PaneShift

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Getting started

Install PaneShift, let it read your disks, and learn the parts of the window.

Requirements§

Installing§

PaneShift comes in two editions with the same panels and tools. See Editions for what differs.

Choose PaneShift › About PaneShift to see which edition and version you run.

Disk access§

macOS protects some folders: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, iCloud Drive, removable and network volumes. What you do depends on the edition.

Direct edition: turn on Full Disk Access once§

Without Full Disk Access, macOS asks for permission the first time PaneShift opens each protected place. To stop the questions for good:

  1. Open PaneShift › Settings (⌘,) and select Access.
  2. Click Open Full Disk Access. System Settings opens at Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access.
  3. Turn on PaneShift. If it is not listed, click + and choose it in Applications.
  4. Quit and reopen PaneShift.

App Store edition: grant the folders you use§

The App Store sandbox lets PaneShift open only folders you choose. Grant a folder once and PaneShift remembers it, including every folder inside it.

  1. Open Settings › Access and click Grant Access to Folder…
  2. Choose a folder, for example your home folder or an external disk, and click Open.

When you open a folder you have not granted, PaneShift shows the folder chooser so you can grant it on the spot. Remove a grant in the same list.

The window§

The PaneShift window: toolbar, two panels with drive buttons, tabs, paths and file lists, status lines, command line and the F-key bar
From the top: toolbar, two panels, command line and the function key bar.

From top to bottom:

Menu in the window (optional)
The menu bar repeated above the panels, like in Total Commander. Turn it on with View › Menu in Window.
Toolbar
In the title bar: back, forward and up on the left, with the active panel's path below the title; in the middle your button bar, icons for commands and your own shell commands (Settings › Button Bar); on the right the view menu (Full, Brief, Thumbnails), the eye for hidden files (open while they show), Quick Look and Get Info.
Panels
Each panel has, from the top: drive buttons (your disks, Network and Process Viewer), the drive pop-up with the disk's free space, the tabs with +, the clickable path with the hotlist star, column headers, the file list and a status line. The active panel's path is highlighted.
Status line
The number of items and their total size, or what is marked: “3 of 19 marked, 18,3 MB of 538,2 MB — 273 GB free”.
Command line (Direct edition)
cd to a folder or run shell commands in the active folder. See The command line.
Function key bar
F3 View, F4 Edit, F5 Copy, F6 Move, F7 New Folder, F8 Delete. Click them or press the keys.

Your first minutes§

  1. Press Tab to switch between the panels. Move with the arrow keys, open folders with Return, go up with ⌫.
  2. Press ⌘1 (left panel) or ⌘2 (right panel) to choose a disk or a place.
  3. Mark a few files with Space or Insert. They turn red.
  4. Press F5. The copy dialog suggests the other panel's folder. Press Return.
  5. Press ⇧⌘P and type a few letters of any command to find it, with its shortcut.
No F-keys on your MacBook?

The top row of a MacBook sends brightness and volume unless you hold fn. Use ⌘3 to ⌘8 instead of F3 to F8, or set “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Function Keys.

What PaneShift remembers§