Beginner G.01.B 5 min read

The two-pane mental model.

Source. Destination. Switch with Tab. That’s the entire idea — and once it clicks, every file operation gets faster.

Captain's Deck dual-pane main window — Two panes, tab bar, breadcrumb header, function-key strip — the orthodox layout.

The orthodox file manager philosophy

Captain’s Deck follows the design Norton Commander pioneered in 1986 — two panels, side-by-side, every file operation visible at a glance.

Left pane. Source or working directory.
Right pane. Destination or comparison directory.
Active pane. The one with focus, marked with a glowing border and a dot indicator.

Interface layout

Top — tab bar

Each pane keeps its own stack of tabs. Open as many locations as you like:

Cmd+T — new tab in the active pane
Cmd+W — close current tab
Cmd+] / Cmd+[ — next / previous tab

Header — breadcrumb path

Above each panel, the current location is spelled out as clickable path segments. Click any segment to jump straight to that folder. Right-click a segment to Copy Path — the full path to that folder lands on the clipboard, ready to paste into a shell or a Go To dialog.

Middle — file panels

Each panel shows directory contents in columns:

Name (with icon)
Size
Date modified
Permissions (optional, on by default for power users)

Right-click any column header to show, hide, or reorder columns.

Bottom — function key bar

The classic F1–F10 row — always visible, always one key away.

`F1` Help	`F6` Move
`F2` Rename	`F7` MkDir
`F3` View	`F8` Delete
`F4` Edit	`F9` Diff
`F5` Copy	`F10` Quit

Switching between panes

The active pane is marked by a highlighted border. Switch focus with:

Tab — toggle left ↔ right
Click anywhere in a pane to activate it

Navigating files

Vim-style and traditional navigation both work, side by side:

Action	Vim	Standard
Move down	`j`	`↓`
Move up	`k`	`↑`
Enter directory	`l`	`→` / `Enter`
Parent directory	`h`	`←` / `Backspace`
Top of list	`gg`	`Cmd`+`↑`
Bottom of list	`G`	`Cmd`+`↓`
Page up	`Ctrl`+`U`	`Page Up`
Page down	`Ctrl`+`D`	`Page Down`

Selecting files

Selection is the bridge between navigation and action.

Space — toggle selection on current file (then move down)
Cmd+A — select all
Cmd+Option+I — invert selection
Shift+navigation — extend selection while moving

The status bar shows the count and total size of selected items.

Quick filter

Press / to filter the current view. Type to narrow; only matching files stay visible.

Case-insensitive
Matches anywhere in the filename
Esc clears the filter

The sidebar

A rail down the left edge collects the places you reach for most. It groups into five sections: Devices, Bookmarks, Recent Folders, Tags, and Saved Searches.

Make it yours

Settings has its own Sidebar tab. Untick any of the five sections to hide it, or select one and use Move Up / Move Down to reorder them into the order that suits you.

Devices

Free space per drive. Every mounted volume shows its available space — not just the internal disk, but external drives and network shares too.
Trash. The Trash sits under Devices with a live icon: it fills in when there’s something inside and stays an outline when it’s empty.

Drag the sidebar’s edge to set its width — it stays put across launches.

Hidden files, sorting, and the terminal

Hidden files

Toggle dotfiles with Cmd+. (period).

Sorting

Click any column header to sort. Click again to reverse.

Thumbnails in Icon view

Switch a pane to Icon view and image files render as real thumbnails, so you can pick the right photo without opening it.

Live folder updates

The list keeps itself current. When another app adds, removes, or renames a file in the folder you’re looking at, the pane refreshes on its own — no Cmd+R needed.

The terminal panel

Press ` (backtick) to toggle the integrated terminal at the bottom of the window. It auto-syncs with the active pane’s directory — see the terminal guide.