The best plugins for Total Commander. Expanding the functionality of Total Commander
The Total Commander file manager is perhaps the most popular today. Even its basic features are more than enough for most users. For those who want more, the author has provided the ability to connect plugins.
In outline
First, let me explain what we are talking about. A plug-in is a small auxiliary program that is connected to the main program and expands its capabilities. Their use is beneficial to both program authors and users. Authors do not need to worry about “extra” functions (let others write plugins), and the user can add only those functions to the program that he needs.
Now let's see how it all works in Total Commander. In total, TC can use four types of plugins: lister plugins (expand the capabilities of the built-in viewer), FS plugins (can manage everything that can be presented as a list in TC panels), archive plugins (add the ability to work with various types of archives) and content plugins (allow you to add additional columns with various information to the TC panels).
Several thousand plugins have been written over the years of Total Commander’s existence. You can find them both on TC’s “native” website () and on the websites of his fans. The most famous of them are (in Russian) and (English). These sites are essentially mirrors of each other (except for the language and some small details), so the sets of plugins on them are the same.
Selection principle
For ease of description, I will divide the review into four parts (one for each type of plugin). Of course, it is impossible to describe all the plugins, so I had to select the most common ones. In cases where there are several plugins with similar capabilities, I chose the one with a higher popularity rating (according to the site). Exception: plugins whose development was discontinued more than two years ago were replaced with newer analogues regardless of rating.
Lister plugins
This type of plugin is one of the most popular. With their help, you can teach the built-in TC viewer (Lister) to “look” at various types of files. A lot of such plugins have already been written, and they look at everything they can. But we will be primarily interested in the ability to view those types of files that we encounter every day (Office documents, pictures, music, etc.).
Office
This little plugin uses converters from MS Office to view documents created in this very office. You don't need to have an office for it to work - just copy the converters to any folder and specify their location in the configuration file.
Pros: small size.
Cons: sometimes files are displayed incorrectly; configuration is done by editing the configuration file.
This plugin will be especially useful for programmers and web designers. It allows you to view any text files with syntax highlighting, as well as edit them. Lighting patterns can be customized. This plugin also supports... plugins that can expand its functionality (for example, add a transliteration function). The plugin comes with a small program that allows you to use it as a standalone application (editor).
Pros: a large number of backlighting schemes for various file types, many functions, the ability to use without TC.
Cons: not very convenient controls.
IniEdit
IniEdit is a somewhat unusual plugin. It was written not for viewing, but for editing .ini files. Sections of the .ini file are displayed in a list, and when you select one of them, keys and values \u200b\u200bwill be shown that can be easily edited.
Pros: convenient tool for working with ini files.
Cons: Saving changes sometimes doesn't work.
Excellence
As you can guess from the name, this plugin is a specialist for viewing Excel (or OpenOffice Calc) .xls documents. Moreover, it is not required to be in the Office system. Individual sheets of the book are represented by tabs at the top of the window, and the tables themselves are presented as tables (what else?).
Pros: ability to view Excel workbooks in his absence.
Cons: when opening a book, all cells are the same size, which is not always convenient.
IEView
Another plugin from the author of Office. It uses the MS Internet Explorer engine to view web pages (htm, html). You can also view any formats supported by IE (Word, Excel, Acrobat Reader and others).
Pros: small size, wide possibilities.
Cons: sometimes problems arise when opening non-standard files; configuration is done by editing the configuration file.
This plugin displays information about the archive: actual file size, compression ratio, etc. In appearance it resembles the archive properties page of WinRar. Supports zip, rar, cab and dozens of others archives. SFX archives are supported.
Pros: small size, convenient presentation of information.
Disadvantages: archives are not always recognized correctly; configuration is carried out by editing the configuration file.
ICLView
As the name suggests, this plugin allows you to view icons. It is possible to view both the actual .ico files and icl libraries, as well as icon sections in .exe, .dll and other files. The icons are displayed as a list indicating the size and palette. It is possible to import into BMP format, as well as remove icons from the library.
Pros: ease of use.
Cons: not found.
Imagine
Pros: support for a large number of formats (using appropriate plugins).
Cons: errors occur when using some Winamp plugins; it is inconvenient to use separately from TC.
This concludes the first part of the review, dedicated to lister plugins. About the rest - .
Total Commander is a popular file manager for Windows systems. To expand its functionality and add the ability to work with additional file formats, a large number of plugins have been developed for this program, which are installed automatically.
Instructions
Total Commander is a leading file manager for Windows that comes with its own internal file type viewer called Lister. It allows you to open some types of files for viewing in a simplified form on another panel of the file manager (Ctrl+Q keys) or in a separate window (F3 key). Initially, Lister supports a small number of formats - images, TXT documents, some types of audio and video files. Microsoft Word documents are not included in this list, but they can be viewed by installing additional plugins in Total Commander. What are these plugins, where can I get them and how to install them?
The simplified viewing function for Word documents can be useful in various situations - for example, when there is a large amount of work to organize documentation or when you need to quickly glance at some files. In order not to install Microsoft Office, other office suites or universal viewer programs for one-time cases, and also not to drag such one-time files to cloud storage to be able to work with Office Online applications, you can supplement Total Commander with special plugins for viewing Microsoft Word files. Below we will look at three of them: one of them can work with the “.doc” file type, the other with “.docx”, and the third with several formats. Let's start with the last one.
OpenOffice/DOCX/FB2 Viewer plugin
OpenOffice/DOCX/FB2 Viewer is a plugin for Total Commander, which implements within the latter the possibility of internal simplified viewing of Microsoft Word, OpenOffice documents and FB2 books.
Works with formats:
Microsoft Word ".docx" and ".dotx";
OpenOffice ".odt", ".ott", ".stc", ".sxw", ".sxd", ".stw", ".sxc" and ".std";
FictionBook e-books “.fb2” and “.fb2z”.
The plugin converts documents into XHTML format and allows you to view them with formatting. The text copy keys Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Insert do not work in this viewer, but there is a small list of options in the context menu, using which you can, in particular, copy selected text.
The plugin is available for free on the Wincmd.Ru website, dedicated to the intricacies of working with Total Commander: http://wincmd.ru/plugring/OOoHtmlViewer.html
Download the plugin and open the folder with its archive in the Total Commander window. And double-click on the archive itself.
We confirm the installation.
And click “Ok” in the plugins window.
This plugin requires the old .NET Framework 3.5 to work. If it has not been installed previously, you must give permission to install it when prompted. And it can appear either at the stage of installing the plugin, or when opening the first document using it.
Office2007 plugin
Office2007 is a plugin for viewing only “.docx” files. Implements instant opening of a document and presents its contents without formatting. The text selected in the viewer window can be copied using the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Insert keys.
The plugin is available for free on the same website Wincmd.Ru: http://wincmd.ru/plugring/office2007wlx_64.html.
Office2007 is installed in the same way as the previous plugin. Download, open the folder with the archive in Total Commander. And, again, double-click to launch the archive.
We carry out the installation.
Click “Ok”.
The plugin is now installed and ready to use.
ListDoc plugin
ListDoc is a plugin that opens Word documents in the “.doc” format in the Lister window in its simplified form, without formatting. Allows you to copy text blocks using the Ctrl+C keys. Available only for 32-bit editions of Total Commander.
You can again get ListDoc on the Wincmd.Ru website: http://wincmd.ru/plugring/wordfileviewer.html
But in this case the installation process will be different. Unpack the downloaded archive. Next, go to the Total Commander settings.
Go to the “Plugins” section. Select the column for those for the internal viewer. Click “Settings”.
Specify the path to the file “listdoc.wlx” in the unpacked folder.
Click “Ok”.
Removing plugins
The ListDoc plugin, which opens .doc documents, will work with any of the two discussed plugins for .docx files. But the latter, since they overlap in functionality, naturally, in terms of the “.docx” format, they will not be able to work together. Before installing another plugin, the first one must be uninstalled. This is done in the same settings of the internal viewer plugins where we added ListDoc. Only this time we click on the unnecessary plugin and press the “Delete” button.
And one more nuance. To open a document in another Total Commander panel using the internal viewer, as mentioned above, the Ctrl+Q hotkeys are responsible. But for the same operation, there should also be an “Active: Quick View” button on the file manager toolbar. If it is not there, and you find it more convenient to work with the toolbar rather than with hotkeys, you can implement this button as follows:
Go to the toolbar settings.
Add an empty block under the new button, then click search commands.
In the filter field, enter the number 304, first click the quick view command, then click “OK”.
If desired, change the button icon, finally click “Ok” and exit the panel settings.
That's all. Now you can easily view Word documents through the viewer in Total Commander.
The Total Commander file manager is famous for its functionality. However, it is paid... It's good that there are a couple of alternatives to Total Commander with support for its plugins, which you can use to build the ideal file manager yourself.
As the main character of the movie "Spy Kids" once said: "The coolness of an agent is in his gadgets." And this statement is quite true in the IT field. After all, the cooler the parts of your PC, the more powerful the computer will be. The better the software is selected and configured, the more optimally you will work with it. Well, the more plugins you add to the program, the more functions it will be able to perform.
Probably everyone knows the popular file manager Total Commander. It is considered by most users to be the best of its kind. It has a lot of convenient and useful functions available out of the box for working with files. However, few people use “pure” Total. More hacked assemblies are in use, which have expanded functionality due to built-in plugins and additional software, as well as a slightly changed interface.
Various plugins allow you to add virtually any additional functionality to your file manager that you are missing! If you want a quick preview of the pictures, please do so. If you want to create archives with a high compression ratio - no problem. In short, plugins exist to solve almost any problem!
The only caveat is that Total Commander is paid (costs about 37 euros!). However, there are free alternatives that support all (or almost all) types of plugins, which can be very helpful in various situations. Therefore, we will devote today’s article specifically to add-ons for Total Commander.
Alternative to Total Commander
Before we look at plugins, we need a base on which they will work. As already mentioned, Total Commander itself is paid. However, not everything is so simple here. The fact is that it has an official trial period of 30 days. But even after the trial period expires, no functions of the file manager are blocked!
The only drawbacks of the trial period are the inscription “NOT REGISTERED” in the window title and the need to press one of three randomly offered buttons when starting:
For home use, I don’t think this will be a particular hindrance. But to work in an organization, you will still have to comply with the license and Total Commander will need to be removed after a month. To avoid this, you can use alternative file managers that support Total plugins.
There has been a program on our website for a long time:
This is a classic two-panel file manager with an interface that is as close as possible to the original look of Total Commander. Almost all the same hotkeys and controls are used here. And, most importantly, Unreal Commander supports three types of Total plugins: WLX (file viewing), WCX (archiving) and WDX (information plugins).
True, Anril also has shortcomings. Firstly, there is no support for file system (WFX) and search (DSX) plugins, and, secondly, there is a need to periodically update (albeit free) the license. Therefore, as an ideal alternative to Total Commander, I would recommend another file manager - :
This file manager, like the previous one, inherits the Total Commander interface and its set of hot keys as much as possible. However, it has no licensing requirements, works on all desktop operating systems (including Linux and Mac OS) and natively supports all Total plugins through the use of the native Total Commander plugin API.
WCX archiving plugins
Initially, Windows supports working with only one type of archive - ZIP. To support other popular formats, such as RAR, 7Z, TAR.GZ, etc. you need to install a special archiver program. The advantage of file managers is the initial support for most types of archives as regular folders without additional software (due to built-in libraries).
If the user needs a specific format with high compression or needs to unpack some file that is based on an archive (for example, a program installer or a CHM file), then he can always rely on archiving plugins(English "packer plugins") Total Commander, which have an extension WCX.
You can download archiving plugins for Total Commander from the official English-language website (the first group of plugins) or from the Russian-speaking community WinCMD.ru, dedicated to Total (preferable for Russian-speaking users).
Let's look at the principle of installing an archiver plugin in Double Commander. As an example, let's take a plugin that allows you to extract resources from icons in ICO format as from regular archives.
First you need to unpack the downloaded ZIP archive with the plugin files. This can be done in any folder, however, in my opinion, it is most logical to unpack it into a special "plugins" directory in your file manager folder. In it, create (if it doesn’t exist) a subfolder with the plugin type (in this case WCX) and a new folder with the name of the extension to be added:
Now that the plugin files are in place, let’s open the file manager itself and go to it "Options"(the "Settings" menu or the button of the same name on the toolbar). Here we go to section "Plugins" and choose tab of the desired type(in our case "Archive plugins.WCX"). Here we press the button "Add" and in the window that opens, specify the path to the file of the required plugin:
After adding the plugin, a small window will appear asking you to specify the file extension with which it will be associated. In our case we will write "ico". If the extension you are installing supports several file types, list them separated by a space. Apply the changes, close the settings window and try to open some icon:
As you can see, now the icons open in the same way as regular archives and we can pull out from them the images of various sizes that they consist of!
To summarize, I will say that the Total Commander archiving plugins allow you not only to add support for working with new types of archives and some files, but also:
- automate file copying;
- create lists of files in folders and subfolders;
- extract resources from various files, which are based on the principle of archiving;
- convert sound and graphic files, as well as encrypt them or hide them from viewing;
- perform a number of specific actions related to encryption or archiving (generating file checksums, working with images, etc.).
WLX file viewing plugins
If archiver-type plugins allow us to turn Total Commander (or Double Commander) into a universal tool for unpacking various types of files, then viewing plugins give us the ability to open and execute any files. This is achieved due to the presence of a special module in Total Commander Lister(actually, in English plugins WLX and are called " Lister Plugins").
Lister natively supports opening any file as text, binary, hexadecimal, or graphical. Called viewing by pressing a key F3. In addition, the function is available for a number of files quick preview on the parallel panel of the file manager without opening a full Lister window (by default it is called by pressing CTRL+Q):
However, Lister's capabilities can be significantly expanded through the use of various plugins (see item 7 of presentation in the "View" menu of the viewing window). Thanks to these plugins, you can play videos, listen to music, view rarely used graphics or document formats without having to install and run specific (sometimes quite heavy) software!
The principle of installing WLX plugins is similar to the principle of adding WCX extensions discussed above. In the directory plugins create a subfolder WLX and unpack the folder with the plugin files into it. Then open "Options" - section "Plugins" and add a new extension in the tab "WLX Viewer Plugins".
As a result, our file manager, for example, “learns” to open office documents OpenOffice, Word 2007 and e-books in FB2 format using a plugin OpenOffice/DOCX/FB2 Viewer, which “weighs” only 3 megabytes and does not require installed office packages:
Conventionally, the result of installing Lister plugins can be divided into the following categories:
- opening and viewing new file formats (multimedia, office, graphic, database, etc.);
- full editing of files (mostly text) in editors with syntax highlighting and other convenient functions (by pressing the F4 button);
- improving the appearance of the file list by adding previews, etc.
Roughly speaking, all the visual beauty and file viewing capabilities in Total Commander are provided by WLX plugins.
WDX Information Plugins
If previous types of plugins allowed one way or another to view the contents of certain types of files, then information plugins are designed to give us access not so much to the files themselves, but to information about them. Such plugins are also called content(from their English name "Content Plugins").
Content plugins are convenient to use for viewing and editing various META data (for example, file attributes or EXIF information of images), sorting files by specified criteria, or searching by certain parameters.
There are few information plugins on the official Total Commander website, however, there are much more of them on WinCMD.ru. There they form a very significant layer with instruments for every taste.
As for installation, plugins of this type are installed according to the standard scheme in the WDX folder and connected in the Parameters section of the same name. However, these extensions have their own specifics - they may require additional settings. For example, let's take the plugin for displaying EXIF data from graphic files ExifToolWDX. After installing it, you will not see any changes in the file manager!
To benefit from this plugin you will need create a new column set, which will contain fields with the META information you need. To do this, go to "Settings" - "File Viewer" - "Columns" - "Column Sets", expand the opened panel to the full width and click the button "Create" up. You will have a copy of the standard set of columns created.
Any text in the column editor can be deleted and edited. The main action is added by clicking the button with a plus sign in the column "Data field contents". When you click the button, a context menu will open with the ability to select standard Double Commander fields (section "DC") or plug-in fields ("Plugins"). It is in the latter that the fields added by various content plug-ins are located. For example, with ExifToolWDX you can add a display of picture sizes, focal length, camera model, etc.
Save the created set of columns under a unique name and in the future you can quickly enable it if necessary. To do this, simply call the context menu of columns and select the set you currently need:
As for WDX plugins for searching data, you can access them after installation through the function "Search", called from the "Commands" menu or a button on the toolbar. In the window that opens, go to the tab "Plugins", activate the checkbox "Use content plugins" and press the button "Add Rule". In the first column of the new rule "Plugin" select the desired extension from the drop-down list, set the necessary conditions and click the button "Start":
Summarizing the capabilities of WDX plugins, we highlight the following available functions:
- adding new columns with file data;
- search for files using specified parameters;
- viewing information about files in pop-up tooltips, etc.
WFX File System Plugins
If you still choose Unreal Commander as your work platform, please note that this file manager does not support WFX plugins.
This type of add-on can be briefly described as a means of gaining access to various specific places in the operating system, alternative file systems, remote devices and servers. In addition, using system plugins, you can provide access to some system tools, such as viewing running tasks, editing the registry, or working with alternative data streams in the NTFS file system.
Most WFX plugins are added after installation in section "Network" and appear as a new connection. However, there are exceptions that are caused by pressing certain keys. Therefore, before installing the system plugin be sure to read the instructions to it on the site from which you download, or in the readme file, which usually comes with the plugin.
The capabilities of file system plugins are quite wide, but we can highlight the main functions that they implement:
- implementation of various data transfer protocols (WebDAV, SFTP, HTTP, etc.);
- support for file systems on connected devices (for example, Linux file systems (ext2fs, ReiserFS) or mobile phones);
- support for various connected devices (scanners, digital cameras, etc.);
- access to system tools (registry, temporary file storage, etc.);
- work with files of some programs (WinAMP playlists, Miranda contact lists, etc.).
Conclusion
On the Internet you can find quite a lot of articles and reviews under big names, like “The best plugins for Total Commander”. However, in my opinion, the concept of the best is individual. After all, to solve a particular problem, sometimes there are several different add-ons, and in each of them the user can find something he needs.
Therefore, in the article I mostly touched on the issue of how the added plugins should work and where to look for them. After all, sometimes even in the official Readme file, information about this is quite scarce or completely absent. And novice users of a file manager really need it (I remember how at one time I tried to understand all the variety of plugins and utilities).
If you are already an advanced user of Total Commander, it will be very good if you share your experience and vision of an ideal file manager in the comments.
And I wish everyone successful implementation of all the necessary functions and smooth operation of the computer :)
P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.
To enrich the functionality of the Total Commander file manager, there are many different add-ons, that is, plugins. We will talk about the most popular of them in this post.
Cloud plugin for Total Commander
Cloud plugin The Cloud plugin allows Total Commander to connect to various cloud services. The kit includes Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive), Microsoft Azure Data Lake Store and Yandex.Disk.
The add-on can be found in the File System Extensions category.
Back2Life plugin
The Back2Life plugin recovers deleted files and also supports FAT and NTFS partitions. In addition, the plugin shows the extent of file destruction.
Back2Life can be found in the File System Extensions section of the Total Commander Plugins page.
Registry plugin for Total Commander
Registry plugin The add-on can be found in the "File System Extensions" category on the Total Commander Plugins page.
Viewing Images Using the Imagine Plugin
Imagine is an image and animation viewer. It supports various image formats such as PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, PCX, TGA, TIFF, ICO, CUR, LBM, ANI, FLI, WMF, EMF and many more. It also supports various archive formats: ZIP, RAR, 7Z, ALZ, HV3, CBZ, CBR, CB7, ARJ, LZH, EGG, TAR, ISO, CAB.
In addition, this plugin can extract all images from animation files or only some of them. It also handles the following image manipulation functions: resize, flip, rotate, grayscale, and filter.
The plugin can be found in the "View/Lister" category on the Total Commander plugins page.
7zip archiver plugin
7Zip plugin The 7zip plugin allows you to unzip and pack archives. It is especially important that the actual 7zip software is not required.
The add-on can be found in the “Archivers/Packer” category on the Total Commander plugins page.
ISO plugin for image files from CD
Using the ISO module, you can integrate CD image files. It supports BIN/CUE, IMG, NRG and large DVD images in ISO format.
You can download the plugin from the plugin page. It can be found in the Package Extenders category.
Mmedia plugin With Mmedia, you can play various multimedia files, and the default player is Windows Media Player.
In addition to various media files, it can also play CD CDA files, view and play M3U lists. In addition, the plugin displays information about the MP3 frame, ID3V1 and V2 tags.
You can download the plugin from the Total Commander website in the Lister section of the Total Commander plugins page.
