Your guide Mark Wyciślik-Wilson says… “Your web browser includes tabs, so why not your file browser? Discover how Tablacus Explorer can bring tabs to Windows Explorer”
At a glance
Skill level…
Anyone can do it
Straightforward Tricky in parts
Suitable for…
Windows 10
Windows 8.1
Windows 7
The arrival of tabs in web browsers was something of a revelation. It made it easier than ever to have multiple web sites open at the same time. Tabbed interfaces proved so popular, in fact, that many other programs started to copy the idea – but not, sadly, Windows File Explorer.
If you’re tired of having numerous Explorer windows cluttering up your screen when you have several folders open, Tablacus Explorer is here to help. There is more to the program than just a tabbed interface, though. Tablacus Explorer also support add-ons so you can extend its capabilities in a number of ways to suit your needs. This is an extremely attractive feature of the program, as it enables you to make the file browser very personal.
Let’s take a look and see if this highly customisable file browser could tempt you away from Explorer.
Step-by-step Get started with Tablacus Explorer
1 Download the software
Point your web browser at https://tablacus.github.io, click the Tablacus Explorer link and then click the Download. There is no installer, so just extract the contents of the zip files and save them somewhere convenient. In the folder are two executable files; TE32 is the 32-bit version which will work on all computers, while TE64 will only run on 64-bit versions of Windows.
2 Getting to know Tablacus Explorer
Tablacus Explorer looks different to Windows Explorer, but should still be familiar enough for you to start using straight away. Double click on a folder to open it, use the web browser-style back and forward buttons, plus the ‘up one level’ button, to move through folders. Basic navigation is essentially the same as in Explorer, so the learning curve is very gentle.
3 Opening and using tabs
Tabs in Tablacus Explorer work in much the same way as in your web browser – just click the little tab with a ‘+’ symbol on it to launch a new tab, or press [Ctrl] and [T], or right-click a folder and select Open in new tab. Open in background opens a new tab, but does not switch to it. Tabs can be rearranged by dragging, and closed by right clicking and selecting Close tab.
4 Changing layouts and views
There are various ways to display the contents of your folders. Click the View menu and you can choose between different icon sizes. If you choose Details mode, you can click View > Choose Details to customise which information is displayed; this includes everything from the size of files and folders, to informati
