (v0.25.0 onward) Decomposed names from macOS or SMB are displayed composed, and the search box and type-ahead also find them with composed input. Right-click Convert name to NFC changes the actual name.

Navigation

There are several ways to reach a path, so use whichever is handy at the moment.

• Path bar — breadcrumbs ↔ edit Clicking a segment goes to that folder, and edit mode shows an autocomplete dropdown. Variable expansion such as %VAR% · $HOME · ~ · relative paths is supported (v0.23.0). Enter submits · Esc cancels.
• Favorites (v0.23.0) Ctrl+D adds the current folder to favorites and Ctrl+B opens them (⌘ on macOS). The list can be exported to and imported from a text file (v0.27.0). Recent Folders in the Go menu shows up to 20 visited folders, newest first.
• Back · Forward · Up · history Supports Alt+←/Alt+→/Alt+↑, the mouse Back and Forward buttons, and per-pane navigation buttons. History is independent per tab.
• "This PC" Windows shows the list of drives; macOS and Linux show root · home · mounted volumes. Tile view shows capacity bars, and details view shows total and free capacity columns.
• Type-ahead search With the list focused, typing letters jumps straight to the item, and repeating the same prefix cycles through matches. Korean input works too.
• Command palette (v0.23.1) Open it with Ctrl+Shift+P (macOS ⌘⇧P) and run commands by name. Recently run commands rise to the top.

Panes · tabs · session

• Single / dual file panes Commander-style left and right panes let you copy or move straight from one to the other. Even when collapsed to a single pane, the right pane's tabs and locations are preserved.
• Independent per-pane tabs Each pane has its own tab strip, and each tab has its own view and history. Ctrl+T new tab · Ctrl+W close · Ctrl+Tab next tab · Tab switch pane. There are settings for single-row tab mode and minimum tab width (tabs.min_width).
• Dragging tabs between panes Drag a tab onto the other pane's tab strip to move it. The drop position is previewed as you drag, and Esc returns the tab to its original place.
• Lock · Pin · Duplicate tabs From the tab right-click menu, choose Lock to prevent accidents, Pin (📌), or Duplicate for a new tab at the same location.
• Tab status bar — item count · git summary (v0.23.0 onward) Each pane shows the folder item count and a git summary with Starship-style symbols (⇡ ⇣ + ! ? $), updating when the repository changes or when you return to the window. In settings, you can turn off the display, turn off untracked file counting, and adjust query load (settling wait, failure backoff, time limit, pausing while inactive).
• Session restore When you restart the app, each pane's tab list, the active tab, expanded state, sorting, column visibility and widths, and the active pane all come back as they were. They are saved in session.conf in the settings folder.

File operations

From copy and move to undo, everything runs through one transfer engine and one undo stack.

• Multi-selection across folders (★ flagship) With the tree expanded, select items from different parent folders at the same time. Supports Ctrl+click toggle · Shift+click range · Ctrl+A all · Ctrl+Shift+A invert selection · rubber-band dragging in an empty area, and Select by Pattern (*.log;*.tmp, v0.27.0).
• Copy · move (transfer engine) A single transfer path with progress and conflict handling (Overwrite / Overwrite all / Skip / Cancel), with support for fast copy. Right-click Copy to folder… / Move to folder… opens a picker starting at the other pane's folder. For same-named folders, choose Merge (default) · Replace · Keep both (v0.29.0). Copying a folder into itself is refused, and pasting it in place duplicates it as "Name (2)".
• Transfer queue · resume (v0.28.0) Copies and moves started during a transfer wait in a queue, and the progress window lets you reorder or remove them. Unfinished transfers are kept in queue in the settings folder and resumed or discarded at the next launch (ask · resume automatically · discard).
• Virtual file paste (v0.30.0 · Windows) Receives items with no real path, such as Outlook attachments and messages, items inside Explorer zip folders, MTP devices, and browser images, by drag and drop or Ctrl+V. They go through the transfer engine, so progress · name conflicts · undo all work, and items that programs such as 7-Zip create only at the moment of the drop are secured first. Hands-on testing covers only Outlook attachments · zip contents · 7-Zip.
• Paste destination rules Ctrl+V pastes into the folder if one folder is selected, and into the containing folder if one file is selected. With nothing or multiple items selected, it pastes into the current folder.
• Drag and drop Ctrl = copy / Shift = move (on macOS, ⌥ = copy / ⌘ = move) / with no modifier, the receiving side's default rule applies. Supports auto-scrolling at the edges while dragging and switching to another tab by hovering over it. Exchanges items with other programs on Windows, macOS, and Linux (X11 · XWayland); Wayland-only environments work only within the app window. Dragging with the right button shows a menu where you drop (v0.25.0), and dropping text navigates to the path or sends it to the terminal.
• Undo / Redo Undoes move, copy, rename, create new, and even delete to Recycle Bin/Trash. Batch rename also undoes the whole batch at once. Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y. Only permanent delete cannot be undone (by design).
• Delete · rename · create new Del sends to the Recycle Bin/Trash (on Linux, the freedesktop trash, including other disks), and Shift+Del deletes permanently. Permanent delete runs in the background, and even if some items cannot be deleted, it deletes the rest to the end and then shows the failed items with [Retry] (v0.30.1). F2 edits a name inline, and Ctrl+Shift+N creates a new folder.
• Folder watching When the current folder changes from outside, the change appears without a refresh, and expansion, selection, and scroll position are preserved. You can refresh manually with F5 at any time.

Tools — checksums · duplicates · compare · compression · nexa-copy

Everyday tools newly built into the current edition (v0.23.0 onward).

• Checksum Lists multiple files in a table and calculates in parallel per algorithm. You can set an auto-calculation limit, and [Save .sha256] and right-click Verify checksums… write and read verification files (v0.27.0).
• Find duplicate files Finds files with the same content in the selected folders and shows them in groups. It also opens from the empty-area right-click menu, and you choose whether to include subfolders and the criterion (content SHA-256 · name + size · size only) (v0.27.0).
• Folder compare · sync Compares with the folder in the other pane, shows the differences, and makes one side match the other by copying. It compares by size and time or by content, and turning on the mirror option (off by default) sends files that exist only at the destination to the Recycle Bin/Trash (v0.27.0).
• Folder size · extraction Folder sizes are calculated in a job queue (folders passed quickly are skipped · "Waiting to measure" is shown), with an option to show them in the Size column. Extracts zip · tar · gz (several in turn), and right-click Compress creates a zip with the built-in writer (deflate · up to 4GiB, v0.27.0). You can also preview the list inside an archive without extracting it.
• Log window · memory window The F10 log window filters the app's internal records, kept in memory only, by type and saves them to a file. The memory window shows the app's memory use (including private working set), terminal shell processes, and tool window surfaces (v0.30.0).
• System load in the status bar The status bar gains CPU, memory, disk, and network load (C·M·D·N), app memory, transfer progress (T), and a license field. Notices on the left stay for 4 seconds (v0.29.0), and markers blink only when the transfer rate reaches a threshold (default 1MB/s).
• Command-line copy tool nexa-copy (v0.27.0 onward) A CLI that uses the same transfer engine as the app. Supports --move · --verify (size + SHA-256) · --dry-run · --include/--exclude · --mirror (items only at the destination are permanently deleted, and only with --yes) · --dir-conflict · --max-bps · --journal/--resume · --job/--progress/--report. It is also included as the C library ndir_xfer.

Bottom dock — Info · Preview · Terminal

A full-width strip below the file lists switches between Info, Preview, and Terminal.

• Info pane Shows the selected item's name · type · size · dates · path and updates automatically when the selection changes. Switch between dual (left and right independent) and single (follows the active pane).
• Preview — text · images · archives Draws text and images (png · jpg · bmp · gif · ico, etc.), and shows the list inside archives without extracting. F3 opens a large view in a separate window.
• WASM preview plugins Swap per-extension previews with .wasm plugins. They run isolated in the wasmi runtime under a fuel limit, so a plugin cannot freeze the app. A Markdown viewer (GitHub-like rendering + Mermaid) is included as a reference implementation.
• Built-in terminal Starts a shell at the current location with no separate program. Supports color, full-width characters, scrollback, and mouse selection, and the font, size, and line wrap (off by default) are adjustable in settings.

Batch rename

Stack action cards into a pipeline applied from top to bottom, check the result live, and apply it all at once. Open it with Ctrl+Shift+R.

• Pipeline of 10 actions Replace (text) · Replace (regex, $1 references) · Change case · Insert text (prepend · append) · Add sequence number · Insert date (${YYYY}-${MM}-${DD} tokens) · Move segment · Change extension · Remove characters · Clean up spaces. Add, remove, and drag cards, turn them on or off, and duplicate them (v0.27.0). Sequence numbers can restart per folder.
• What each action applies to (scope) For each action, choose which part of the name it applies to: name / name+extension / extension / extension including the dot.
• Live preview · conflict flags Before → after appears immediately, and empty names, forbidden characters, duplicates, and names that already exist are flagged as conflicts. The [Rename] button is enabled only when there are 0 conflicts and at least 1 change.
• Presets · undo all at once Save frequently used pipelines by name and load them again. Applying is a single transaction, so one Ctrl+Z undoes the whole batch.

Toolbar · menus · customization

• Toolbar · quick launcher Edit the toolbar's group layout, order, and visibility, and detach groups into floating windows (v0.27.0). Keep frequently used external programs as quick launcher buttons (right-click to edit). Putting a folder path in a launcher entry moves the active pane to that folder. Custom icons are also available.
• Order / visibility editing Change the visibility and order of the toolbar · file columns · context menu (including OS items on Linux) with checkboxes and dragging in the same editor window.
• Right-click menu Windows merges the shell menu (including shell extensions) with the app's own items, and you choose when shell extension items are included (Always · Only on Shift+right-click · Never). Linux provides xdg-based default app · open with other app · compress · properties · terminal · show in file manager · email · Nautilus scripts, and macOS provides a Finder-style menu (Open With · Show in Finder · Terminal · Get Info · Show Package Contents). Copy as ▸ (quoted path · slash path · name without extension · folder path) is common to all three OSes.
• Acting on mouse release (v0.24.0) Menus, settings switches, and buttons act when you release the mouse button; pressing, moving outside, and releasing cancels.

Settings · theme · language

• Settings window — search + instant apply The sidebar categories come with a search box, and most options are applied and saved as soon as you change them. Open it with Ctrl+,. When another setting (such as Performance mode) decides a value, the forced value and the reason are shown. The Changed switch shows only settings that differ from their defaults, and settings can be exported to and imported from a JSON file (v0.27.0).
• Theme — System · Light · Dark The default is System, which on Windows also follows OS theme changes while running (v0.23.2). Change it from the Theme ▸ submenu in the View menu.
• Window transparency (v0.27.0) Set separate values for when the window is focused (default 5%) and unfocused (default 10%) (up to 90%; the defaults changed from 0/20 in v0.30.2). It does not dim when focus moves to the app's own dialogs or tool windows (v0.29.0), unless you turn off Appearance › "Keep the main window active while a dialog is open" (v0.30.2). It is turned off in Performance mode.
• 3 built-in languages · dynamic switching Korean · English · Japanese are built in, and choosing System follows the OS language. The change applies without restarting.
• Font slots · fallback chain Set fonts per area (list · status bar · menu · dialog). When you enter several fonts separated by commas, characters missing from the first font are drawn with the next, so symbols and Korean text do not appear as □. On Linux, installing fonts-noto-cjk is recommended.
• Storage location Settings and session are created in the OS user settings folder: Windows %APPDATA%\nexa-dir · macOS ~/Library/Application Support/nexa-dir · Linux ~/.config/nexa-dir. On portable builds, if a data folder already exists next to the executable, it is used (installed builds ignore it; the folder is not included in the portable zip, so create it yourself), and the environment variable NDIR_HOME takes top priority.

Features exclusive to the Windows-only edition (0.22.0)

The features below are available in the Windows-only edition (through v0.22.0) and have not been ported to the current edition (v0.30.2) yet. If you need them, keep using Windows-only edition 0.22.0. The current edition does no network communication. Virtual file paste was ported to the current edition in v0.30.0 and has been removed from this list.

• Cloud links · direct connection — available in the Windows-only edition (0.22.0) · not ported to the current edition Links add the sync folders installed on the PC (OneDrive · Google Drive · Dropbox) to "This PC", and direct connection attaches through a browser sign-in (OAuth 2.0 + PKCE) with no sync client, browsing, uploading, downloading, and copying between accounts without using the disk. Refresh tokens were stored encrypted with Windows DPAPI. See the Privacy Policy for details.
• Shell change notifications · instant OneDrive reflection — available in the Windows-only edition (0.22.0) · not ported to the current edition The moment OneDrive or SharePoint brought a cloud change down to the local disk, the app received it through the same channel as Explorer and reflected it immediately, even when inactive. In the current edition, changes are reflected through folder watching and F5.

Performance budget · distribution

Because "the budget is the identity", the numbers are measured and used as a merge gate.

• Measurements Measured on the v0.30.1 release: Windows executable 8.2MB (8,155,648 bytes, budget 10MB or less) · MSI 3.7MB · portable zip 4.6MB · deb 4.0MB · rpm 5.3MB · macOS pkg 8.1MB · dmg 8.9MB. 2026-10-08 Windows development measurement (on the v0.23 line at the time): private memory about 11.25MB · input→screen 2.1ms (p95 4.3ms).
• Verification gate Records 835 full-gate tests passed · 0 failures and 45 app scenario tests passed (2026-11-04).
• Automated distribution for three OSes Windows MSI (whole computer · Program Files\Nexa Dir) · portable zip · macOS Universal pkg/dmg · Linux deb/rpm: 9 assets (including sha256sums.txt). It continues on to winget · Chocolatey · Homebrew Cask · pkg.sosomlab.com, and channels with an earlier submission still under review are skipped automatically.
• License PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0: personal and non-commercial use is free. Commercial use requires a separate paid license (contact kiros33@sosomlab.com). The license is verified offline by signature. See the Terms of Service for the full conditions.