Basic FunctionsTable of Contents
This is a rather short but important section that will go into the details of controlling Krusader. This section does not try to cover all the various key combinations for two reasons:
there are just too many of them
most of Krusader actions are configurable in the Konfigurator Panel page
We will only mention the most important keyboard shortcuts with the default configuration, but keep in mind that most of the Key-Bindings are configurable. If you find that you use a certain command a lot and want to know the shortcut for this command, or you want to change this command shortcut, then check out the Configure Shortcuts window ( → ).
By Moving Around we mean the transfer of the keyboard and mouse focus between the different parts of the Krusader main window. The focus can be in one of five places: the Left or Right Panel, the Menu Bar, the Command Line or the Terminal Emulator. The panel that has the focus is called the Active Panel. An Active Panel will remain active until the other panel receives the focus (i.e.: if the Left Panel was active and you clicked on the Command Line - then the Left Panel remains the Active Panel). You must deliberately change which panel is active.
The most common way to transfer the focus to a specific panel is to use the mouse to click on that panel. But you should be aware of the following:
Clicking on the Toolbar, the FN keys bar or the Status Bar does not change the focus.
Pushing the button in the Command Line will not transfer the focus, so you have to click inside the Input Line.
When you choose a menu, the Menu Bar will become focused. It remains focused until you choose a command - the focus returns to the previous owner.
There are, of course, ways to use the keyboard to change the focus:
The Tab Key will switch panels, if one of the panels has the focus or rotate between all the commands in a menu, if the Menu Bar is active.
The Ctrl+Down will take you from the Active Panel to the Command Line or Terminal Emulator, and the Ctrl+Up will take you back from the Command Line to the Active Panel.
The Esc Key will make the Menu Bar return the focus, if it has it, to the previous Active Panel.
If you happen to be inside the Terminal Emulator, you can use the Tab Key, or the mouse, to navigate to an Active Panel.
Pressing Alt+Underlined Letter from the Menu Bar will open that menu (unless this key combination is a “Reserved Key”, used by one of Krusader's actions).
Note
Krusader offers 4 Selection Modes, to say nothing about the Quickselect bar, only Krusader's Selection Mode is explained here.
Selecting is a skill you need to master in order to get the most out of Krusader. Since the Tree Panel allows select only one folder at a time, this paragraph mainly explains how to select files in the List Panel.
Moving the cursor is easy. Left-clicking on a file or folder (referred to herein as “elements” meaning files and folders) will select it. Here are some useful pointers that will make Krusader even easier to use (assuming you are using Krusader's Mouse Selection Mode):
The Space and Ins keys will toggle the selection of the file under the cursor without affecting the selection of other files/folders, the cursor will go one position down.
Left Clicking on a file will select, or unselect, all previously selected files.
Ctrl+Left Clicking will toggle the selection of the file under the cursor without affecting the selection of other files/folders.
Shift+Left Clicking will select all the elements between the previous cursor location and the new one.
Shift+Home selects everything above the cursor (and deselects everything below the cursor, if selected).
Shift+End selects everything below the cursor (and unselects everything above the cursor, if selected).
The “..” entry is not selectable.
The Edit menu can offer more ways to select your files.
There is not a lot to say here, all you need to do is select some files (if you do not, Krusader will operate on the file(s) or folder(s) that have the focus), choose a Command from the Menu Bar or use a Keyboard Shortcut (or the Right Click Menu) and the selected Command executes. See also Executing Files.
This feature will do a quick search for the file name in the Active List Panel.
Type foo(one character) to do a quick search in the Active List Panel for a file beginning with “foo”. A small quick search dialog box will open below the Active List Panel. Type the first few characters of the desired file name (more than one character allowed), the cursor will jump to that filename (if it exists), e.g. type “ab” to search for a file which begins with “ab”. The Up/Down keys will jump to the next or previous match. Esc will close the quick search line. The cursor will stay on the last file found. The Quicksearch supports regular expressions for searching files.
Note
If you press Alt+foo, the key binding shortcut will be executed. If there is no configured key binding, the remaining letter foo will be used for the quick search.
Use Configure Shortcuts window ( → ).
This feature will do a quick filter for the file list in the Active Panel.
Press Ctrl+I to open Quickfilter bar. Type foo (one character) to filter out from the Active Panel all the files that do not have “foo” in names. You can use wildcards for the filtering. e.g. use “a*b” to filter files which have “a” and “b” in their names. The Quickfilter follows the case-sensitivity setting of Quicksearch.
Pressing Enter in Quickfilter mode sets focus to panel, when panel or Quickfilter is focused, Esc closes Quickfilter.
To change the default shortcut of Quickfilter use Configure Shortcuts window ( → ).
This feature will do a quick select for the file list in the Active Panel.
Press Ctrl+Shift+S to open Quickselect bar. Type foo (one character) to filter out from the Active Panel all the files that do not have “foo” in names. You can use wildcards for the filtering. e.g. use “a*b” to filter files which have “a” and “b” in their names. The Quickselect follows the case-sensitivity setting of Quicksearch.
Pressing Enter in Quickselect mode sets focus to panel, when panel or Quickselect is focused, Esc closes Quickselect.
To change the default shortcut of Quickselect use Configure Shortcuts window ( → ).
Krusader has many Context menus that allow you to do fast operations with the mouse, usually a right-click will open the Context menu (depending on your Selection Modes settings). This list gives an overview of the most important context menus. Use them to discover the available commands.
Main Toolbar (orientation, text position, icon size)
List Panel on a file or folder
Command Line (undo, paste, text completion...)
Terminal emulator (send signal, font, history...)
Folder tabs (new, duplicate, close)
KruSearcher Search results file list (F3 View, F4 Edit)
MountMan (unmount, format...)
Synchronize Folders File List
Konqueror Right-Click actions are shown in Krusader
Show/hide Column Headers
Bookmarks enable/disable permanent bookmarks
...