The button bar

The button bar is the strip of icon buttons across the top of the window. Each button is a one-click shortcut you define yourself: run a built-in command, launch an external program or app, jump to a folder, or open a whole sub-bar of more buttons. It's the fastest way to put the actions you use most within reach, and you can tailor it to exactly the way you work.

Customize the button bar

1. Choose Configuration > Customize Toolbar…, or right-click the bar and choose Edit Button Bar….
2. The list on the left shows the current buttons. Use + to add a button, — to add a separator, − to remove the selected button, and ↑ / ↓ to reorder.
3. Select a button and fill in the form on the right:
4. Command — type a built-in command, or click Choose… to pick one from a list. You can also enter the path to a program or app, a folder to open, or another button bar to use as a sub-bar.
5. Caption — the label and tooltip shown for the button.
6. Parameters and Start path — passed to external programs. Placeholders such as %P (source folder), %N (current file), and %S (selected files) are filled in when the button runs.
7. Icon — choose an SF Symbol or use a file's or app's own icon; turn on icon-only to hide the caption.
8. Click Save. The strip reloads immediately.

(Figure: The button bar sits above the file panels; each button runs a command, program, folder, or sub-bar.)

Sub-bars and overflow

A button can open a sub-bar — a second set of buttons layered over the first. Click it to descend; a ◀ button at the left returns you to the previous bar. When there are more buttons than fit the window width, the extras collapse behind a » chevron at the right end; click it to reach them.

Add a program by dropping it on the bar

You do not have to open the editor to put a tool on the bar. Drag a program, an app or a script from a panel — or from Finder — onto free space in the bar. A caret shows where it will land, and dropping creates the button there.

• Programs, apps and scripts become a button that runs them on your current selection: the new button's parameters default to %S, the selected file names. Clear that field in the editor for a tool that should take no arguments.
• Folders become a button that jumps to that folder — and that copies files into it when you drop them on it later.
• Anything that cannot be run is refused: a plain document has no execute permission, so dropping it would only create a button that fails when clicked.

Dropping onto an existing button keeps its own meaning — it runs that button with the dropped files. Only free space adds a new one.

Drop files onto a button

You can drag files or folders straight onto a button:

• Folder button — the dropped items are copied into that folder in the background.
• Program button — the program runs with the dropped items as its selection.
• Command button — the command runs as usual.

Hide the button bar

Choose View > Button Bar to hide the strip, and again to bring it back. The same switch is on the Layout page in Settings, and the choice is remembered.

Vertical button bar

To move the strip from the top of the window to a column down the left side, choose View > Vertical Button Bar. Choose it again to switch back to the horizontal strip.

Notes

• The bar is stored in a standard button-bar file that's compatible with Total Commander, so bars you already have can be reused.
• No keyboard shortcuts are assigned to these actions by default, but you can add your own — see Keyboard shortcuts.
• A button with no icon and no command shows as a plain separator, handy for grouping related buttons.