Interface, window and panels

These pages control what linscp looks like and how its file lists behave. All of them are under Options › Preferences. For a tour of the window itself, see the interface tour.

Interface

• User Interface: Commander shows a local and a remote panel side by side. Explorer shows only the remote panel, with its folder tree beside it. The switch takes effect at the next start.
• Interface theme: Automatic follows your desktop’s light or dark scheme; Light and Dark fix it. This one applies at once.

Window

• Path in window title: full path, the last folder only, or nothing.
• Miscellaneous:
  • Minimize to the system tray instead of the taskbar.
  • Open sessions started from outside (a link, a desktop entry) in the window that is already running.
  • Show the Login dialog at startup and when the last session closes, or keep the main window open with no session.
  • Stay quiet when an idle session drops, and shorten tab titles that do not fit.
• Workspaces: save the open tabs as a workspace when you quit, under a default name, optionally with passwords. Another option connects every session of a workspace or site folder when you open it. See tabs and workspaces.
• Icons: choose the Icon set for toolbars and menus.

Caution

Save passwords in a workspace stores them in your configuration. Protect them with a master password.

Commander and Explorer

The Commander page applies only to the two-panel layout:

• Explorer-style selection: Never, Mouse only or Mouse and Keyboard decides whether clicks and arrow keys select files the way a file manager does.
• Swap panels puts the remote side on the left.
• Show directory tree left of file list places each panel’s tree beside its list instead of above it.
• Keyboard shortcuts: Commander-style or Explorer-style key bindings.
• Use Location Profiles instead of Directory Bookmarks; see navigating.
• Compare directory criteria; see comparing directories.

The Explorer page has one option: show the full path in the address bar.

Panels

The Panels page covers both sides:

• Show hidden files (Ctrl+Alt+H toggles it at any time).
• Start in your home folder, and remember each panel’s state when switching tabs.
• When renaming, select the whole name instead of only the part before the extension.
• Full row select, natural number sorting (file2 before file10), and folders always sorted by name.
• File sizes in bytes, kilobytes or a short form such as 1.5 MB.
• Incremental search: what typing in a list matches: the start of a name, any part of it, or any column.
• Double-click: open, copy or edit the file, with an optional confirmation before copying.
• Panel font: a custom font for the file lists.

Sorting of names with accents or other non-ASCII letters can differ from WinSCP’s.

Remote

• Show inaccessible directories lists folders you cannot enter.
• Automatically refresh directory after operation reloads the list after each change (Ctrl+Alt+R).
• Refresh remote panel every reloads it on a timer, in seconds.

Directory caching is set per site, under Directories in the advanced site settings: advanced site settings.

Local

• Do not change state when switching sessions keeps the local folder when you change tabs.
• Delete files to recycle bin moves deleted local files to the desktop trash instead of removing them.
• On Windows only, Use system file context menu shows Explorer’s menu.

File colors

Give file names a colour by mask, for example red for *.log. Add rules with Add…, set the mask and pick a colour. The first matching rule wins, so order them with Up and Down.