Revolutionize Your Linux File Management with QtFM

The Qt file manager, QtFM, offers unique features such as the ability to store custom commands that can be accessed through right-click context menus. Unlike other file managers, QtFM allows you to add extension-sensitive actions that are only visible when relevant to the file you've clicked. Although installation may be challenging, the convenience of having access to frequently used commands without the need to open a terminal window is worth it.

One downside of using QtFM is that it may not be readily available in your Linux distribution's repositories. While some distributions may have it packaged, popular ones like Fedora and Ubuntu do not. Additionally, QtFM does not offer support for Flatpak, Snap, or AppImage formats, which are often used by Linux projects that do not want to support multiple packaging formats. This may be because these formats can introduce launch-time delays, which would not be ideal for a file manager that needs to launch quickly. If you want to use QtFM, your only other option would be to install it from source, which can be a cumbersome process given that it is written using the Qt application GUI toolkit and works with various desktop environments. The project's GitHub page provides build instructions, but as of January 2023, they did not work for us after multiple attempts, indicating that they may need updating or further clarification.

Installing QtFM

QtFM is conveniently available for installation on Arch-based distributions through the Arch User Repository. This allows for easy installation on any Arch-based distribution using your preferred AUR helper. Installing QtFM on Manjaro, for instance, can be achieved by simply typing "yay qtfm" into the terminal. In the event that you do not already have yay installed, it can easily be obtained with the command "sudo pacman -S yay".

Getting Around in QtFM

QtFM utilizes a traditional design for its file manager interface. The left side pane displays a list of directories and locations, easily selectable with a single click. The main panel exhibits files and directories within the current location, and double-clicking on a directory opens it.

The toolbar features buttons that allow quick navigation to previous locations, up one directory level, or back to the home directory. The path to the current location is also displayed.

During testing on a computer set to GNOME's dark mode, QtFM adjusted its interface accordingly. However, when switching to light mode, QtFM remained in dark mode even after restarting the program. Although the Edit > Settings > Appearances option did not appear to have any effect, light and dark modes worked as expected on a separate computer running EndeavourOS.

To customize the list of locations in the side pane, simply add your desired locations by right-clicking on a directory in the main pane and selecting "Add bookmark" from the context menu. You can also rearrange the order of the list by clicking and dragging an entry in the side pane. In addition, the context menu can be accessed by right-clicking the background of the main panel, where you can create a new file or directory, move up one directory level, move to the previous location, add a bookmark, or view the properties of the current directory. QtFM offers four short menus, with many actions being mapped to keyboard shortcuts, including opening a new QtFM instance with Ctrl+N.

Ctrl+T: Open a new tab.

Ctrl+W: Close the current tab.

Ctrl+C: Copy.

Ctrl+V: Paste.

Alt+Up: Move up one level in the directory tree.

Backspace: Move to the previous location.

Ctrl+H: Toggle showing hidden files.

Del: Move to Trash.

Shift+Del: Delete immediately, don’t move to Trash.

F1: Open a terminal window in the current location.

Ctrl+Q: Quit. Closes QtFM.

F2: Rename the highlighted file or directory.

Ctrl+-: Zoom out.

Ctrl++: Zoom in.

To launch a terminal window at your current location, click on the "Terminal" button located on the far right of the toolbar. By default, this button opens xterm, which can be found on most Linux systems. However, you can customize this feature to open your preferred terminal emulator. To do this, access the "Settings" dialog from Edit > Settings and navigate to the "General" pane. From there, modify the "Command" field for the "Terminal Emulator" entry. For GNOME, the command should be set to "gnome-terminal". Don't forget to keep the placeholder

in the output.

To fully utilize QtFM, taking advantage of its ability to create custom actions is key. These actions are specific commands applied to a file or directory and are even tailored to the file extension. By right-clicking a file, applicable custom actions will appear, making it an efficient tool for file management. To access and edit custom actions, simply navigate to Edit > Settings > Custom Actions. The current list of actions will be displayed and can be modified using the four buttons located below.

Reset the custom actions to their original settings.

Provide a brief description of the actions.

Introduce a fresh action.

Remove the action that is highlighted.

A custom action comprises:

File type: It can be a file extension, an asterisk “*” representing all files and directories, “folder” meaning any directory, or the name of a certain directory.

Text: A description of the action in text format.

To select an icon for your custom action, choose from a list of available icons on your computer provided by QtFM.

In the command field, enter the shell syntax command you want to execute. Use special tokens like "%f" for the selected file or files, "%F" for selected files with their full file system path, or "%n" for the current file name.

The checkbox in each command field is used to show a dialog box with the action's output. Select the checkbox to capture any output from the command.

Create a new custom action by clicking the "+" button. An empty action will be added to the bottom of the list.

Double-click on an empty field to edit it. Set up a custom action to convert a Markdown file into an HTML version using the pandoc document conversion utility.

The field entries should include the placeholder "

" in the output.

To convert Markdown files into HTML, simply use the default Markdown file extension of “MD” and the pandoc utility. Although there is no specific icon for pandoc, you can still create HTML files by using the command “pandoc -o draft.html %f.” This command instructs pandoc to create an HTML file named “draft.html” based on the Markdown content in the file “%f.” After filling in the required fields, click “Save” to complete the process. To test the new custom action, navigate to a directory that contains both Markdown and LibreOffice files.

When we right-click on the ODT file, the context menu appears, but the new custom action is not visible. However, we can see the new action in the context menu for the Markdown file. Upon selecting the custom action, pandoc is triggered, resulting in the creation of an HTML file named "draft.html."

QtFM is an impressive file manager that offers unique and user-friendly custom actions. However, to gain a larger user base, the installation process needs to be streamlined for more Linux distributions. It's unfortunate because the custom actions make QtFM stand out from other file managers. Even if you don't plan on using QtFM regularly, configuring custom actions can improve your workflow and make it a valuable tool for specific tasks.