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Best Finder alternative

H_D said:
As a years-long Forklift Junkie - so much my muscle memory is attuned to the FL shortcuts, it seems - I will say that Bloom is the first time a new contender feels solid and useful, with many options and some very nice idea. Still no FTP and some workflows are so different that I do stuff like renaming batches in FL, but the support is great and the Tab-to-find function is superb.
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I was the same a few years ago when I moved from Forklift to QSpacd Pro. In Bloom though you can reconfigure most shortcuts so you should be able to reconfigure to your preferred muscle memory?

MacGizmo said:
I like Bloom from what little I played with it, but I can't use it because it just doesn't appear to retain any column width settings when in List View. Every time I open a folder, all the columns get skinnier and move to the left (toward the file name) even though I've adjusted them individually and saved the view as a default.
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Feed back to the author then, he is VERY responsive Io resolving issues. All the bugs and things that IO felt were not quite right have either been resolved, or the reasoning given as to how they are.
 
Yeah, I reconfigured some of it and gave feedback on what might improve sequencing in the renaming module (which was immediately resolved in an update, Asia should work for Apple, we might get solid software yet from Cupertino). Great experience so far. As someone who grew up with Norton Commander, FL will probably always be my GoTo-Tool, except for the weird behavior with tags it is a perfect, fast, versatile finder replacement and I wish there as an iPadOS version, it might make the iPP bearable. But bloom, for such a «young» software, amazing work and the simple way to jump to folders is amazing. In the end I find myself using both (just as I still use the finder for some things), it's always good to have a choice of weapons :-D.
 
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I'll not argue with that. A couple of tips I' found made it even more useful:
  • Changing Date and Time formats to short gives a lot more space in the 'panes'.
  • I rename a fair number of TV show files, and you can use regex in both Qspace Pro and Bloom for many things like that. Saves so much time.
 
dbrewood said:
I was the same a few years ago when I moved from Forklift to QSpacd Pro. In Bloom though you can reconfigure most shortcuts so you should be able to reconfigure to your preferred muscle memory?


Feed back to the author then, he is VERY responsive Io resolving issues. All the bugs and things that IO felt were not quite right have either been resolved, or the reasoning given as to how they are.
Click to expand...

why you moved from Qspace to Bloom?
 
MacGizmo said:
I like Bloom from what little I played with it, but I can't use it because it just doesn't appear to retain any column width settings when in List View. Every time I open a folder, all the columns get skinnier and move to the left (toward the file name) even though I've adjusted them individually and saved the view as a default.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about trying it given all the race reviews but this is a deal breaker for me.
 
Latest Bloom update:

Bloom v1.4.4(2025-09-03)​

  • New Features
    • Add support for workspace reordering (**)
    • Add “Auto Increment When Conflict” option for renaming (**)
    • Add simplified date format(**)
    • Add sorting and grouping to the main menu with shortcut support
    • Add support for duplicating workspaces and editing workspace names directly from the sidebar(**)
    • Support sidebar icons with colors
    • Add “Always Show Search Field” option
    • Add Internet Access Policy
  • Fixes
    • Fix issue with pasting screenshots
    • Remove redundant confirmation dialog when renaming files
    • Fix placeholder view in rename and workspace shortcut dialogs
    • Increase contrast of the numbers in the panel overlay
(**) - Indicates things I've requested :)
 
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Bloom v1.4.5(2025-09-06)​

  • New Features
    • Tab and window frame restoration
    • Add “Overwrite” and “Remove” options for renaming
    • Add shortcut support for favorites and tags in the sidebar
    • Add autocomplete for tag input
    • Add support for dragging symlinks into the sidebar
    • Add support for copying file names
    • Improve image preview in the inspector panel
  • Fixes
    • Fix window title issue when opening workspaces from the main menu
    • Fix issue where favorites were removed on launch
    • Fix copy/move destination issue in column view
 
Apple_Robert said:

Bloom v1.4.5(2025-09-06)​

  • New Features
    • Tab and window frame restoration
    • Add “Overwrite” and “Remove” options for renaming
    • Add shortcut support for favorites and tags in the sidebar
    • Add autocomplete for tag input
    • Add support for dragging symlinks into the sidebar
    • Add support for copying file names
    • Improve image preview in the inspector panel
  • Fixes
    • Fix window title issue when opening workspaces from the main menu
    • Fix issue where favorites were removed on launch
    • Fix copy/move destination issue in column view
Click to expand...
I reached out to the developer about the "Fix copy/move destination issue in column view" less than two weeks ago! It is fixed now!
 
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Still can’t connect to my Snyology NAS using Bloom… if I connect through Finder, it will appear on the Bloom sidebar and I can access it in Bloom. But when I restart my Mac, it’s gone again. Never had that problem with ForkLift or QSpace.
 
With Bloom, can you have different layouts for different folders like you can with Windows Explorer? For example, in Explorer the Documents open as a list but the Pictures open as thumbnails.
 
Apple_Robert said:
Same for me.
Click to expand...

I just added the Synology NAS to "Open at Login" in System Settings. That seems to be working well, but I get the Finder windows opening to those locations. Need to figure out how to make the connections in the background without the annoying Finder windows opening.

Anyone have a clue for that?
 
dwrufus53 said:
I just added the Synology NAS to "Open at Login" in System Settings. That seems to be working well, but I get the Finder windows opening to those locations. Need to figure out how to make the connections in the background without the annoying Finder windows opening.

Anyone have a clue for that?
Click to expand...
I do the same and haven’t figured out how to not have the open finder windows at login.
 
dwrufus53 said:
I just added the Synology NAS to "Open at Login" in System Settings. That seems to be working well, but I get the Finder windows opening to those locations. Need to figure out how to make the connections in the background without the annoying Finder windows opening.

Anyone have a clue for that?
Click to expand...
Use the automounter app
automounter
 
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