Everyday work

Panels and navigation

Two panels side by side. One is active: its path is highlighted and the keys act on it. The other one is the target for copying and moving.

Moving around§

Keys	What it does
`Tab`	Switch to the other panel.
`↑` `↓` `Home` `End` `Page Up` `Page Down`	Move the cursor.
`Return` or `⌘↓`	Open the folder or archive under the cursor, or open the file in its app.
`⌫` or `⌘↑`	Go to the enclosing folder. The cursor lands on the folder you came from.
`⌘[` `⌘]`	Back and forward in this tab's history.
`⇧⌘H`	Home folder.
`⇧⌘G`	Go to Folder: type a path. `~` and relative paths work. A file path opens its folder with the cursor on the file.
Type letters	Jump to the next name that starts with them.

The .. row at the top goes up a level too, by double-click or Return.

The path bar§

Each part of the path above the list is a button. Click a part to go to that folder.

Drives and places§

The row of buttons at the top of each panel is Total Commander's drive button bar: one button per disk (the startup disk, external disks, disk images, network volumes), then Network (servers on your network, see Servers) and Process Viewer (see Mac integration). The disk the panel is on stays pressed.

Below it, the drive pop-up shows the disk's free and total space, with an eject button for disks that can be ejected. The pop-up lists:

Drives: the startup disk, external disks, disk images and network volumes, each with its free space.
Places: the Finder's standard folders, such as Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads and Applications.
Favorites: your hotlist folders.
Eject: a submenu for disks that can be ejected.

The button shows where the panel is. ⌘1 opens it for the left panel and ⌘2 for the right one.

The folder hotlist§

⌘D or the star at the end of the path shows the hotlist: your favorite folders, plus “Add … to Hotlist” or “Remove … from Hotlist” for the current folder. ⇧⌘D adds the current folder directly. Hotlist folders also appear in the drive pop-up and in the Dock menu of PaneShift. Server folders are not stored in the hotlist; save the server in Connect to Server instead.

Jump to a folder (⌘J)§

PaneShift remembers the folders you open and how often and how recently you use them, as the zoxide tool does in a terminal. Press ⌘J, type a few letters of the path, such as pane or code docs, and the best match is selected: Return opens it, ⌥Return opens it in the other panel. The words must appear in that order, the last one in the folder's own name. In the command line, z pane does the same in one step.

Folders in archives, on servers and temporary folders are not remembered. ⌘⌫ in the list forgets the selected folder. A folder that isn't there (on a disk or share not connected right now) is hidden, and forgotten once you haven't visited it for 90 days. The history stays on your Mac, in ~/Library/Application Support/PaneShift.

Working with two panels§

Keys	What it does
`⌘U`	Swap the panels.
`⌘=`	Show the active panel's folder in the other panel.
`⌥⌘→` or `⌥⌘←`	Open the folder under the cursor in the other panel.
`⌘R`	Refresh. Panels also refresh by themselves when files change on disk.

Tabs§

Each panel has its own tabs, in the row above the path.

⌘T or + at the end of the row opens a new tab with the current folder, ⌘W closes the tab.
⌃Tab and ⌃⇧Tab go to the next and previous tab. Clicking a tab works too.
Each tab has a close button. It is always visible on the active tab and appears on the others when you point at them.
Right-click a tab for Close Tab, Close Other Tabs, Duplicate Tab and Lock Tab.

Locked tabs§

A locked tab stays in its folder. When you go to another folder from it, the folder opens in a new tab next to it, as in Total Commander. A locked tab shows a lock, and its tab row stays visible even when it is the only tab.

The tabs of both panels are restored when PaneShift starts again.

Views§

Full (⌥⌘2): One row per item with columns. This is the standard view.
Brief (⌥⌘1): Names only, in columns filled from top to bottom and scrolled sideways. ← and → move by a column.
Thumbnails (⌥⌘3): Previews of pictures, videos, PDFs and other documents in rows, made by Quick Look; folders and other items show their icons. ← and → move by one, ↑ and ↓ by a row. On servers and in archives every item shows its icon.
Branch view (⌃B or ⌘B): Every file in the current folder and all folders below it, in one flat list with relative paths. Mark, copy or pack them as usual. ⌫ or the same key again returns to the normal list.
Quick View (⌃Q): The other panel becomes a live Quick Look preview of the item under the cursor. See Quick View.

⇧⌘. shows or hides hidden files. Hidden items are drawn dimmed.

Folder sizes§

Folders show <DIR> in the Size column. Space on a folder marks it and calculates its size, as in Total Commander. When Space shows Quick View or Quick Look instead (Settings › General › Space Key), on a folder it still calculates the size rather than a preview (in the Full view with the Size column; an open preview still closes, and marked items still preview); turn off “Space on a folder calculates its size” to preview folders too. ⌥⇧Return (View › Calculate Folder Sizes) calculates all folders in the list. The status line then counts them in the totals.

Columns§

The Full view shows the columns of a column set. Available columns are Name, Ext, Size, Modified, Created, Kind, Permissions, Owner, Tags, iCloud and Git (Direct edition), and for photos and media Taken, Dimensions, Camera, Lens, Exposure, Duration, Codec and GPS. Drag column edges to resize them; click a header to sort.

The photo and media columns come from Spotlight's index, or from the files themselves (EXIF, video and audio tracks) when it has nothing; they fill in a moment after the list appears. Taken is when the photo or video was shot. Sort by it with its header or View › Sort by Date Taken; other files sort by their creation date there.

PaneShift starts with four sets:

Set	Columns	Used automatically in
Default	Name, Size, Modified	Folders that match no other set
Detailed	Name, Ext, Size, Modified, Created, Permissions, Owner	Only when chosen by hand
Media	Name, Taken, Dimensions, Camera, Duration, Size	`/Pictures;/Movies;/Music;/DCIM`
Code	Name, Git, Size, Modified	`/Code/;/Developer/;/src/`

⌥⌘K (View › Columns…) picks a set for the active panel by hand, or returns it to Automatic (by Folder). Edit sets and their folder masks in Settings › Columns.

Sorting§

Click a column header, or use the keys from the Finder:

Keys	Sort by
`⌃⌥⌘1`	Name
`⌃⌥⌘2`	Extension
`⌃⌥⌘4`	Date created
`⌃⌥⌘5`	Date modified
`⌃⌥⌘6`	Size
`⌃⌥⌘R`	Reverse the order

Dates and sizes sort newest and largest first. Choosing the current key again reverses the order. Each tab keeps its own sort order.

The Sort button in the toolbar (and View › Sort…) shows the same choices plus two options for all panels:

Folders: On Top, Sorted Like Files (the default: sorting by date puts the newest folder first), On Top, Always by Name (Total Commander's default), or Among Files.
Natural Number Order: “file2” before “file10”. On by default.

The command line§

The field under the panels works like Total Commander's command line. It is part of the Direct edition; the App Store sandbox does not allow running a shell.

⌘L puts the cursor in it. Esc returns to the panel.
cd path changes the active panel's folder. cd alone goes home.
z words jumps to the folder you visit most that matches the words (see Jump to a folder).
Anything else runs in your login shell, in the active panel's folder. The output appears in the Command Output window with the exit status. Stop it from that window.
↑ and ↓ go through earlier commands.
⌃Return in a panel inserts the name under the cursor, in quotes when it contains spaces.

Commands run on your Mac, so the command line is not available while the active panel shows a server.