Cosmil - In-development Finder Alternative

[cosmil]

Debates about copy/move aside, I kind of like what I assume will be a shelf for items to be copied. The visual reminder of whats on the clipboard is nice.

I'd also encourage you to make sure it interacts well with Terminal. Being able to pop open a terminal at the current directory, for example, and ensuring that dragging and dropping from cosmil to the command line works properly.

And please improve search. I feel like it's really burdensome to run a search in Finder. There's a lot more mouse work than I'd like, and certain things that I have to manually set every time by '+', drop down, select "File Visibility', drop down, select "Visible and Invisible", '+', drop down, select "System Files", drop down, select "Are Included".

Just making those two simple check boxes would simplify things a lot for me already.

I recently did a basic implementation of search that ironed out a lot of things that are strange about Finder's search utility.

It needs some polishing but niceties like what you suggested will for sure be implemented.

Also, please keep in mind all screenshots are from in-dev beta builds and may contain things that will be added/removed before release.

 

[MacBH928]

we cant give feedback if we can't test the beta app

 

[Rimmsi]

What are the oldest MacOS versions supported?

 

[cosmil]

we cant give feedback if we can't test the beta app

I'm just wondering what you guys think of the overall style of the interface based on screenshots, as well as the kind of features you'd like to see included in the app.

 

[cosmil]

What are the oldest MacOS versions supported?

At the moment 12.0+ but I'm sure I could make some changes to support even older versions if there's demand.

 

[HDFan]

What advantages does your app supply as opposed to forklift or Path Finder?

 

[cosmil]

What advantages does your app supply as opposed to forklift or Path Finder?

Mainly a unique, beautiful glassy look (window transparency + blur) along with a very customizable appearance. Expect a relatively similar number of features when compared to Forklift/Path Finder.

My biggest focus is making sure the needs of customers are met, meaning if people want a feature, I'll implement it as fast as I can.

 

[6916494]

Mainly a unique, beautiful glassy look (window transparency + blur) along with a very customizable appearance.

As nice as your UI looks, it does not follow the macOS HIG. Such apps just look foreign. Mac users will often not consider such apps if they have the choice between two. And in this case it is your app vs Finder, and your app vs PathFinder / ForkLift, etc. So you have to fronts to battle.

Customisable appearance is almost of no value on macOS in my experience.

I admire anybody taking up a task as this (I've done smaller stuff like this myself over the years), but I think your situation is the typical one of a Windows user wanting to keep his Windows mindset instead of properly learning to become a power user on macOS. I made the switch from Windows to macOS some 15 years ago, and struggled a lot in the beginning. And it turned out that the problems I encountered weren't there – I was stuck in my Windows knowledge and tried to apply that.

 

[ixxx69]

Hey folks, if this app is of no interest to you, then ignore the thread. Why are some people here giving the developer a hard time about it? If the developer wants to develop a file manger that has Windows File Explorer features, good for them - I welcome it!

Copy & Paste
FTR, @cosmil said there was no "cut & paste", i.e. unlike just about every other modern file manager, Finder doesn't have a "cut" command on the Finder (or contextual) menu. There's a "copy" command on the menu, there's a contextual "paste" command, but there's no "cut" on the menu, and there's no "move" on the menu (without pressing the "option" key, which is something that is not discoverable - you already have to know that feature exists to use it). They did concede there's "move", which may be pedantic to make a distinction, but it technically is a distinction.

Finder's "move" (the equivalent of cut & paste") does work, and without issue... if you know how to use it.

But that's the problem - Finder "cut & paste" is literally hard to use. Most Mac users (and I'm speaking of the 97% of Mac users who don't spend their lives on MacRumors) don't even know it exists in Finder because it's obscured by requiring the use of the option key (either by menu command or keyboard shortcut). To have to do key combinations for such a basic command is easy to mess up. It took me a while to figure it out - even after reading about it here on MacRumors, I had to figure out exactly when to press the option key.

Selecting "copy" to move a file is not intuitive. Why would you select "copy" if you want to "move" the file? It's the opposite of intuitive.

And there are tons of other Mac users who agree. Which is why most Finder alternatives make a point of offering a straight forward "cut & paste".

Folks can regurgitate Apple's BS about how the way Finder does it is "safer", but it's just that, BS. All modern file managers simply cancel the "cut" if it's not pasted somewhere - you don't "lose" the file if the "cut & paste" isn't completed. I've been using Windows & Macs for decades, and I've never lost a file on Windows due to cut & paste.

To @cosmil, ignore the haters, they're just here to hate. I would love a straight-forward copy & paste.

Interface
Just my 2 cents, but customization of colors and transparencies and all that kind of stuff is of little interest to me. If you're doing it for yourself, or you think there's a market for it, go for it! But my wish list is Finder-look-alike with:

• Straight-forward Cut & Paste
• Tabs within each pane
• 1-4 panes (single, dual, quad)
• Folder expansion within the pane (like Finder "list" view)
• File search within a folder that isolates as you type, e.g. you start to type "cosmil.app" and as soon as you press "c", all the files that don't start with "c" are eliminated, followed by "o" and all the files that don't start with "co" are eliminated, and so on. It might have been PathFinder that had that feature, and it was awesome (I use past tense because I don't use it anymore)

Those are just a few of my favorites. Good luck with your app!

 

[cosmil]

Hey folks, if this app is of no interest to you, then ignore the thread. Why are some people here giving the developer a hard time about it? If the developer wants to develop a file manger that has Windows File Explorer features, good for them - I welcome it!

Copy & Paste
FTR, @cosmil said there was no "cut & paste", i.e. unlike just about every other modern file manager, Finder doesn't have a "cut" command on the Finder (or contextual) menu. There's a "copy" command on the menu, there's a contextual "paste" command, but there's no "cut" on the menu, and there's no "move" on the menu (without pressing the "option" key, which is something that is not discoverable - you already have to know that feature exists to use it). They did concede there's "move", which may be pedantic to make a distinction, but it technically is a distinction.

Finder's "move" (the equivalent of cut & paste") does work, and without issue... if you know how to use it.

But that's the problem - Finder "cut & paste" is literally hard to use. Most Mac users (and I'm speaking of the 97% of Mac users who don't spend their lives on MacRumors) don't even know it exists in Finder because it's obscured by requiring the use of the option key (either by menu command or keyboard shortcut). To have to do key combinations for such a basic command is easy to mess up. It took me a while to figure it out - even after reading about it here on MacRumors, I had to figure out exactly when to press the option key.

Selecting "copy" to move a file is not intuitive. Why would you select "copy" if you want to "move" the file? It's the opposite of intuitive.

And there are tons of other Mac users who agree. Which is why most Finder alternatives make a point of offering a straight forward "cut & paste".

Folks can regurgitate Apple's BS about how the way Finder does it is "safer", but it's just that, BS. All modern file managers simply cancel the "cut" if it's not pasted somewhere - you don't "lose" the file if the "cut & paste" isn't completed. I've been using Windows & Macs for decades, and I've never lost a file on Windows due to cut & paste.

To @cosmil, ignore the haters, they're just here to hate. I would love a straight-forward copy & paste.

Interface
Just my 2 cents, but customization of colors and transparencies and all that kind of stuff is of little interest to me. If you're doing it for yourself, or you think there's a market for it, go for it! But my wish list is Finder-look-alike with:

• Straight-forward Cut & Paste
• Tabs within each pane
• 1-4 panes (single, dual, quad)
• Folder expansion within the pane (like Finder "list" view)
• File search within a folder that isolates as you type, e.g. you start to type "cosmil.app" and as soon as you press "c", all the files that don't start with "c" are eliminated, followed by "o" and all the files that don't start with "co" are eliminated, and so on. It might have been PathFinder that had that feature, and it was awesome (I use past tense because I don't use it anymore)

Those are just a few of my favorites. Good luck with your app!

I really appreciate the positive words, you mirror a lot of my reasoning behind creating Cosmil in the first place.

I understand that not everyone cares much for appearance, and so for those that purely want functionality, it will be there. There's no requirement to customize the appearance much it should be relatively plug-and-play.

To address your wish list:

• I'm not going to rewrite the app to be a native finder-look-alike (not saying you were explicitly asking for that just making that clear for everyone). One of the biggest reasons I went with Rust/Tauri is because I think there is definitely opportunity to make a unified cross-platform file explorer for people that want a consistent and intuitive experience across all their computers. Based on the feedback I've gotten so far, it is likely I will pursue this.
• Cut and Paste will most definitely be present
• Dual and Quad pane should be achievable with tabbing but it may not come immediately (especially for quad)
• Folder expansion (or what I've commonly known as "tree view") will definitely be implemented
• The quick folder search you are talking about is already implemented, I like to call it type-to-highlight. At the moment it just highlights all items that start with the prompt but I will add a preference to only show matching items.

Once again, it was really great to hear some appreciation for Cosmil, I'm glad you are interested and I should be active on this thread up until release so feel free to ask me any questions.

 

[allan.nyholm]

As nice as your UI looks, it does not follow the macOS HIG. Such apps just look foreign. Mac users will often not consider such apps if they have the choice between two. And in this case it is your app vs Finder, and your app vs PathFinder / ForkLift, etc. So you have to fronts to battle.

Customisable appearance is almost of no value on macOS in my experience.

I admire anybody taking up a task as this (I've done smaller stuff like this myself over the years), but I think your situation is the typical one of a Windows user wanting to keep his Windows mindset instead of properly learning to become a power user on macOS. I made the switch from Windows to macOS some 15 years ago, and struggled a lot in the beginning. And it turned out that the problems I encountered weren't there – I was stuck in my Windows knowledge and tried to apply that.

I have some of the same concerns. I like that ForkLift 4 has themes, and I use them too. Cosmil I can't see myself using. I wanted to. It turns out that I have a fair share of file managers already, QSpace also being one of them which I see as the equivalent to Directory Opus for macOS

I wish the developer well and hope to see the app flourish.

 

[6916494]

Finder's "move" (the equivalent of cut & paste") does work, and without issue... if you know how to use it.

But that's the problem - Finder "cut & paste" is literally hard to use. Most Mac users (and I'm speaking of the 97% of Mac users who don't spend their lives on MacRumors) don't even know it exists in Finder because it's obscured by requiring the use of the option key (either by menu command or keyboard shortcut). To have to do key combinations for such a basic command is easy to mess up. It took me a while to figure it out - even after reading about it here on MacRumors, I had to figure out exactly when to press the option key.

Selecting "copy" to move a file is not intuitive. Why would you select "copy" if you want to "move" the file? It's the opposite of intuitive.

With "Copy" in the finder you copy the information of the file you might want to copy or move, not the file itself. Then you go to the target folder, and decide upon pasting, if you want to create a copy or move. Perfectly intuitive. And safe, as it has the advantage that you cannot inadvertently loose a file, which you would, if you cut a file without pasting it.

I can understand the problems when switching constantly between Windows and Macs (for example having the one at work and the other at home). But otherwise I would always recommend to learn a system, and in this case its menus.

And on macOS you have the advantage that you can open any menu of any application, and press the Option key while the menu is open, and you'll see many commands slightly altered by the Option key. Once you know that you will quickly get accustomed to check the options, and after a while you'll have it memorised. It is really handy.

 

[Basic75]

What I hate about Finder is how it will launch a second large copy or move operation with the same source and/or destination drive as an in-progress copy or move. That totally kills performance with HDDs.

I wish it would allow multiple read streams from the internal drive or any other drive it can detect, or was told by the user, is an SSD, but limit to one write stream per HDD or SSD. That's my feature request.

 

[ipaqrat]

I've been using Macs (Windows, too) for decades, ever since they was things what had any use at all, like rocks and sticks... Finder has had better moments. One thing I'd improve in the modern Finder is adding custom icon sets, color-style formatting to its sidebars and tool ribbon buttons. Full skins, maybe. There have been OS-X era finder skinning utilities and tricks over the years, but they were about as stable as Charles Manson on bath salts and typically got wiped by patching - if you were lucky.

I find the modern Finder monochromatically, breathlessly boring, which is a shame because Apple keeps ignoring an opportunity to make the UI a bit more... IDK... Joyful? Engaging? Why do we like pretty things anyway? Yeah, the coding might be complex (particularly if some pipsqueak were to publish an icon set of all exploited JPGs 😆) (Maybe that happened??), but it ain't like Apple is workin for free. It's as if they got their *** kicked by a Section 508 color-blindness auditor, and they never recovered.

Back in the day, we used to be able to paste icons onto finder object using the "Get Info" dialog. Of course in those days, finder windows ain't had no fancy-schmancy toool ribbons or daaark mode <squinches up face mocking gen z snowflakes on ticktok> or nuthin, just the basics and the main menu bar. You kids and your fancy phones.

 

[cosmil]

I've been using Macs (Windows, too) for decades, ever since they was things what had any use at all, like rocks and sticks... Finder has had better moments. One thing I'd improve in the modern Finder is adding custom icon sets, color-style formatting to its sidebars and tool ribbon buttons. Full skins, maybe. There have been OS-X era finder skinning utilities and tricks over the years, but they were about as stable as Charles Manson on bath salts and typically got wiped by patching - if you were lucky.

I find the modern Finder monochromatically, breathlessly boring, which is a shame because Apple keeps ignoring an opportunity to make the UI a bit more... IDK... Joyful? Engaging? Why do we like pretty things anyway? Yeah, the coding might be complex (particularly if some pipsqueak were to publish an icon set of all exploited JPGs 😆) (Maybe that happened??), but it ain't like Apple is workin for free. It's as if they got their *** kicked by a Section 508 color-blindness auditor, and they never recovered.

Back in the day, we used to be able to paste icons onto finder object using the "Get Info" dialog. Of course in those days, finder windows ain't had no fancy-schmancy toool ribbons or daaark mode <squinches up face mocking gen z snowflakes on ticktok> or nuthin, just the basics and the main menu bar. You kids and your fancy phones.

Good to hear the feedback, an idea I've had that many people seem interested in is the ability to switch to MacOS native icons (like you'd see in Finder). This could go hand-in-hand with icon-sets you speak of, I'd have to look into it more and it likely won't be present in the first release but it's a neat idea.

 

[I WAS the one]

Is this not a clone of Spacedrive? I have been testing Spacedrive for weeks, and it is undoubtedly the future of file management, even in its current Alpha state. It is so exceptional that I firmly believe it will be acquired by either Microsoft or Apple once it gains widespread adoption. It's an opportunity that cannot be ignored.

 

[cosmil]

Is this not a clone of Spacedrive? I have been testing Spacedrive for weeks, and it is undoubtedly the future of file management, even in its current Alpha state. It is so exceptional that I firmly believe it will be acquired by either Microsoft or Apple once it gains widespread adoption. It's an opportunity that cannot be ignored.

No, Cosmil is not a clone of Spacedrive at all... both Spacedrive and Cosmil use Tauri but that is where the similarities end. From what I can tell Spacedrive's focus is building a cross-platform everything-in-one file explorer. For now, Cosmil is MacOS only software, and at it's heart is meant for mainly navigating the host computer's file system, with the added ability to view and interact with remote locations. If you looked at Spacedrive's UI and then Cosmil's you would recognize there are hardly any similarities.

(The add location button was moved to settings)

 

[Big Bad D]

Is this not a clone of Spacedrive? I have been testing Spacedrive for weeks, and it is undoubtedly the future of file management, even in its current Alpha state. It is so exceptional that I firmly believe it will be acquired by either Microsoft or Apple once it gains widespread adoption. It's an opportunity that cannot be ignored.

Thanks for the info, I had not come across Spacedrive before. It looks interesting.

 

[I WAS the one]

If you looked at Spacedrive's UI and then Cosmil's you would recognize there are hardly any similarities.

I agree, SpaceDrive is truly impressive. Cosmil serves as an excellent replacement for Finder, and it has quickly won me over as well. What truly captivates me about SpaceDrive is its ability to seamlessly install the file manager on all of my computers, allowing me to effortlessly access my files with the same ease as opening a folder. In my humble opinion, this feature alone sets it apart as the file manager of the future. While Cosmil can certainly compete with the likes of Pathfinder and Forklift, it stands as an exceptional alternative in its own right. Bravo to the team behind Cosmil and keep up the fantastic work!

 

[cosmil]

...

Not really looking for more testers at the moment (unless you've got a lot of time on your hands and are willing to be very invested) if that's what you're talking about. That being said, I recently released version Beta v0.4.0 (a pretty big release) for testers, and Cosmil should be available for purchase in the next 2 or 3 months (maybe less, but for now that's the generous estimate) so keep an eye out.

You have my guarantee that user feedback and regular updates will always be at the forefront of Cosmil's business model as long as I am running it. Along with that, I will do my best to setup user support channels in various places as well as documentation on how to use Cosmil. The website is pretty barebones right now but once the software end of Cosmil is done I'll do a sprint to get everything up to standard.

I'm really happy to hear you're interested and feedback is great so when you get the chance please do reach out (best place is the Discord, but I understand not everyone uses it).

 

[Wheel_D]

I recently released version Beta v0.4.0 (a pretty big release) for testers, and Cosmil should be available for purchase in the next 2 or 3 months. . . .

From 0.4.0 to 1.00 within just a few months? Goodness, it seems like an awfully ambitious goal. I for one am looking forward to the finished release!

Many here on MacRumors have mentioned how much they miss the Directory Opus ("DOpus") file manager for Windows. I'm inclined to agree: DOpus is fabulously flexible and comprehensive. Yet my own favorite is probably xplorer² for Windows, a ridiculously powerful beast that's also amazingly petite.

Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if these two file managers are the best on the market, bar none. Perhaps you could use them as a source of inspiration?

 

[MacBH928]

What truly captivates me about SpaceDrive is its ability to seamlessly install the file manager on all of my computers, allowing me to effortlessly access my files with the same ease as opening a folder. In my humble opinion, this feature alone sets it apart as the file manager of the future.

i dont get it. what do you mean?

 

[I WAS the one]

i dont get it. what do you mean?

Spacedrive is a cross-platform file manager. It connects your devices together to help you organize files from anywhere.

Beyond being an opinionated, swiss army knife file explorer, Spacedrive is a personal database. It identifies your files uniquely, understanding more file types than any operating system.

Create photo albums that you'll never lose, effortlessly catalogue terabytes of video, move files between devices dynamically to optimize space and redundancy, generate preview media for easy viewing, automate security and encryption—the list goes on.

 

[MacBH928]

Spacedrive is a cross-platform file manager. It connects your devices together to help you organize files from anywhere.

Beyond being an opinionated, swiss army knife file explorer, Spacedrive is a personal database. It identifies your files uniquely, understanding more file types than any operating system.

Create photo albums that you'll never lose, effortlessly catalogue terabytes of video, move files between devices dynamically to optimize space and redundancy, generate preview media for easy viewing, automate security and encryption—the list goes on.

so if you install space drive on windows and mac, you can organize you mac files from the windows machine?

or you mean its a cross platform app that you can use on all your machines?

 

[I WAS the one]

if you install space drive on windows and mac, you can organize you mac files from the windows machine?

exactly