Commander One is what you would call a Finder Enhancement app. It simply recreates Finder windows and adds a multitude of tweaks and features to them. This is nothing new; XtraFinder does this to some extent, and and Path Finder have done these things for years. But Commander One promises to offer Path Finder-level features, plus a built-in FTP manager, at an affordable price through the Mac App Store—where you have the luxury of installing it on five Macs at a time.

Features

The biggest feature of Commander One is the built-in FTP file manager. The need for an FTP Manager today is rather limited. In fact, other than web developers, I suspect there are few people who need FTP anymore, or even know what it is. But if you do need it, the concept of having FTP built-in to Finder windows is certainly enticing.

Along with it’s marquee FTP feature, Commander One offers the ability to theme it’s file manager window, access a Processes window (similar to Apple’s own Activity Monitor), a built-in Terminal, various file sorting capabilities, integration with Dropbox and more.

I won’t go into all the features, you can read about them on the website. I gave Commander One a test run for the last two weeks and compiled my thoughts below.

Unfortunately, none of the features found in Commander One work as well as they do in other apps. In my opinion, the entire app feels cobbled together and lacking in polish. For instance, simply hitting the Space bar in Commander One doesn’t invoke Quick Look like it does in the Finder. You actually have to click a button in the toolbar. An app that exists to replace the Finder needs to improve the Finder, not remove great features.

For simple tasks like dual-pane Finder windows, adding global hotkeys, adding legacy-style Finder labels, theming Finder windows, adding a button to view invisible files, auto-resize windows to specific sizes (or just enough to fit file names on the fly) and adding a host of other tweaks and enhancements to the Mac’s standard Finder, I use the excellent XtraFinder app, which has the benefit of being free; though it does require disabling Apple’s SIP (System Integrity Protection) to do so; a problem that brought about headaches for many software developers with the arrival of El Capitan, and ultimately killed the popular Total Finder, a Commander One competitor.

Commander One’s hero feature, an integrated FTP manager, sounds like the one feature that would make Commander One worth paying for. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the FTP management feature to work with my FTP sites at all. Eltima offered to troubleshoot the problem for me, but I didn’t go through with it because FTP is such a basic thing that I shouldn’t have to—it’s an ftp address, a username and a password. I have two other FTP apps installed, and both work flawlessly with my FTP sites.

Mac Finder integration is key

And that’s really the problem here. Commander One is a separate app that doesn’t integrate with the Finder, or replace it. So launching an app like CyberDuck or Transmit to use FTP services is no different than using Commander One exclusively, really. Almost all of Commander One’s features suffer from this same problem.

If you’re looking to completely replace the Finder, I think Path Finder does a much better job. Unlike Commander One, Path Finder offers a way to completely ‘replace’ the Finder in almost every meaningful way. If you don’t mind using a separate app for adding useful features to a Finder-like environment, ForkLift looks much better, and offers virtually the same feature set., including FTP file management.

If you just want to add some cool and useful features to the existing Finder, I think you’ll find XtraFinder to be an excellent choice.

The basic features of Commander One are free, with the pro features costing $30. Unfortunately, some of the pro features are available with fee apps like XtraFinder, some are already built-in to the Finder, and others are only useful to those with specific use cases.

Ultimately, though, I’m not sure any app can ‘replace’ the Mac’s Finder completely. Running a completely separate Finder-replacement app on top of the Finder seems pointless to me to begin with. As a huge fan of some of Eltima’s other software like Airy, I was disappointed with Commander One. But Commander One does an admirable job for what it is, and I know that there are those that will find the features Commander One offers to be useful. It’s just not for me.

At first glance, that’s all the Path Bar does. But as Sharon Zardetto points out in her Macworld article: Five overlooked abilities of the Finder’s Path Bar, it can do a whole lot more.

ClawMenu is one of those apps that you see and just want to give it a try. It offers you a way to supplement the Mac’s Finder with it’s own system for navigating your files and folders.

It’s a bit difficult to explain, but basically it puts an overlay window on top of OS X’s Finder for basic navigation. It offers a shortcuts bar across the top and bottom of the overlay, and offers one-click opening of files and folders.

At $7.99, ClawMenu isn’t going to appeal to everyone, as it’s not really something you “can’t live without.” But it may appeal to some users, and there is a 7-day demo available, so I thought I would share it.

Here’s a list of some of the commonly used keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to customize the way you view files in Mac OS X’s Finder.

• Command + Option + T hides the toolbar across the top of your window
• Command + Option + S hides the sidebar on the left edge of your window
• Command + [ takes you back
• Command = ] takes you forward
• Command + Up Arrow opens enclosed folder
• Command + Control + Up Arrow opens enclosed folder in a new window
• Command + Down Arrow opens the highlighted item

Here is a more complete collection of keyboard shortcuts, straight from Apple.

Perhaps someday soon Apple will finally get around to enhancing the Finder with the features mentioned above, but until then you can have them now via three fantastic add-ons; Default Folder X, HyperDock, and TotalFinder.

Default Folder X

Perhaps one of the longest tenured Mac OS utilities on the market is Default Folder X. I’ve been using it since the Mac OS 8/9 days. Default Folder X enhances Open, Save and Place/Import/Export dialog boxes in a number of ways.

If you’re constantly saving things inside the same folder, Default Folder X can remember that folder for you. You can even set a different default folder for each application you use. You also have the ability to open or save to any Finder window with a single click; a feature I use often.

Default Folder X offers a plethora of dialog box enhancements

It also lets you get info on, rename, and delete existing files, putting the Finder’s power in every Open and Save dialog. Default Folder X remembers recently used folders, and assign keyboard shortcuts to them which are available not only in dialog boxes, but the Finder as well. And finally, you can add tags to your files, view file info and file previews (great for images), change permissions and view the Finder’s invisible files with a simple keystroke.

Default Folder X costs $34.95 and is worth every penny (there are numerous other features it brings that I didn’t even mention). It’s the first thing I install on any new Mac I buy. A demo is also available, and it runs on Mac OS X 10.4 and above.

HyperDock

I reviewed HyperDock not to long ago, and it’s been updated a few times since then. HyperDock brings window previews to your OS X Dock icons, just like Windows 7. Hovering your cursor over an icon reveals a preview bubble of open windows for that application. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Window previews for iCal display events scheduled for that day, and you’re offered a bit of control over your music when hovering over your iTunes icon.

HyperDock offers window previews in your Dock, and a lot more!

If the features stopped there, I would have been disappointed. Thankfully they don’t. HyperDock also offers you a number of other features such as adding shortcuts to Finder windows and apps as well. While these are handy, they still aren’t the best features. HyperDock copies another Windows 7 feature in that it allows you to resize and dock a Finder window to the sides of the screen simply by moving the window to the screen edge. Nice! And if you don’t like having to travel down to the bottom right corner to resize a window, you don’t have to. Simply hold down a key combination and you can resize your window from ANYWHERE in the window. Oh, you can also move the window from anywhere (not just the title bar) with another key combo!

HyperDock is currently free, as it is still in beta, and runs on Mac OS X 10.6 only.

TotalFinder

People have been asking for a tabbed Finder since tabs were introduced in web browsers years ago. BinaryAge has finally brought that capability to Mac users with TotalFinder, which I reviewed earlier this year. If tabbed Finder windows weren’t enough, TotalFinder offers you dual-paned Finder windows with a quick keystroke; placing a Finder window sidebar on each side for easy navigation.

TotalFinder offers tabbed Finder windows and more

TotalFinder also offers a screen-wide Finder window, called the Visor, that slides up from the bottom of the screen with a quick keystroke. In addition, you can view invisible files in the Finder, and have folders displayed at the top of a file list, both with a keystroke. Finally, you can rid yourself of those annoying .DS_Store files if you wish. In the works is also the ability to cut and paste in the Finder, Terminal integration with the Finder and Safari-style tabs.

TotalFinder runs on Mac OS X 10.6 only, and costs $15.00. A demo is available.

AddSpotlightComments Service for Mac OS X

AddSpotlightComments Service is just what the name implies, a Service that makes adding keywords and comments simple. You install the workflow file to your ~/Library/Services folder and restart the Finder. Once installed, you can right-click on a file or folder in the Finder and select Add Spotlight Comments from the bottom of the Contextual menu. A dialog box appears where you can type in your keywords, comments, or whatever other info you wish. It’s that simple.

There are other utilities that offer this capability, but none are so seamless and simple.

Let’s say you want to hide a folder in your Documents folder called “MyStuff.” You can do it simply by launching the Terminal (found in your Utilities folder inside Applications) and typing the following:
chflags hidden ~/Documents/MyStuff

Once your MyStuff folder is hidden, it will not appear in the Finder, but it will still be accessible via the Finder’s Go>Go to Folder (Command + Shift + G) and typing in the path to the folder.

To unhide your MyStuff folder, simply type the following:
chflags nohidden ~/Documents/MyStuff

If using the Terminal isn’t your thing, you can download Hideaway, which does the same thing, only you just click a few buttons instead of typing code into the Terminal.

Dan Frakes recently wrote a review of SymbolicLinker for his MacGems column at Macworld, which explains more about why you would want this handy little add-on for OS X. Needless to say, if you know you have the need for creating symbolic links, this app will save you trips to the Terminal each time you need to do it.

Thankfully, a creative and persistent developer has finally figured out a way to add them into Mac OS X’s Finder without completely replacing the look, feel and functionality of the Finder in the process.

Tabs in Mac OS X's Finder windows

TotalFinder, a SIMBL application by BinaryAge adds elegant tabs, borrowed from Google Chrome, to Mac OS X’s Finder windows. The tabs look, feel and act like tabs in your Web browser for the most part. Along with the tabbed windows (seen above in the screenshot), TotalFinder also adds a few other really cool features.

Though you can drag and drop items between tabs, you can also hit Command + U or double-click a tab while holding the Option key down to merge two adjacent tabs into a sort of dual-pane window. As you can see in the screenshot below, the dual-pane window shows both tabs in the same window, including the sidebar on each side.

Dual-pane tabbed Finder windows

Another really handy feature is the ability to invoke, via a keyboard shortcut, a window that glides up from the bottom of your screen, called the Visor. The Finder window fills the entire width of your monitor and about one-third the height. You can quickly hide the window with the same shortcut (double tapping the option key, by default). BinaryAge borrowed this idea from Visor, their app which pops open a Terminal window with a keyboard shortcut.

I found the Visor window feature to be somewhat annoying for me, but other users may love it.

TotalFinder doesn’t stop there with the features. You can also set TotalFinder to place folders at the top in list view, stop creation of .DS_Store files, and show invisible files in the Finder. All of TotalFinder’s preferences can be accessed in the Finder Preferences window by hitting Command + , while in the Finder.

TotalFinder is still in Alpha stage, but I’ve found it perfectly usable – experiencing no adverse behavior at all. The developer plans on charging for the app eventually, but until it’s 1.0 release, TotalFinder is free of charge. Considering how long it took Apple to add virtual desktops (called Spaces in OS X), this may be the only way to add tabs to Finder windows for a very long time.

A quick visit to the Finder’s menubar does the trick! Simply go to View>Show View Options (or hit Command + J). In the View Options window about half-way down, click in the checkbox next to Show Item Info as seen in the screenshot at the right.

Once that option is activated in the Finder, you’ll notice information located just below the desktop icon file name colored in light blue. When you’re in icon view mode in a folder, which you can switch to by hitting Command + 1, you’ll see the info there too. As you can see in the screenshot at the left, you’ll get a quick glimpse of the number of items inside a folder, and the pixel dimensions of image files.

Not all document types display information, but these two in particular I find quite useful.