How to open total commander. How to use the Total Commander file manager? History of Total Commander, its installation and nuances

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Today we will talk about such an indispensable program for any computer user (and webmaster, in particular) as Total Commander. Probably, for many people the presence of this file manager on their computer has already become a vital necessity, and for some it (nee Windows Commander) is a kind of portal from which they start working on their PC.

Do you use Total or its analogues in your work? Are you using standard Windows Explorer? It’s strange, but also understandable at the same time. What an unprepared user sees immediately after installing this program on his computer may puzzle him somewhat.

A bunch of “extra” information about files, a lot of incomprehensible drop-down menus and not the best (in my opinion) initial set of settings inevitably lead to the user making the wrong conclusion (the explorer is a must-have, but it’s not clear what). With this article I want to try to show the potential of the commander and tell how exactly he can be made “handsome”.

History of Total Commander, its installation and nuances

First, let's dive a little into the history of the creation and development of this file manager, and then we'll see what exactly can be molded from this initially not very pretty, but at the same time brilliant creation. In general, the idea of a two-window option was implemented almost at the dawn of the computer era.

Probably, some of the readers still remember Norton Commander, which for many was a window into the file world of Dos. Users opened all programs, games and other things from this manager. Well, and, accordingly, they copied, deleted, replaced and moved. Two-window operating mode was very convenient and did not require the use of a mouse to perform various operations, because the corresponding hot keys were assigned for this.

Then, with the advent of the first versions of the Windows graphical operating system, the explorer integrated into the “windows” began to become more and more widespread. But, alas, it was not so convenient. It focused on using the mouse (selection, dragging, right-click context menu) and most importantly, it moved away from the two-window operating mode.

People suffered, groaned, but continued to use Windows Explorer, because they did not know that there were alternative options, and when they found out, it was already too late, because they got used to it. It was to eliminate this shortcoming that two-window file manager programs began to appear under Windows, very reminiscent in their appearance of the blue windows of Norton Commander.

The most prominent representatives were the still existing Far Manager and Volkov Commander. In appearance they were very reminiscent of the classic Norton. It was these programs that I used at the beginning of my acquaintance with Windows, because Explorer seemed to me then (and seems now) to be a bad decision from all points of view.

But then I decided to try Windows Commander(Until 2002, Total was called exactly that, but then the small softies asked the developer to remove the word they had patented from the name). Actually, this is where the era of my mastery of this file manager begins.

Total Commander is, in my opinion, a very good solution, because Far Manager and Volkov, with their DOS appearance and graphics, made me sad and dissonant with the general surroundings of the “windows”.

Well, when I began to slowly delve into its functionality and feel the full power of its limitless capabilities and settings, it actually became the main program on my computer for me.

Do you know why Total Commander evokes so many enthusiastic responses from those users who were able to comprehend it? But because it allows you to save time on routine operations (we most often save, copy, delete or move objects or folders on the computer) and in addition, it makes it possible to do in two clicks what you could only dream of, seeing the powerlessness of the explorer the challenges ahead of you.

So, the first release of the program (then with the word Windows in the title) was released back in 1993. And for almost two decades now, it has very firmly occupied a leading position in its niche. During this time, a lot of Total clones appeared (among which many were freely distributed), which were no worse, and in some places even better than the original, but for the reasons given below, the original still remains the ideal for many.

This is largely determined by the force of habit, but the main factor in such vitality has become availability of a huge number of plugins(add-ons) for Commander, which allow you to implement an unimaginably wide range of tasks using this file manager. Among the plugins, both green lamers and incredibly smart guru-programmers will find something interesting for themselves.

Even the developer of this miracle, Christian Giesler, said in an interview that initially he did not believe in such a power of plugins (although their support was initially added to the manager) and much of what is now implemented in Total through plugins would never have come to his head. A little later we will talk about where you can download the extensions you need, what types they are divided into and how they can be installed.

Also, the popularity of Total Commander is largely determined by the very weak degree of protection of its paid nature (in RuNet, until recently, it was considered “cool” when your computer was full of expensive software). Yes, I forgot to say that this program is distributed under a Shareware license, which means it can be used for free for a month, after which you will have to pay about four dozen dollars.

But in fact, even after a month, the program will work properly, except that only before starting the program will continue to ask you to press one of three buttons:

Actually, it’s probably worth saying that you can download the current version of Total Commander (infinite trial) on the page official website. At the moment this is the 32 and 64 bit version of 8.01 final. In fact, there is not much difference in them, but users think rather inertly and for a 64-bit operating system they definitely need the same number of bit programs.

Since 2009, the distribution of this file manager has already included support for a Russian-language interface (help, however, will still be in English - to help you). During installation, you will be asked about the language you want and whether you want to install all other language files.

Full Russian translation with the Russian help for the Commander (there is a “Help” button at the top right) can be downloaded from the official website. When you try to enter this archive through Total (this manager allows you to enter archives like regular folders), it will prompt you to install this Russification:

If you don’t want to install Russian help, then you can use its online version - a site with Russian help for Total Commander.

It is worth noting that when installing the program to select a folder configuration file locations, you will need to click on the “Set path to ini files” button (when changing the operating system or transferring the settings of your Commander to another computer, it is very convenient to simply copy these ini files, and not remember where and what you configured there twenty years ago ).

Yes, and your friends, relatives or acquaintances will be able to install Total and immediately replace the existing wincmd.ini with your own(and copy the folder with your plugins to expand the functionality), thereby demonstrating not the ugly default Commander, but the masterpiece of usability and functionality you created.

Immediately after installation, the program window will look something like this:

I don’t like the bold font used by default, I don’t like that the detailed display mode is selected, which simply scares the unprepared user with the abundance of information. I also don’t like the directory names in square brackets, the display of extensions separately from files, the paucity of the toolbar, and much more. My current version of the ideal Total Commander looks like this:

In the left column you will find a list of systematic sections with plugins, by going to which you will see their detailed descriptions, screenshots and download links. This site, although it looks a little abandoned, nevertheless provides quite a lot of useful information.

In general, plugins for Total Commander are divided into several types. This becomes clear from the corresponding program settings tab:

I have quite a lot of extensions installed, for example, for the internal viewer (F3 - the viewing window will open in an external tab or Ctrl+Q - the file will be viewed in the adjacent panel). These plugins have the extension .WLX and you can see all the extensions of this type installed by you by clicking the “Configure” button in the appropriate area:

Such an abundance of plugins in my Total Commander allows, by selecting the desired file in the panel and pressing Ctrl+Q, see its contents on the next panel, be it video, audio, Word document or any other object of a common format. If you use the arrows on the keyboard to navigate through files, then, thanks to these plugins, their contents will be quickly displayed in the adjacent viewing window.

In general, my version of the program is crammed with all sorts of extensions, even beyond measure, but the supply, as they say, does not break the pocket. In addition to the site mentioned just above, plugins can also be downloaded from the TotalCMD.net website.

If you are too lazy to look for suitable extensions yourself, then you can use my plugins. True, your Total settings will be reset and replaced with mine. If this suits you, or you are able to rip out the lines related to plugins from my Wincmd.ini.

All you have to do is unpack it and copy the Plugins folder to the root directory of your manager (totalcmd), and drop the Wincmd.ini configuration file (installed plugins are registered in it) either into the root of the totalcmd folder, or into the location that you specified for storing Wincmd when installing Commander (see above).

Now let's talk a little about toolbar, which you can customize at your own discretion. This is done quite simply - right-click on an empty space (or icon) on the toolbar and select the “Edit” context menu item. If you click on the icon, then along with the above item you will have the opportunity to delete, copy or cut an existing icon from the panel:

As a result, a window for adding a new item to this panel will open:

You will be able to create a button:

For each toolbar button you create, you can select an icon. Moreover, if there is nothing suitable in the default library, then no one is stopping you using the button with two >> to find another icon library on your computer or select a separate file with an icon (for example, with a png extension). I won’t teach you where to get a lot of beautiful icons, because it goes against the religion of this blog (well, or something like that).

What can Total Commander do (basic)

It's difficult to sort through its main features. It is clear that it allows you to sort, delete, copy and view information about all objects located on your computer or on network drives in a user-friendly way. With the help of plugins, you can even view the content of mobile devices.

But besides this, Total Commander can and has a lot of useful things:

Search in it (Alt+F7) is in many ways superior to the search capabilities of the operating system. It will be especially useful for webmasters search by file contents(this helped me find signatures). Remember I talked about such a wonderful tool as. When you use it to study your site, there are no problems finding CSS rules that are responsible for something on a web page, because the firebug itself will tell you the name of the style file and even the line in it.

Another thing is searching for the desired object in the folders of the site engine (the CMS can contain several thousand individual files), which generates the Html code for a particular section of the web page. This is where searching for Total by the contents of any number of files will come in handy. You can download the entire folder to your computer, or you can connect to the site via FTP using the FTP client integrated into this manager, which is essentially no worse than what I have already described:

But even a regular search by name through Total Commander has very flexible settings (estimated weight range, creation dates, available attributes), which are hidden in the “Advanced” tab:

The FTP client integrated into this file manager allows you to connect to your site via the FTP protocol and work with its objects exactly as if they were on your computer. To select a connection, just press CTRL+F, and if you have not configured any connection yet, then in the window that opens, simply click on the “Add” button. The settings are not much different from the FileZilla I described, but according to rumors, Total Commander has a problem with password security, which prompted me to switch to FileZilla.
P.S. It turns out that Filezilla is also unsafe because it stores passwords unencrypted. They were recently taken away from me, and after... However, I found a solution for myself that allows me to safely work with sites via FTP, both through Total Commander and Filezilla. If this topic is interesting to you, then read about and.
Show all files without subdirectories(Ctlr+B) - if you are too lazy to climb through all the subfolders of a directory opened in one of the tabs, you can use this function. If desired, you can then copy (move) all these files to a folder open in the adjacent panel. Sometimes it is very useful.
Bulk renaming(Ctlr+M) - select on any tab the required number of files that need to be renamed using a specific mask. The tool is very sophisticated and you can use it to create miracles:
Directory synchronization - available from the Commands menu. Allows you to compare and supplement catalogs, for example, from a laptop and a desktop computer.
Internal Associations - Available from the Files menu. All objects that you open from Commander by double-clicking can be associated (set to open) with any programs on your computer. And this can be done contrary to what associations you have configured in the system.
Depending on the number of archive plugins installed in your file manager, you can directly unpack (Alt+F9), pack (Alt+F5) and check (Alt+Shift+F9) archives of the types supported by these extensions. You can enter archives like regular folders, which is very convenient.
You can print a list of all the objects you have selected (you can also include subdirectories). Available from the “Files” - “Print” menu. You can also get a list of files using the corresponding Total commands or by selecting the appropriate item from the top “Launch” menu.
In the "View" menu you can configure different display methods. By default, detailed mode is used, but it is less pressing on the brain, in my opinion. "brief".
To view image previews, you can use the mode "View Thumbnails"(their size is set in the Commander settings). Of course, to view and work with photos it would be better to use specialized programs (for example, my favorite), but sometimes it is not advisable to launch a separate application for this.
It is possible that this is not very relevant now, but nevertheless, from time to time the opportunity of this manager may come in handy. I'm talking about the ability to cut a file into pieces no larger than the specified size, and then glue it together. Items split and collect files available from the menu of the same name.
There you can also create and verify a checksum for files.
As I already mentioned and showed above, for the million other commands provided in Commander, you can configure sets of hot keys or add buttons to the toolbar. The possibilities in this regard are simply endless.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

First way

First of all, you need to launch Total Commander itself and go to the “View” tab. Then you need to find the “Advanced settings” item. Here the user can configure a huge number of different parameters. For example, enable or disable any program panels, buttons, command line, etc. Here you need to find the item “Show hidden system files on/off”. By clicking the left mouse button, the program will automatically show the user such data. You can disable this function by pressing this button again.

Second way

In other versions of Total Commander, you can open hidden files and folders differently. First, the user needs to go to the “Configuration” tab and select “Settings”. After this, an additional window will open in which the user can make changes. In order to make files and folders visible, you need to click on the “Panel Contents” tab. Then on the right in the “Display files” field you need to check the box next to “Show hidden/system files”. After this, you need to confirm your desire and click the “Ok” button. After this, all hidden files and folders will be shown to the user.

If you have enabled the display of hidden files and folders, then under no circumstances should you change, delete or move them. Such actions can negatively affect the performance of the system, since hidden folders mainly contain system files.

Surely, many of you have had to use at least once in your life file managers. The most popular of this kind of programs is undoubtedly Total Commander. It has enormous functionality and an incredibly user-friendly interface that you can customize individually.

I won't describe every setting element. I will only touch on those that, in my opinion, can really be useful for many users. We will consider the configuration features using the example of the version 8.01 , which is the most relevant at the moment.

To open the menu settings Total Commander, you need to select Configuration --> Setting... After this, a window will open containing a large number of different tabs.

Window view

The tab allows you to configure components of the main Total Commander window. A check mark placed opposite each element, accordingly, enables the display of this interface element.

Toolbar– this is a special panel located under the main menu of Total Commander. Contains a number keys, which may be useful during your work.

Drive buttons– in my opinion, a very useful interface element. Located below the toolbar and contains buttons for all devices installed on your system (hard drives, physical, virtual drives, flash drives, external media). It is convenient because you can switch between disks using the mouse pointer.

Two dial button panels– Drive panels appear above both panels in Total Commander.

Flat– disabling this element makes the disk buttons voluminous.

Disc selection window– the element is located below the dial buttons. Allows you to select a drive from a drop-down menu.

Folder Tabs– the element allows you to open several tabs at once within one panel. You can switch between tabs using either the mouse pointer or hotkeys Ctrl + Tab , Shift + Ctrl + Tab .

File panel title (with current name)– the element is located below the folders tab. Contains complete path to the folder from which you are currently viewing files. The path can be copied using the mouse pointer.

Tab headers– in other words, column headings with characteristics of the files being viewed (name, type, size, date).

Status bar– located at the bottom of the Total Commander window. Contains information about size selected files/folders, general quantity files/folders at this level.

Function key buttons- located at the very bottom. Serve to perform operations over files/folders (view, edit, copy, move, create directory, exit). Each button has a label containing a hotkey associated with it. Those. You can control it either with the mouse or with the keyboard.

Flat interface– when turned on, some elements seem to merge with each other.

Show hidden/system files– enables the display of hidden files, which is often useful.

Long file names– the setting is necessary for the correct display of long file names, as well as Cyrillic characters in names.

Show square brackets around folder names– I personally find this setting incredibly annoying.

Sorting method- feel free to put it alphabetically.

Sorting directories– it’s better to set As files, otherwise the folders will not be organized.

Tabulators

Here are the only interesting settings:

Display the number of folders below– will be displayed in the status bar.

Dimensions in panels + In the status bar– sets the format for displaying file/folder sizes. It all depends on the user's preferences. For me, for example, it is convenient to display it in the form floating (x.x K/M/G)– the size is displayed in kilobytes/megabytes/gigabytes, rounded to the nearest tenth.

Folder Tabs

Place tabs in multiple rows– when the setting is enabled, the tabs are arranged in several rows one below the other. If the setting is turned off, then you will have to scroll through the tabs using special arrows.

Open a new tab next to the current one– some may find it convenient.

Mark locked tabs with a star *- any tab can be blocked using the context menu called by the mouse. In this case, when you try to close this tab, the program will ask you for confirmation to delete the tab.

Basic Operations

Prohibiting the simultaneous launch of several copies of TotalCmd– when the setting is disabled, multiple copies of the program can be launched. Sometimes such a need arises.

When renaming, highlight only the file name– very convenient, no additional steps required to avoid editing extensions.

Mouse selection– I personally prefer the left button.

Quick search

Search the current directory– sets the file search method. Those. You start typing the name on the keyboard, and Total Commander finds the files. In my opinion, the most convenient way is Letter only.

I see no point in considering the remaining settings. If someone needs it, I think they can figure it out themselves.

There are some more Total Commander interface settings available through the menu. On the menu View you can select the type of display of the panel columns (short, detailed, comments, custom set of columns).

Menu View --> Panels one above the other allows you to change the location of Total Commander panels relative to each other.

You can also organize the display of files (by name, type, date/time, size, no sorting).

Switch between panels conveniently using a hotkey Tab. Source selection is also possible using Alt + F1(for the left panel) and Alt + F2(for the right one).

With help Alt + F7 starts search files. You can ask mask, if you know what specific file format you are looking for, in the form *.format. Using this mask, all files of the format will be found format. You can specify a specific search location (I mean a folder), you can search in all local drives, or in some specific one.

On the search tab Additionally you can set the interval dates, within which the required file was created. Here you can also set size, relative to which the search will be performed.

Selection files are produced by pressing a key Space. At the same time, the size of the selected files/folders is calculated. A very useful function is contained in the menu Selection--> section Copy. You can simply copy file names, as well as full paths to files, to the clipboard.

Sometimes another function is useful - Files --> Change attributes . It allows you to set the attributes of the selected files, as well as change the date the file was created/modified.

As a result, now you and I know how powerful a file manager Total Commander is. And I have not yet described all of its capabilities.

It is the simplest and most convenient program to work with disks and files. With it, you can easily and quickly select, copy, move, delete folders, unpack archives, run programs as an administrator and perform many other operations. This file manager is recognized as an indispensable program for all PC users.

IMPORTANT! In some cases, when unpacking an archive using WinRAR and 7-Zip, the user may encounter the problem that the installation file is missing in the folder. Standard archivers may not move exe files. Total Commander solves this problem.

Total Commander interface overview

The Total Commander interface has a classic two-panel design, which is convenient when performing various operations with files on different drives.

At the top of the program window there is an optional menu. Below it are the toolbar icons. Below are buttons for the most frequently used operations.

How to work with disks?

To select a drive and start working with it, click on the drive letter. The contents of the disk will open in one part of the program window. In another part you can view the contents of another media. This is useful when comparing content.

You can open disk files and folders by double clicking.

How to search for files in Total Commander?

In order not to open every drive and folder in search of the desired file, Total Commander has a search function. To use it you need to do the following:

Click the “Search files” button on the toolbar.

A small window will open. If you know what drive the file is on, you can specify it.

By going to the “Search Templates” tab, you can specify the file type.

After all the parameters for the search have been specified, you should click on the “Start Search” button.

The search results will be displayed in the same window.

Clicking on the desired result will open the file.

What operations can be performed on files and folders?

Selecting files and folders. There are several ways to select the necessary elements in Total Commander.

By right-clicking on an element.
The combination “Ctrl+left mouse button”.

If you need to select several files, then hold down the “Ctrl” key and use the “up” and “down” keys to select the required number of files or click on the folders with the left mouse button.

The selected files will be colored in a different color.

Copying. You can also copy an element in several ways.

Using the key combination “Ctrl+C”;
By selecting the file with one click and pressing “F5”;
Using the button at the bottom of the program's working window.

Moving files. In order to move a file, you should perform a few simple steps:

Select the file with one click of the left mouse button. In the second window, open the drive or folder to which you want to move the file. Click "Move". We confirm the operation.

Or simply drag and drop the desired element.

Deleting files. In order to delete the desired file or folder, you should select it and press the “Delete” key or select a special button on the toolbar.

Packing and unpacking files. The Total Commander file manager can replace any archiver. It can be used to pack and unpack files. To do this, just select the archive and click “Unpack”.

Or select several files (or one) and click “Pack”.

The archive has been created.

Setting up an FTP connection in Total Commander

To create an FTP connection, follow these steps:

Click on the “Connect to FTP server” icon.

Many have heard about the Total Commander program and that it is a useful application for the PC, but few have tried installing this manager on their computer. Even fewer people know how to use the Total Commander program. Many of those who have installed this application on their computer do not use it to the maximum. For example, not everyone knows that Total Commander can be used as an FTP manager for working with servers. This is just one of the features of this application. This article is an instruction that will teach you how to work with Total Commander and show you the basics of managing the manager.

Why do you need the Total Commander program?

If we literally translate the name of the program from English, we get “total control” or “full control”.

This is the essence of the Total Commander program - it is needed to manage the file system of various devices.

For example, you can control a computer or removable storage device, or even use an application to upload files to a remote server. It cannot be said that without this program your computer will be lost, but with Total Commander it will be much easier and more convenient to perform various operations.

Many people use this program rather than the standard explorer, because by default the computer takes a long time to complete operations, but Total Commander works quickly. You can almost instantly copy, move, rename, cut and paste any files you have access to. Your computer will quickly turn into an organized system with Total Commander. And although at first it will seem to you that using the manager is not very convenient, over time you will get used to it and realize that there are many advantages to it!

However, the program also has negative sides. So, it is better to use FileZilla for an FTP connection, not Total Commander, a manager that is designed to work via the FTP protocol. The fact is that the application in question has a lower speed of downloading data from the Internet, so using FileZilla to work with servers is somewhat more convenient and practical.

How to use the Total Commander manager

Like many similar programs, the Total Commander application has an interface consisting of two panels: active and passive. Using these panels, you can issue various commands to the program and perform operations on the file system. The active panel is the panel that your cursor is currently working with - it is usually highlighted. And it is called active because the commands that you execute will be implemented in this panel.

As you understand, using panels you can make changes to the file system. Above the panels are the toolbar commands that you will use all the time. And even higher is the main menu for changing program settings. At the very bottom you will find a horizontal list of the commands that you use most often. Essentially, the commands of this program are key combinations that launch certain processes. Here are the most common commands that users use:

F4 - in normal mode, the computer copies the file or folder under the cursor. In FTP mode, downloading to the computer begins, and if the cursor is hovered over the archive, it is unpacked.
F6 - two commands in one key: rename and move.
F7 - create a directory.

Unfortunately, this instruction will not contain all the commands that are in this program, because there are more than a hundred of them. Basically, you will use the F, Ctrl, Enter and Shift keys. Over time, you will learn the necessary commands, especially when you need to speed up your work with the program.

Total Commander is convenient because, thanks to two panels in the interface, you can quickly compare the availability of certain files on different disks and media. To open a device, click on the arrow at the top of one of the panels, and a list of available media will appear in front of you. Select a drive or storage device from the list and it will open in the panel above which you clicked the button. Now you can quickly view and find the file that you need to transfer from one place to another. Otherwise, if you didn't have this file manager installed, you would have to first open two folders, and then look through first one and then the second to find the document you need.

Another useful feature of Total Commander is the ability to search for the files you need. To do this, select the binoculars icon in the toolbar, which activates the search mode. You can find a file or folder using various filters. Enter the name, format, text that appears inside the document, indicate approximately where to search, and Total Commander will quickly display the result. This search is much smarter than the standard Windows Search. It’s strange that Microsoft hasn’t yet bought a license for Total Commander and hasn’t added this application to the list of standard ones - that would have been much more convenient for users.

Beginner users often have problems when working in Total with a large stack of files. I don’t know how to select many documents; beginners start working with files separately, which is completely inconvenient. To select many files, you need to hold down Ctrl and then click on each file with the mouse - this will highlight them all. Also note that Total Commaner does not work exactly like your computer. For example, to delete a file or folder, you need to either use the line or press F8 instead of Del. Knowing all these nuances, you will quickly learn how to use the Total Commander program for your own purposes, and you will understand that this is an indispensable application for daily use!