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Despite the improvements in Windows 11, File Explorer remains slow and sluggish. But what if there were a faster, more efficient alternative? File Pilot is a lightweight, clean, and feature-rich file manager that outperforms Windows' default tool in every way.
File Pilot is Blazingly Fast
The first thing you’ll notice after installingFile Pilotis how quickly it launches and loads files, folders, and everything else. Launching the context menu doesn’t take forever, and opening new tabs doesn’t feel like watching YouTube buffer on a 2G network.
It also looks great. The interface is clean, modern, and familiar—like File Explorer, but better. The animations are smooth, and switching between view modes is seamless. Just click the% buttonin the bottom-right corner and use the slider to adjust the view to your liking, or press and holdCtrland use the scroll wheel.
It Brings Back the Classic Context Menu with a New Touch
Microsoft made the right-click menu worse in Windows 11, often hiding important options underShow more options. Sure, you canbring back the classic menu with a registry tweak, but File Pilot doesn’t need an additional click to find those actions.
The included search function is another useful addition to the context menu. It lets you quickly find the command or action you want to perform. For instance, right-click on a file, typedelete, and hit enter to complete the action. You can also pin frequently used commands so that they always appear at the top.
Great Multitasking with Panels and Tabs
Like File Explorer and other third-party file managers, File Pilot supports support tabs, letting you open as many tabs as you want in the same window. You’ll also notice that it supports tab persistence, meaning File Pilot will automatically remember and restore previous tabs, just like a web browser does. It is extremely handy if you frequently work with the same set of folders every day.
What’s more, File Pilot also supports multiple panels, allowing you to split your screen into different layouts with as many tabs as you need. Just drag and drop tabs to arrange them, and your custom layout stays intact until you manually close it.
Inspectoris another cool addition to File Pilot. It works much like File Explorer’s preview pane view, except it’s more interactive. Inspector lets you quickly preview and zoom into file contents, including text, images, and even other folders in a split view.
You can toggle Inspector mode on or off with the spacebar, making it especially useful since File Pilot doesn’t support third-party extensions like all the usefultools you can use in Microsoft PowerToys.
Packs an Excellent Set of Useful Utilities
Beyond basic file management and multitasking, File Pilot includes other powerful tools to make finding and managing files much easier.
For instance,GoTolets you search for any folder directly from the address bar. Rather than manually typing the entire directory path, you can enter a folder name—like “Program Files”—and select it from the search results.
TheSearchbar is just as handy, allowing you to instantly view flattened folder hierarchies or even entire drives. You can even filter files by their extensions for faster and more precise results.
There are also more handy features like batch renaming, which lets yourename multiple files at onceand the ability to save the current view settings using the lock icon on the address bar. You can also use the quick bookmark shortcut to save frequently used folders or paths to Bookmarks for easier access.
File Pilot’scommand panel(Ctrl+Shift+P)lets you search for all the available actions and assign keyboard shortcuts. Plus, changing keyboard shortcuts is incredibly intuitive. Just click on an assigned shortcut in the UI and change it to your preferred key combination.
In theOptions panel(Ctrl+,), you can adjust font size, style, spacing, animations, color scheme, panel opacity, and more. While File Pilot supports light and dark mode, you’ll need to enable it manually in the settings.
The Not-So-Good Bits in File Pilot
File Pilot is still in public beta and open to everyone. However, some key features are missing, which may be a dealbreaker for some users. For starters, it doesn’t support network storage, meaning you can’t access files from other computers over a LAN. On top of that, there’s no easy way to set it as the default file manager, so you’ll be juggling between two file managers.
That’s not all. File Pilot lacks proper Unicode support, which means some common keyboard shortcuts don’t work, and Inspector mode can’t preview file types like PDFs. Plus, there’s no third-party extension support—yet. That said, some of these missing features will likely be added before the final release.
Pricing is another essential factor to consider. While the license is optional for the beta version, you’ll need one once it’s out of public testing. A perpetual license for individual users will cost$50(currently$40with a discount) with one year of updates or$250($200during the beta) for all future updates.
While File Pilot is similarly priced to other paid file manager solutions, it’s still on the higher end for this type of software. That said, it has a much smaller footprint and doesn’t involve a steep learning curve like many of its popular rivals. Alternatives likeDirectory Opus,OneCommander,Files, andTotal Commanderare geared towards more advanced users.
What works in favor of File Pilot is its usability. It opens faster, and file search is even quicker. It looks great, feels smooth, and fixes the context menu without complicating it. Altogether, it offers the tools necessary to efficiently manage or access files quickly. At less than 2MB, File Pilot is an impressive tool for most users who prioritize speed, efficiency, and simplicity.
If file management is a key part of your workflow, try File Pilot and decide if its convenience justifies the price.
