Q-Dir is a quad-pane file explorer that supports favorites, file/color filtering, export to XLS/CSV/TXT/HTML, screen magnifier, quick preview etc.
Alternately, Q-Dir Portable at PortableApps.com automatically switches between 32/64-bit and is approved by the publisher.
Category: | |
Runs on: | Win98 / WinME / WinNT / Win2K / WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10 / Win11 / Wine |
Writes settings to: | Application folder |
Stealth: ? | Yes |
Unicode support: | Yes |
License: | Freeware |
How to extract: | Download the "Portable" ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch Q-Dir.exe or Q-Dir_x64.exe (for64-bit OS). |
Similar/alternative apps: | CubicExplorer, Tablacus Explorer |
What's new? | See: https://softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/Q-Dir/History |
@Pendrive: please don't. Your input is highly appreciated. Would you consider improving your rank by participating in forum discussions, for instance?
v11.36
@pendrive: It was just a friendly question, I did't mean to offend you in any way
v11.36
@Ennovy I do not appreciate your sniping at me. The fact is that I have zero rank and cannot update entries.
So, as my input — or the lack of — is so bothersome, I intend to delete all my posts and be gone.
v11.36
Updated to v11.33, added Tablacus Explorer as alternative (you can create nearly as many panes as you like in TE)
v11.33
Can't recommend Q-Dir to anyone, freezes while copying, Q-Dir windows turns black, crashes. Windows 10 64-Bit, tried Q-Dir 32-Bit & 64-Bit, tried the PortableApps version, all of them buggy as hell. That*s probably the reason why the developer frequently updates it. 2 years back Mithril wrote about something that's still happening.
Time to start looking for an alternative, till then i'll use Windows Explorer.
v7.01
The Q-Dir 64 installer 6.47 is not installing, last time there was also a problem with the 64 installer. They should be checking first before releasing the installer.
v6.47
Well, i found the solution myself. Don't know if this option is new or not but its the first time i noticed. So, when dragging files into another window or tab in Q-dir, at the bottom it says "Start drop in new process"! (and recycle bin and email aswell) ha! and just drop it on this button.. nothing will freez! magic :) Thanks anyway folks.
Q-dir is great.
v6.32
@billon
The portable x64 version (Q-Dir_Portable_x64.zip) is available for download.
v6.32
Can't help you, but can confirm that I have also experienced this. It could be your anti-virus causing the problem - try adding q-dir as an exception and see if that solves it.
v6.31
Great great great file explorer!
BUT,
i have this problem that the UI is freezing while copying, cutting & pasting.
This is a terrible something and i want to know if i can fix it somehow.
I remember that i didn't always have this problem..
i use q-dir v6.29, 64x on a win10 laptop.
Help.
v6.29
Q-Dir 6.14 has been released, changes:
New in version 6.14 // July 20th 2015
Full functionality of the file manager Q-Dir on Windows 10 tested with Build 10162.
This time the portable x64 version is available for download.
v6.13
@AndTheWolf
Yes, you are right. I contacted the developer about the missing portable x64 version about a week ago but I got no response.
v6.13
I love this software - use it on every PC I own. The thing is... seems like I am seeing updates to it every 4-10 days. I get that the developer wants to keep making it better, fix bugs, etc... but wow... the update frequency is a bit much.
v5.98.1
Website shows a v5.95, but download links still point to v5.94.
That's the reason why I changed back to v5.94.
v5.94
used to be my fave file manager, lately it is crashing more often, has problems after closing it and drag & drop files onto it doesnt work anymore :(
v5.82
@rogerthedodger
There are portable associations in Q-Dir . You can use them to set a portable music player to play .mp3 files.
@world
The only thing that hurts here in Q-dir is the lack of shortcuts. Pity that it doesn't have a shortcut to toogle Tree View. Also a feature to assign shortcut(s) for q-dir "programs" will be very handy, moving everytime to the status bar hurts.
v5.71
This was an awesome program. But lately, it has driven me nuts. Folders disappear, renamed folders revert back to their original file names. Wrong files and folders gets deleted. Such a waste.
v5.63
Sir,
First TY for your wonderful, useful and time saving utility.
I wanted to ask, as I finally read the distinction which is made between ansi // unicode. As a Win 7 user, "should", I have a preference? I decided to "try", the portable unicode, but if you will, just a few words on the preference of ansi // unicode.
Again, TY for your application.
Regards,
afp
v5.53
I have been very fortunate to have access to xyplorer for some time which is not freeware, but fabulous. QDIR is IMHO the next best file manager, and I use it alongside xyplorer because I often have need for 3 panes. Should the developer ever include a simple audio player for mp3 then i would happily make QDIR my one and only file manager. This software is what windows should have had standard. Great stuff
v5.41
Attention! When this program is checked "As Default Browser for all" interfere with windows such as: SaveAs ..., Open ..., Export ... usually using resources Explorer! Too bad, it's useful to display the colors of file types.
Sorry for the expression of mistakes.
V5.38
At the rate Q-Dir is being updated by the author, its version number is liable to exceed the NVIDIA Forceware version number!
V5.25
I remember using v.4.38 once. I was stable for a few days and then would freeze for no apparent reason. Over the last couple of months, I've noticed how the software author updates Q-Dir nearly constantly with new version numbers ever time!
1) Either the software author tries to satisfy everybody all of the time.
2) Q-Dir is so unstable and full of bugs, the software author HAS to keep fixing it!
I really hope it isn't #2.
V5.00
I love QDir - wonderful program!
I wish I could have a couple of quick keys to copy/move files from one pane to the other. That would definitely be ideal. Have just upgraded it to the 4.8 version. Good work
V4.94
@dany:
Sandboxie and Buster Sandbox Analyzer are a pretty good start for monitoring application behavior.
V4.91
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's a false alarm. Q-Dir has been around for a while and has a good rep with a broad user-base.
BTW, Avast does have a behavior shield and Mamatu is a behavior blocker pur sang. They monitor starting or active processes but I've got no alarm bells going off. I've also ran Q-Dir through Dependency Walker http://www.dependencywalker.com/ and as far as I can tell Q-Dir v4.80 isn't behaving like you say, but I'm no expert in decyphering DW's output ;)
V4.80
@Dany and Juvera. Thanks for your helpful replies. I really appreciate your investigations, Dany. I did contact the program author about Q-Dir doing some risky things: Accessing Protect COM Interfaces of other programs and Installing Global Hooks into other programs. But I got no reply yet.
I also know that antivirus scanners only scan for contents not active behaviors (they don't launch the program). So I do trust my firewall/anti-malware programs.
But after research and seeing what others are experiencing I think Q-Dir is mostly safe.
I do like that the author finally fixed the file size error if you set the right display preferences. finally!
Sorry about the false alarm if in fact it was a false alarm.
V4.80
I have to confirm juvera's results for V4.80, all three portable versions (ansi/unicode/x64) are clean according to http://virustotal.com, which also includes Comodo.
Also no warnings from Avast, Mamatu or Spybot when scanning or running Q-Dir. Stinger and HijackThis are also totally cool with Q-Dir.
Downloaded from http://www.softwareok.com/ and not from an 'alternative source', as suggested by portafreeuser.
V4.80
If you suspect that Q-Dir harbors malware, submit the executable to"
http://virusscan.jotti.org or http://www.vitustotal.com (41 virus scanners)
Result: Nothing found!
V4.79
I'm still getting Malware action warnings from all versions ever since and including v4.69. v4.79 brings up multiple warnings in Comodo. Some warnings are about trying to modify COM for other running programs that aren't even related to Q-Dir. Warnings also pop up that it is trying to inject computer code into other programs. This sounds like virus or trojan behavior. I can no longer endorse this program. v4.68 is fine though if you can get it from an alternative source.
V4.79
I'm not sure about this v4.69 version. Comodo Firewall reported that it wast trying to insert computer code into other programs which doesn't sound safe. Older versions passed Comodo Firewall tests without this issues so I don't know what's going wrong with the new version. I didn't notice much of anything new in v4.69 so I'm sticking with v4.68 which seems safer.
V4.69
Oh.. nvm I misread your comment. QTTabBar is pretty good.. I use it on my work machine, it beats the pants off vanilla explorer on winxp atleast
V4.61
@ Magibon: Yes. There's an option in Extras => Q-Dir as default browser => As default browser your all; but it opens in a separate process maybe that can change idk... I just started using it a few hours agos :P
V4.61
I love this program and will still keep using it, but some non-zero file sizes are still displayed as 0.0 MB, which is incorrect. So be sure to get Properties before you go deleting those files.
V4.57
Fantastic, but it doesn't have a search engine. I've heard it uses Windows's engine. In Windows 7 the option simply disappears.
V4.55
It was recommended by a friend and after that I can't really imagine my computer without it. I use it also at work (feel completely lost without the four windows) and one day found my employer sitting on my computer staring at it and cried: "What's that weird thing I'm looking at?" ..:)
It's quite ugly for an "untrained" eye, but it's functionality is superb.
Strongly recommended!
V4.53
@ Jod: Use this links for download:
ANSI: http://www.softwareok.com/?Download=Q-Dir&goto=../Download/Q-Dir_Portable.zip
UNICODE: http://www.softwareok.com/?Download=Q-Dir&goto=../Download/Q-Dir_Portable_Unicode.zip
V4.53
@ Jod: You're right. I think this is a temporary error. It worked fine for me some hours ago.
V4.53
I'm current using this as an explorer replacement in windows xp sp3. the only thing i dont like is that sometimes it keeps folders visible after they have been deleted. if i select them after that, it complains that the folder is unavailable or in use. Eve after F5 (refresh) this happens. So i have to reload it. but other than that, i really like Q-DIR a lot. it's smooth
V4.52
This is brilliant EXCEPT that drag and drop breaks daily, sometimes more than once a day. It happens with big files, video usually. I edit video & move it around a lot.
Unf, the author doesn't seem interested in fixing this. I've asked him several times and it's still broken. I'll even run debug mode to help out!
It's a real nuisance, as this is superb apart from D&D :(
V4.51
This app is fairly good. I use it on most days, It is light and have many features. However, some of those features have quirky implementation. One major caveat is in its calculation of filespace. It uses rounding instead of rounding-up. So a file of 0.4 kb is shown as 0 KB. !! Do not use it to find/delete empty files !!
V4.47
can this replace Windows Explorer?
i mean, can it capture all Windows Explorer processes? i tried xplorer2, and it sucked! it didn't capture all Windows Explorer processes, only some. i had to use xplorer2 launcher.
i want a program that is capable of integrating into Windows Explorer so i don't have to launch a separate program to use Windows Explorer.
right now, im using QTTabBar with Windows 7/64. It does everything i need, and integrates seamlessly into Windows explorer without the need to use a separate launcher. Only thing lacking is Dual-Pane view option. But im running a Laptop, so space is limited anyway.
http://qttabbar.sourceforge.net/?p=151&cpage=1#comment-541
V4.47
I could be wrong, but I think those are installed options, not for portables.
V4.46
In the status bar options (either directly from the status bar or through the extras menu) the options for "if no object is selected" are greyed out. Anyone know why that might be?
V4.46
Great app. Might become my primary file manager in Windows in the near future over xplorer2 lite (the outdated portable version). I wish this app would autorefresh when changes are made to the file system. Manual refresh is a bummer. Other than that, it does everything I need, quickly and in a pretty good interface. Quad view is great if you have the screen space to do it (I probably don't on my laptop).
SORRY ABOUT MY INCOMPLETE POST ABOVE
@ Me: I never experienced Q-dir FREEZING and hanging. On which OS do you run it? How many panes do you use?
I second 100% your "...we need to cut Nenad some slack..."
BTW, drag & drop / cut & paste work on my sys too BUT ONLY if I carefully right-click on the most right column (the blank one), there these commands are always visible and... they work too ;)
Anybody could be so kind to PM me (or post here the download link) of a "Q-Dir.ini" with drag & drop / cut & paste working properly? I would really like to see if with that I can fix the weird behavior of my Q-dir. Tnx :)
I also wanted to say that we need to cut the dev 'Nenad' some slack. He is literally bombarded every day with numerous demands, suggestions, complaints etc, and as he is a one-man band and offers us a number of tools besides Q-Dir, and all FREE, should we be complaining if he can't answer each and every one of the emails he receives?
The regular updates he provides for Q-Dir normally incorporate bug fixes and user suggestions as and when he can do this.
One man, 24 hours in a day! He needs to sleep, he needs some R&R, but I doubt he gets much of either.
Let's be grateful for what he does do.
No problems here with drag n'drop, or cut and paste, but endless probs with Q-dir FREEZING and hanging. And of course it can't then be closed down even using Task Manager. This generally happens when I have a browser open with a few tabs being used.
Needless to say I adore this little program, it's been the best thing since sliced bread for me. I just have to remember to give it full computer resources when using it.
@spicydog: Sorry about the tardiness. I did as you said and my test file was pasted into C:\WINDOWS\, not any subfolder. Fwiw, on my system the right-click paste command is available anywhere within a given pane, not just up by the folders. XP SP3, Q-Dir 4.44.
@pbr: Kindly try to reproduce the exact same situation... Please bear with me.
1) Right-click on a (test) file in one of Q-Dir panes and select 'Copy'
2) Now right-click anywhere in another pane with "C:\WINDOWS\" opened (this pane is full of subfolders without any empty space where to right-click)
3) Now right-click and select 'Paste' (NOTE: The 'Paste' right-click command is ONLY visible in the area where folders are, in fact if you scroll down -where files are- the 'Paste' right-click command will not be visible)
QUESTION: Does your (test) file get copied in the actual C:\WINDOWS\ folder or inside the (sub)folder which happened to be selected by your right-click?
Thanks for your confirmation, which I sincerely hope will prove that I am doing something wrong myself and this is not Q-Dir's bug... But I fear the latter is not the case.
In my system (XP SP3 with Q-Dir 4.444) using Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V or drag-and-drop will work properly and will paste that (test) file in the "C:\WINDOWS\" folder.
Whereas right-click cut/copy-and-paste will NOT work: The (test) file gets unavoidably copied inside the (sub)folder which is selected by the right-click.
@spicydog: Actually I misconstrued your comment. What I should have said was that, in addition to drag-and-drop working properly, right-click cut-and-paste also seems to work okay for me...although I habitually use Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V most of the time. I've been using Q-Dir since version 3.something and I really like it.
Added to my previous post (see above) right after the sentence: "So the only way to actually (successfully) paste is to use Ctrl+V".... Or (obviously) to click the 'Paste' icon at the bottom of the pane... Pretty unusual and rather "un-Exlorer" like, I would say!
I also cannot cut files on one pane and paste them in the other!
The paste options are not grayed out at the destination side but clicking on 'Paste' will only paste inside the selected subfolder!
If there is no space to right-click, it is unavoidable that a subfolder will be selected!!!
So the only way to actually (successfully) paste is to use Ctrl+V.
However in some folders (with only few subfolders inside) the regular 'Paste' command works properly and that is not only confusing but can also lead to mistakes!
I do not like that, and I believe that I am not the only one!
It is also a real pity that the developer used to listen to user's advice and respond to bug notifications but that is no longer the case!
Someone may say that it is understandable due to the incessantly growing (directly proportional to the popularity of the application) demand of new features etc. but still I cannot explain two new versions popping up every month while small (annoying) bugs are left unresolved.
Since I am gradually giving up on Q-Dir, could anybody please suggest a nice (dual pane) alternative?
I hacked my registry to use Q-Dir as the replacement for Explorer. it's really great. It uses much fewer resources than Explorer and doesn't thrash the hard drive like Explorer does. I highly recommend it.
Saving start up folder doesn't work. It seems saving setting doesn't work at all.
Roland: I'm having issues. It worked flawlessly for a long time, but now I can't drag-n-drop from one side to the other. I also can't cut files on one screen and paste them to the other - the paste options are grayed out at the destination side. Anybody else have this issue? [2009-04-17 06:33]
I have the same issue.
It always happened when after playing several large video files, drag-drop file,copy and paste file will not function
Hope the author can add a function of YourDir (print directory and files insides)
Version 4.36 has the artists,etc colums blackened out...previous color was light gray
I am glad to notice already a (partial) agreement :)
If anybody shares my opinion on any of the points I would suggest to send multiple requests to the developer (support2006@softwareok.de) to stimulate a reaction.
Sorry, that should have been a 3. Pre-selecting the renaming selection should be a feature that one can turn off.
I have asked the developer to introduce the 3 changes below but I get no response. Are they so useless? (I don't think so) But, hey at the end is somebody does not need them he/she can just keep them disabled, right?
1) Add somewhere (maybe near the 'Delete' 'Cut' 'Copy' 'Paste' icons) a 'Refresh' Button/Icon (more practical than F5 or right-click/Refresh)
2) Add a 'Vertical Scroll Lock Toggle' function to get 2 (or more) panes scroll together while scrolling (up/down) only one of them.
3) When renaming a file, by default the extension does not get renamed (gets excluded from the renaming part), this could be a useful option but in certain situation it is not. Could you kindly add (to Q-Dir's 'Extras') the option to enable/disable this feature?
Anybody feels the same way? Maybe if the developer gets more requests he will consider introducing these small changes in one of the very frequent new releases.
Very good utility for performing tasks on several directories or folders at the same time. Drag and drop works for me, but I haven't tried it with very large files yet either.
This has replaced Windows Explorer for me since 2008. I cannot say enough to recommend it. The tabs are great and drag and drop works fine except for very, very large file loads - GBs. What I would like is to be able to group icons in all viewing modes. Thanks for the software - and it's free! WOW!
Is there any way to get the stupid "moving" box out of the way when you're transferring files? This is a deal breaker for me, since I mainly use it to transfer large files, and if that message box is constantly in the way the program is useless. I'll have to continue to use explorer2 lite until I can find a fix for this.
Love this app! It has replaced Windows Explorer for me completely. The only problem is that Gmacri's comment about its inability to drag-n-drop files remains true for version 4.21.
I have been using that *WONDERFUL* software for 6 months now. You can have 4 panels... and in each panel, as many TABS as you need... i am a web developper... and this software changed my life ^^
Strange behaviour for me in the last few versions.
First, from time to time, the program does not auto refresh. (create a new directory, and have to hit F5 for it to appear). Closing the program and opening makes it work again.
The real annoying one for me at the moment is when copying files to a USB stick using the "send to" in the file context menu. If I do this in Q-dir, I get a popup saying that the target device cannot handle the document. Everything copies fine, but I get this annoying popup every time. This behaviour does not present itself in Windows Explorer or any other explorer replacement I've tried. This did not happen in the past, so it's something with newer versions.
Does anybody have any clue what
"Privilegs are disabled in Q-Dir, activation is possible over the q-dir.ini by entry enable_priv=1
The occasion was e.g. access to "Samba" (Linux) on windows and others,
a better solution in the next versions."
means? It's from v4.15 changelog.
A perfect replace of Windows Explorer. Though there are still some minor issues on copy-and-paste, it excels in other aspects when compared with Windows Explorer. Keep on the very good job.
This is an excellent and somehow underrated file manager - better than all other free better known alternatives. It works like a German car, really. and uses very little resources. Highly recommended.
Just wanted to echo joby_toss and Pistino. The developer of Q-Dir is incredibly responsive to bug reports and feature requests. I reported a bug, and got a fix in a couple days.
Previous versions seem to work better.
In "One for All Address bar" change of address is not loaded in active dir
My prayer was heard! :)
Version 4.01 features a Ctrl+W hotkey for closing last tab!
@Mariano: THANK YOU! It does work and it is awkward, indeed! I expected middle click to work, at least...
@joby_toss
Don't know about the shortcut but I close tabs by double clicking on them, yes a bit awkward.
I must be retarded!
How do I close a second tab (new feature of version 4.00)?
I see only Ctrl+T shortcut to open a new tab. Couldn't find a way to close one...
Long-knight: Borg Bucolic was probably referring to QFILER. I fully agree QFILER is a great program. I Googled it and found a download of Quick Filer ver 3.2 (commonly called QFILER) here:
http://www.mindpaint.com/nostalgia/
>>Long.knight
Found this, this may be what Borg Bucolic was talking about:
http://www.eunet.bg/simtel.net/msdos/dirutl-pre.html
q-dir30.zip (980802) 11K Q-DIR: Enhanced DIR program for DOS
hay Borg Bucolic, can you give me a link to the DOS version? I tried to google it but all I find is the windows version... thanks much
I'm having issues. It worked flawlessly for a long time, but now I can't drag-n-drop from one side to the other. I also can't cut files on one screen and paste them to the other - the paste options are grayed out at the destination side. Anybody else have this issue?
Nice idea. It has a few problems: it can't seem to remember its settings. They work for one time and then the next time you have to reset them (on an XP machine). And, I have another PC running Win98, and it won't work there at all. This is something that has a lot of uses, it just needs a little work. Update coming soon? Inquiring minds wanna know!
When copying by drag and drop a file in a folder with only folders (sub folders) contents, the file is copied to one of this sub folders and is not possible to copy the file in the desired folder.
Also would be a good idea to add icons to move or copy files between windows.
The program need some fixes, and may be, will be a very good program. But now I'll will be looking for updates.
This program has serious potential but at current has some serious flaws. Be very careful when deleting items as the focus is not always what it appears to be. I will attempt to resolve this problem with the author as well.
I used to use a fantastic MS-DOS file manager by the same name and version number. I am really curious if it is by the same author. I found no contact info.
Under-rated File Manager! I've tried the popular managers like freecommander and ultraexplorer, but they didnt do it for me. Q-Dir feels the most similar to trusty Windows Explorer and has the multi-pane function nicely done.
Features i would like to see:
-quick launchpad button for external programs (some sort of quick launch)
-refresh button
-red color for delete icon
-shortcuts for quick view and quick edit cofigurable for external programs
-copy and move shortcuts from active to inactive panel (horizontal or vertical)
-support for browsing archives (rar, 7zip)
-another method for send to tray (the current one does not work correctly - does not free the memory like minimize does)
-option to not auto-expand the tree when browsing inside the panel
-button for quick compare folders
-button for fast switching between panels
-make new file button
-button for viewing the folders sizes
-quick search in current folder
-batch rename tool
Great tool!
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just asked developer about one feature, it still not implemented(
v11.55