Dual Pane


Dual Pane File Management is synonymous with productivity and ease of use. It combines convenience, speed, and power in the most natural way, by allowing you to view the contents of two folders, such as the source and destination folders, side by side.

Dual Pane Basics

F10 (configurable) toggles between Single Pane and Dual Pane modes. Alternatively, click the Dual Pane toolbar button.

.

Toggle between Vertical Panes or Horizontal Panes using the Panes | Horizontal Panes menu (Ctrl+F10) or the context menu of the Dual Pane toolbar button.

In dual pane mode, one pane is always the active pane and the other is the inactive pane. The inactive pane has a shaded background color (configurable). To activate it, click anywhere in the inactive pane, or use the Toggle Active Pane menu command. You can also configure the TAB key to toggle the panes.

Below, you'll see several ways to improve your workflow using Dual Pane.

Panes menu.

Pane-to-Pane, Folder-to-Folder

If you are familiar with a tabbed file manager like XYplorer, you may not need Dual Pane as much. Still, having the target list visible when performing folder-to-folder file operations provides a certain comfort factor that nothing else can match.

XYplorer's implementation of Dual Pane supports all kinds of pane-to-pane file operations, using the menu, the keyboard, or drag'n'drop. Typically, you select the items you want to move or copy, and drag them to the other pane, where they appear immediately after you drop them. It doesn't get any easier than that.

In XYplorer, both panes are multi-tabbed, and you can also drop items directly onto the tab headers of each pane. Or on folders listed in either pane.

Using Customize Keyboard Shortcuts (Tools menu), you can assign any key combination to the main commands Move to Other Pane and Copy to Other Pane.

Copy to Other Pane (Before).

Copy to Other Pane (After). Note that the Folder Tree has been turned off in these screenshots.

Visual Comparison

The Dual Pane mode allows easy visual comparison of files, usually images, that are in different folders, or in one folder but at different ends of the list.

Using the TAB key, you can quickly jump back and forth between the panes to compare the focused items.

The Info Panel at the bottom of the window always points to the active pane.

Two Times Single Pane

Toolbar: Dual Pane enabled, vertical panes, first pane active.

Toolbar: Dual Pane enabled, vertical panes, second pane active.

Even in Single Pane mode, Dual Pane technology can boost your productivity. Because any pane can be your single pane. The Toggle Active Pane toolbar button always tells you which pane is active, "1" or "2."

So, with a single click or keystroke, you can switch between two completely independent sets of tabs. For example, you can use the first pane for your current projects and activities, and use the second pane as a repository for common tasks, be it a collection of favorite folders or a set of frequently used searches, each defined in its own tab.

This way, you can switch between two completely independent tab sets with a single click and a single keystroke.

Tips

To browse a folder in the inactive pane use Alt+Click in the folder tree. To open a folder in a new tab in the inactive pane use Shift+Alt+Click.
Double-click the pane splitter to center it between the panes.
This page was last updated on 2024-01-07. Screenshots do not necessarily reflect the current look and feel of the application. Some of the functionality may have been changed or enhanced in the current version.