Comparison of file managers

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of file managers. Please see the individual products articles for further information.

1 General information
2 Manager views
3 Network protocols
4 Basic features
5 Search features

General information

Basic general information about the managers: creator/company etc.

	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Operating System
Finder	Apple Computer	January, 1984	10.4	Mac OS
Windows Explorer	Microsoft	?	?	Microsoft Windows
	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Operating System

Manager views

Information about what common file manager views are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

	Icon views	List views	Column views	Thumbnails	Groups
Finder	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial
Windows Explorer	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	Icon view	List view	Column view	Thumbnails	Groups

Network protocols

Information on what networking protocols the file managers support.

	SMB/CIFS	WebDAV	NFS	AFP	FTP
Finder	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial
Windows Explorer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	SMB/CIFS	WebDAV	NFS	AFP	FTP

Basic features

Information on what basic file features the file managers support.

	File compression	Browse compressed folders	File encryption	Forbidden characters	Rename busy files	Slideshows	Print pictures
Finder	Yes	No	Yes	1	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Explorer	Yes	Yes	Partial¹	9	Partial	Yes	Yes
	File compression	Browse compressed folders	File encryption	Forbidden characters	Rename busy files	Slideshows	Print pictures

Note 1: Only in the Pro version of Windows XP.

Search features

Information on what file searching features the file managers support.

	File name/content search	Basic metadata search	All metadata search	Save searches
Finder	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Explorer	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	File name/content search	Basic metadata search	All metadata search	Save searches