Fylux - Free Windows Explorer-Style File Manager for Linux

Features

Navigating

• Familiar two-pane layout: a folder tree on the left (Home, My Computer with your drives, and Network), and a sortable file list on the right
• Three views - Details, Large Icons and Extra Large Icons - switchable from the toolbar or the View menu
• Picture thumbnails in the icon views, shared with the standard Linux thumbnail cache so images you have already browsed in other file managers appear instantly
• Sort by Name, Size, Type or Date Modified; optionally show Owner, Group and Permissions columns, and show or hide hidden files
• Back, Forward and Up buttons, Refresh, and an editable address bar
• The My Computer list keeps itself up to date as drives are connected, disconnected or mounted - no need to restart or refresh by hand
• Bookmarks for any folder or network location - add one from the folder tree's right-click menu, jump straight to it from the Bookmarks menu, and rename, retarget or reorder them from Manage Bookmarks

Managing files

• Copy, cut, paste, rename and delete, with drag-and-drop between any two locations - or drag with the right mouse button to choose Move, Copy or Link when you drop
• Deleted files go to the Trash where the underlying filesystem supports it
• Undo (Ctrl+Z) for your recent moves, Trash deletions, renames and new folders - the menu item tells you exactly what it is about to undo
• New folders, and new files created from your own template documents
• An overwrite confirmation that shows the size and modified date of both the existing file and its replacement, so you know exactly what you are about to overwrite
• Familiar keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V, Ctrl+A, F2 to rename, F5 to refresh, Delete, and Ctrl+Shift+N for a new folder

Opening, running and inspecting

• Open with - choose from every application installed that can open a file, or pick another one
• Run executable files straight from the file list, or Run as Root with a standard administrator password prompt
• A Properties dialog showing type, location, size (calculated for whole folders), and modified and created dates
• View and change a file's permissions, owner and group from the Properties dialog's Permissions tab

Compressing files

• Right-click any selection and choose Compress to create an archive in one click, or choose Add to archive... for full control
• Formats: Zip, Tar, Tar + gzip, Tar + bzip2, Tar + xz and 7-Zip
• Choose Fast, Normal or Best compression
• Optional password protection - zip's standard encryption for maximum compatibility, or real AES-256 encryption in a 7-Zip archive
• A progress dialog you can cancel, and an overwrite check if the archive already exists

Network and SMB shares

• Connect to any smb:// server from the Network menu, or an already-mounted network share
• Browse servers, shares, folders and files exactly like a local drive, with credential prompts handled for you and remembered for the rest of your session
• Fast, native listing performance even for large folders on a network share
• Connected servers stay in the folder tree under Network, ready to bookmark

Personalisation and updates

• Dark Mode, applied consistently across every Linux desktop - even ones whose own theming Qt does not fully integrate with - and switchable instantly from the View menu
• An Options dialog to control Dark Mode, which optional columns are shown, and whether Fylux checks for updates automatically
• Built-in update checking, with a one-click self-update when a new version is available
• Works on desktops that report no monitor at all, such as a headless machine used through a remote-desktop service - Fylux detects this and works around it so its menus still appear

Why choose Fylux

Most Linux desktops already ship a file manager, but network browsing is often an afterthought - slow, or bolted on through a separate mount step before you can do anything useful. Fylux treats network shares as first-class locations from the start, with the same navigation, bookmarking and file operations as any local folder - and wraps them in a layout that anyone who has used Windows Explorer will recognise straight away.

It is free to download and use, with nothing locked away.

System requirements

• A modern Linux desktop - developed and tested on Ubuntu 24+
• Qt6 (installed automatically as a dependency of the .deb package)
• GVFS with its network backends, for browsing network/SMB shares (the gvfs-backends package, installed automatically as a recommended package)
• Optional: the zip and p7zip-full packages, if you want to create Zip or 7-Zip archives (Tar-based archives need nothing extra)
• PolicyKit (pkexec), used by Run as Root - installed automatically on most desktops

Support Fylux

Fylux is free. If you find it useful and would like to help fund its continued development, a donation of any amount is very much appreciated - it is entirely optional and unlocks nothing.

Donate

Screenshots

Support

Something not working, or an idea for improving Fylux? You can report a bug or send feedback from the Help menu inside Fylux, or from the support section of this website.

Support Home