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Known limitations

Peach Commander does a lot, but a few features have honest limits in the current version. Knowing these ahead of time saves confusion when something behaves unexpectedly. This page lists the current constraints and, where possible, a simple workaround.

Archives

  • Split (multi-part) ZIP archives open, but every part has to be there. Standard ZIP — including ZIP64, so more than 65,535 items or more than 4 GB is fine — TAR, and gzip-compressed TAR open directly as folders. An archive split across several files opens too: press Enter on the .zip of a .z01, .z02, … set, or on the .001 of a name.zip.001 set. All the parts must sit in the same folder, and a set with one missing is refused rather than opened half-read. Split TAR archives are not covered.
  • Encrypted ZIP archives (both older ZipCrypto and WinZip AES) are supported for browsing, but you'll be asked for the password.
  • Other formats such as CPIO, ISO, CAB, LZH, XAR, and PAX open through a helper tool rather than the native reader.

Network (SFTP / SCP)

  • Over SFTP, permissions and timestamps can be changed; an owner cannot. The protocol carries owner and group as numbers only, and there is no way to look up a user name over it, so a change of owner is refused rather than guessed at — as are macOS file flags, which do not exist on the far side. Over plain FTP only permissions can be set, through the optional SITE CHMOD command, and a server that does not offer it says so instead of appearing to succeed.
  • On first connection to an SFTP server you'll be asked to trust its host key. Peach Commander remembers it after that (trust on first use).

Directory refresh

  • Remote locations are not watched; an open archive now is. A folder on this Mac updates by itself as soon as another program adds, changes, or removes a file in it, and so does an archive you are looking inside: the .zip is a local file, so when something rewrites it the panel re-reads it. A remote location (FTP or SFTP) is not watched, because those protocols offer no way to be told — press F2 or Ctrl+R to re-read it.

Other current limits

  • Very long paths work, except for the Trash. macOS refuses any path longer than 1024 bytes as a call argument, and folders nested deep enough to exceed that do occur. Browsing, opening, copying, moving, renaming, creating and permanently deleting all reach them. The one exception is moving to the Trash: macOS offers no way to trash a file it cannot name, so Delete reports an error there — Shift+Delete (delete permanently) works.
  • This preview build is unsigned. Gatekeeper blocks the first launch, and how you allow it depends on your macOS version. On macOS 15 Sequoia and later: double-click once, dismiss the warning, then go to System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway — Apple removed the right-click shortcut for unsigned software in macOS 15, so right-clicking no longer helps. On macOS 13–14: right-click the app and choose Open, then confirm. Automatic updates are not yet available in this build.

Shortcuts

Action Shortcut
Refresh active panel F2 or Ctrl+R
Download from URL Cmd+Shift+U

Notes

These are limitations of the current version and are expected to improve in later releases. If you hit behavior not described here, see the troubleshooting topic.