The BEST File Manager for Windows
Works with and greatly enhances:
Windows 11, 10
Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP
Servers 2003 and later
Starting at just $50 for home use and $69 for a business license (and a business two-pack for just $99!)
Major new tools, significant upgrades to current components and faster folder listings.
See the V4 preview here.
A May 2017 Microsft security update for Windows 10 conflicted with a major routine in FileBoss resulting in FileBoss not starting on some Windows 10 systems.
Versions V3.101 and later, fix the problem. You can read more about this at the page
Windows Creators Conflict.
Preliminary documentation for beta features - updated January 2021
The Apple Mac (iOS) and some other computers allow a number of characters to be used in filenames that are illegal in the Windows world (these are listed in the first section below).
But these files can still be stored on Windows Servers, NAS systems and other storage media that can be accessed by both Windows and Apple computers creating a real headache for System Administrators and Windows users who will see strange characters (typically a dot or a bar) for every character Windows considers illegal.
And, to turn the headache into a migrain som specialized file storage systems will not allow these file names.
FileBoss takes the hassle out of working with Mac filenames on Windows systems with the following tools and features.
FileBoss displays the special Apple /iOS filename characters in one of three ways. The different views are set using the View > Mac iOS filenames > commands from the main menu.
The default view is the normal Windows view shows the characters as they are shown in Windows Explorer and other file managers - normally as a dot or bar character depending on the system font. All of the special characters are displayed with the same dot or bar so there is no way to tell which is which.
Another FileBoss view is to show the characters as what they actually are such as an asterisk, backslash or other character.
The third view, the meta view shows the Mac characters between left and right chevrons. For example the backslash would be displayed as <\>. This is useful when entering a Mac Character in a search or when renaming a file, since just entering a bare backslash would not be accepted by Windows (FileBoss does the translation behind the scenes to keep Windows happy.
For details on how to find these names, how to rename them, and even how to create them click one of the following links:
Name |
Meta |
Char |
Description (used by Windows for) |
Backslash |
<\> |
\ |
Used by Windows to separate path elements |
Slash |
</> |
/ |
Reserved, can be used in some places as a backslash |
Asterisk |
<*> |
* |
Wild-card to match any string in searches |
Question Mark |
<?> |
? |
Wild-card to match any single character in searches |
L. Chevron |
<<> |
< |
Used internally and by DOS subsystem |
R. Chevron |
<>> |
> |
Used internally and by DOS subsystem |
Dbl. Quote |
<"> |
" |
Used to enclose parameters that contain spaces |
Bar |
<|> |
| |
Used internally and by DOS subsystem |
Trailing period |
<.> |
. |
In Windows filenames can not end with a period |
Illegal spaces |
< > |
space |
In Windows filenames can not begin or end with a space |