Total Commander Usage Tips

Many of tips below were borrowed from an excellent Guide to Efficient Use of Total Commander by Ilya Gulko.

Tips from Ilya Gulko

Use directory favorites menu the same way you use favorites menu in you Web browser

Add the directories you use often to the directory favorites menu. Do so by pressing Ctrl+D (or double-clicking on the path bar) and then choosing Configure. To make the directory menu more efficient, add shortcuts to the menus by including the ampersand (&) character before the shortcut letter. You'll add more directories later as you use it.

The Total Commander button bar is fully customizable. You can alter it in many different ways:

• Right-click on an individual button to alter or delete it.
• Drag a file or directory onto the button bar to instantly a new button.
• Use the Change button bar dialog to edit the toolbar directly.
• You may have several different button bars that are nested within each other. (Clicking a button on the button bar replaces the currently displayed button bar.) To achieve this, use the Add Subbar button in the Change button bar dialog.

Displaying All Files in a Directory Tree

Total Commander 4.52 also includes a great command to view all files in a subdirectory. This is useful in many different situations, such as renaming a group of files that are distributed among a tree of directories. To use this feature, just press Ctrl+B. If you don't have version 4.52, you can duplicate this feature with the following steps:

1. Open the Find Files dialog by pressing Alt+F7.
2. Leave the Search for field blank, and press the Start search button (or just press Enter).
3. Press Feed to listbox (Alt+L).

This feature can also be used in conjunction with the Multi-Rename Tool. Be careful when using it, though, as it can take a very long time to list all of the files in a big tree, such as the root directory of a drive.(January 23, 2000)

Use of the internal zip packer and unpacker.

Press Alt+F5 to pack a group of files, and Alt+F9 to unpack them. You may also navigate inside of archives, including nested archives. Just select one and press Enter like always. This also works for other archives, such as RAR, ACE, CAB, and the self-extracting versions of these (Press Ctrl+PageDown to navigate inside of a self-extracting archive.)

 

Tips from FAQ

A: Either use the directory hotlist (CTRL+D), or create a button in the button bar or an entry in the start menu. The directory hotlist allows to add/remove the currently active directory. To add a dir to the button bar, select the directory, hold down the SHIFT key, and drag the directory to the button bar. A new icon will appear. You can also create a menu item in the "Start Menu" using the command cd c:\dirname. (Total Commander requires you to specify the whole path).

A: There are two possibilities:

1. In the other window by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F5
2. In the same window by right clicking on the file for 1 second or by pressing Shift+F10 and selecting the command Create Shortcut.

A: There are several ways to print a directory from Total Commander, although it's not possible directly:

1. Use Files - Print - File list to print the selected file names. Depending on the current display mode, you can print either only the file names, or all file details. Please note that some fonts like Fixedsys may not work with your printer. To print to a file, install the printer Generic - Text only, and connect it to FILE: .
2. Use the command cm_copynamestoclip (e.g. add it to button bar) to copy all names via clipboard to other programs
3. Use the diskdir plugin from our addons page to create a list file, which you can then print from Word or Excel.
4. Use a third party tool like print folder pro from www.no-nonsense-software.com It's specialized on printing folders.

Q: How can I compare one or more pairs of folders by content, e.g. after burning a CD-R?
A: You can use the function synchronize dirs: Select the folders which you want to compare, and choose commands - synchronize dirs and choose the options Subdirs, by content and ignore date. Then click compare. Click the = button to hide/show equal files

A: Select the file and press SHIFT+F6.

A: When you right click on the drive letter, it opens a context menu which contains the two commands. Under Windows NT/2000 this only works if the drive isn't the current drive - therefore you have to use the drive button bar (can be enabled through the Configuration dialog). Alternative: Create a button in the button bar with one of the following commands:
rundll32.exe diskcopy.dll,DiskCopyRunDll
(for copying), or:
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHFormatDrive
(for formatting).

Q: Is it possible to use F2 for renaming (as in Explorer)?
A: Yes, you can re-map keyboard shortcuts through Configuration - Options - Misc - Redefine hotkeys. The command for renaming is cm_RenameOnly .

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20170329 : Total Commander 9 -- what is new ( Mar 29, 2017 , www.ghisler.com )
• 20141212 : Mass Renaming Directories And Files Using Total Commander by Artem Russakovskii ( September 16, 2012 , beerpla.net )
• 20141212 : How To Show Hidden-Invisible Files In Total Commander, Both Locally And On An FTP Server by Artem Russakovskii ( March 6, 2010 , beerpla.net )
• 20121029 : keyboard shortcuts - Windows XP bind Win+Q to open-focus Total Commander - Super User ( keyboard shortcuts - Windows XP bind Win+Q to open-focus Total Commander - Super User, Oct 29, 2012 )

Old News ;-)

[Mar 29, 2017] Total Commander 9 -- what is new

If you like me have the problem, when you know that a file exists somewhere, but know neither the location, nor the exact name of the file, that might be helpful for you and your team. If also allows to compare directories for differences and two versions of the same file for differences, And since number of files that I deal with increases exponentially this problem is getting worse and worse. In this sense this tool help to remain sane and find some presentation, quote, config file, or whatever file I need more quickly. It also can be useful for copying PowerPoint presentations to your Windows phone

Notable quotes:

"... Use "Everything" tool for much faster search on NTFS drives, also on network shares if possible ..."

"... Regular expressions supported in more types: Unicode UTF-8+UTF-16, Office XML ..."

"... Opens Quick View in separate Lister window, updates contents when going to other file ..."

Mar 29, 2017 | www.ghisler.com

Here is a list of the most important additions in version 9:

User interface:

• View modes, can be switched manually via menu "Show", or automatically by rules
• Show icons on folder tabs depending on the displayed folder
• Vertical button bar (can be disabled via Configuration - Options - Layout)
• Rubber band selection mode when using left mouse button selection, disable via settings
• Show up to 3 external devices without drive letter (e.g. Android or Windows Phone) in Alt+F1/F2 drive dropdown list
• Background transfer manager (F5-F2): Show second progress bar with overall progress if available
• Themed text cursor, enable/disable in Configuration - Options - Colors
• Use system drive and folder icons (dynamically loaded) instead of internal
• Dimmed icons for hidden files/folders
• Show small green arrow as overlay icon when a folder is open, e.g. in tree or when opening very large folder
• Click on tab header with "locked but directory changed allowed" returns to base directory of that tab
• Better support for high resolution screens
• Set scaling of dialog boxes (OverrideDPI) via main settings - fonts
• Option to show sizes with 1k=1000bytes instead of 1k=1024bytes
• Option to show numbers in TBytes, with 1 or 2 decimal digits

File operations:

• Unicode support for descript.ion files
• Inplace rename: Use up/down arrow to jump to previous/next file (configurable)
• F5 Copy/F6 Move: Show combobox with all open tabs and all subdirectories in the target panel (Shift: Source panel)
• F5 copy: Skip empty dirs by appending |**\ to line "only files of this type"
• Create and verify additional checksum types: SHA224, SHA384, SHA3_224, SHA3_256, SHA3_384, SHA3_512
• Delete files directly (not to recycle bin): In case of errors, ask at the end of the entire operation
• Delete files directly: Also offer "Skip all" when a file is missing
• Re-use threads for delete, loading hints and ID-lists
• Disable overwrite confirmation in sync: wincmd.ini [Confirmation] SyncConfirmOverwrite=0

FTPS, HTTPS:

• Support TLS 1.1 and 1.2 with new openssl dlls
• Use Windows certificate stores "ROOT" and "CA" to verify purchased server certificates

Packer:

• ZIP unpacker: Support new compression method XZ (method 95) with updated tcmdlzma.dll and tclzma64.dll
• Support invalid ZIP archives with no CRC in the local header and behind the zip file, e.g. created by owncloud
• Support invalid ZIP archives with UTF-8-encoded names but missing UTF-8 flag (created by Dropbox)

Search function:

• Use "Everything" tool for much faster search on NTFS drives, also on network shares if possible
• Search with content plugins for text on main search page
• Regular expressions supported in more types: Unicode UTF-8+UTF-16, Office XML
• New option "Older than" working just like "Not older than"
• Standalone search: Allow to search in search results (after feed to listbox) and selected files

Compare by content:

• Show only differences, with additional lines above/below the differences, including editing
• Edit mode: triple click now selects entire line

Multi-rename tool:

• New buttons to insert other fields
• Improved range selection dialog
• If there are duplicate names, or names that already exist, offer to auto-rename to "name (2).ext", "name (3).ext" etc.

Lister:

• Ctrl+Shift+Q: Opens Quick View in separate Lister window, updates contents when going to other file
• View files of type RTF, BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, ICO, HTML with internal viewers also in read-protected folders (via DuplicateHandle)
• Use larger buffer sizes to handle longer blocks of text without line breaks

Other operations:

• Double click/ENTER: Follow .url files pointing to directrories within Total Commander. Disable via wincmd.ini
• Manual update check via menu Help - Check for updates now, using DNS lookup
• Automatic update check (experimental): wincmd.ini [Configuration] AutoUpdateCheck= (1: all updates, or 2: no beta versions)
• Ctrl+B in search result = Go to directory of file under cursor
• Read virtual folders like the Network Neighborhood asynchronously (faster initial response) and in a background thread
• Directory history: Remember name under cursor and position in list when entering a subdir via double click/Enter
• Content plugins: new content field chooser dialog instead of menu. Also show field preview for file/dir under cursor
• Synchronize dirs: Compare with multi-part ZIP, supports compare by content and view
• Buttonbar, Startmenü: New Parameter %C1..%C9, %c1..%c9

Internal commands:

• to focus specific panels, including tree: cm_FocusSrc, cm_FocusTrg, cm_FocusLeftTree etc.
• to select/unselect one or more files: cm_Select, cm_Unselect, cm_Reverse
• to open lister: cm_ListOnly, cm_ListMulti, cm_ListInternalMulti, cm_SeparateQuickView, cm_SeparateQuickInternalOnly
• to save tabs to a specified file: SAVETABS, SAVETABSL, SAVETABSR, SAVETABS2, SAVETABS2L, SAVETABS2R
• cm_wait, accepting wait time in milliseconds, e.g. cm_wait 1000. Can be combined, e.g. em_cmd1,cm_wait 1000,em_cmd2

A list of all corrections, also for previous versions, can be found in the history file .

As usual, the update is free for all registered users.

[Dec 12, 2014] Mass Renaming Directories And Files Using Total Commander by Artem Russakovskii

September 16, 2012 | beerpla.net

If you're like me, you constantly move and rename files and directories. You are also an extremely productive person with evangelical ideals of making every task as efficient as it can be. In this tutorial, I will use my favorite must-have file manager called Total Commander (formerly, Windows Commander) and its brilliant Multi-Rename Tool.

You can download a shareware version of Total Commander at www.ghisler.com. I encourage you to buy it after you try it as it'll soon become an integral part of your life. I've been using it for more than 10 years now and seriously can't imagine my computer without it.

Now for some quick tasks I'd like to accomplish using the Multi-Rename Tool in under a minute each that would otherwise take me ages (also being quite boring and tedious). In my example, I'm going to use 5 files, but feel free to extend it to any number – multi is multi after all. The tool supports regular expressions (regex) to execute more advanced operations.

And the sample files are:

vac-sick-leave request form 03-10-08.xls
vac-sick-leave request form 05-30-07.xls
vac-sick-leave request form 10-16-07.xls
vac-sick-leave request form 11-22-07.xls
vac-sick-leave request form 12-19-07.xls

I fire up Total Commander, highlight the files using the gray *, right clicking and dragging on the names, or pressing Insert – the possibilities are endless, and fire up the Multi-Rename Tool from the Files menu (or just Ctrl-M). Here's what the screen looks like now:

[Dec 12, 2014] How To Show Hidden-Invisible Files In Total Commander, Both Locally And On An FTP Server by Artem Russakovskii

March 6, 2010 | beerpla.net

http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_smash/images/shortcuts/total-commander-logo.png

Today I have 2 tips for Total Commander users: •how to display hidden local directories and files and •how to display hidden FTP directories and files

Really, Total Commander should just control this setting in one place but, unfortunately, it is not the case.

I usually prefer when my file manager shows me everything I have, so that I can be more in control and see the hidden directories, such as .svn or $Recycle.Bin, and files, such as .bashrc or pagefile.sys.

How To Display Hidden Local Directories And Files •go to Configuration -> Options… -> Display •put a check next to the "Show hidden/system files (for experts only)"

local show hidden files total commander How To Display Hidden FTP Directories And Files

This one is a bit trickier – you would think the same option as above controls this, and you would be wrong.

Furthermore, you would think that it's an option in the FTP manager (Ctrl-F), and you would be wrong again.

Here is how to do it: •connect to the FTP server you need •select Net -> FTP Show Hidden Files

ftp show hidden files total commander

Weird choice for an option, isn't it?

Apparently, at least as of Total Commander 7.50a, this option persists while Total Commander is running but it is not saved when you restart it.

[Oct 29, 2012] keyboard shortcuts - Windows XP bind Win+Q to open-focus Total Commander - Super User

Q: Is it possible to bind Win+Q key to open Total Commander or if it is already running - focus on it?

A:

1. In total commander, you can set it to allow only a single copy

   Configuration -> Options -> Operations -> Allow only a single copy ...,
   so if anything tries to open TC it will only focus on it.
   

2. You can bind a key combination to any shortcut you have in the start menu, so you can bind Ctrl+Alt+Q to it (this is what windows does when you key in Win+Q). If you don't mind using extra software - maybe AutoHotKey can help you (I never tried it, just found it on another post on this forum).

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Last modified: July, 28, 2019