Dolphin is very bold on file managing features, be it on local disks or FTP servers or network shares. Dolphin uses KIO technology, so there is no problem using the FISH protocol, allowing SSH connection between your machine and another computer or some other device.

Unlike Konqueror, Dolphin focuses on file management. There is no web browsing facility included. Dolphin’s other features include:

- Possibility to extend the UI with panels that can be either docked into the main window, or displayed separately. When the application has focus, the panel outside the main window disappears, appearing again when the main window regains focus);

- Browsing archives;

- Image preview in main application window;

- Icon & Preview size change ranging between 16×16 to 256×256;

- Split view browsing;

- Icon, details and column view;

- Easy selection of several files/folders without the need for Ctrl key being pressed (also available are the options to use a key, or select by dragging the cursor);

- Tooltips showing file information when the cursor hovers over a file icon;

- Facility to hide the ‘copy to’, ‘move to’ and ‘delete’ options in the context menu;

- Automatically opening the folder during the ‘drag-and-drop’ operation;

- Setting the kind of confirmation dialog displayed while deleting files or moving to the trash.

As you can see, Dolphin has all the most wanted features of a file manager. Earlier, I mentioned about extending the UI functionality by adding panels. These are the ones available at the moment :
- Places;

- Information;
- Folders;
- Terminal.

The first panel allows you to remember any location, offering quick access. This panel also displays the local disk partitions, USB mass storage devices connected, or optical media. The trash also hasn’t been forgotten. The selected ‘places’ can be positioned, sorted, hidden and have their names and icons changed.

The second panel - information - displays the currently selected file info, such as:

- size;
- filename;
- date modified;
- file type.

Because the NEPOMUK technology is also used by Dolphin, you can tag, rate and comment the file within the ‘information’ panel.

The third panel - folders - as named, displays the list of directories on the system. It is possible to reach any folder using it.

The fourth panel allows to integrate the terminal with Dolphin, allowing fast console operation. This comes in handy, when you cannot remember the full file or folder path.

The developers also didn’t forget about the standard ‘Create new’ option, allowing creation of new directories, text documents, presentations, HTML documents or a device link.

Those who cannot leave the Konqueror behind, can relax. Dolphin didn’t loose any file browsing capabilities.

As I have no special ending prepared, I only want to add, that Dolphin is a really useful application, that I won’t remove from my list, ever.

This article has been also published at author’s blog : Aplikacje KDE4-Dolphin

Translated by: el es, proof-read by Phillip Smith