Command palette

The command palette is a fuzzy-search picker for running any command by name instead of hunting for a key binding. Type part of a command's name, pick from the filtered list, press Enter.

Opening the palette

Press Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows and Linux, or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS.

How searching works

• Matching is fuzzy. The characters you type only have to appear in order, so vf finds View file.
• Word order does not matter. Space-separated words match in any order, so panes show finds Show all panes just as show panes does. In-order and word-start matches rank first; any-order matches fall to the bottom of the list.
• Shortcut hints. Each entry shows the key it is currently bound to, read live from your key bindings — rebind a command and the hint updates.
• It remembers your last pick. Reopening the palette pre-selects the command you ran last, so repeating an action is Open, then Enter.
• Scope. The palette lists every command available for the active pane, plus the global application commands.

Commands you can only reach from the palette

These have no default key binding, so the palette is the way in:

• Select theme — switch fman's colours, applied immediately.
• Set window opacity — make the window see-through, or hand the choice back to the theme.
• Center window — puts fman back in the middle of the screen it is already on. You will also find it by typing center window on screen, move window to center or middle. It centres within the available screen area, so the taskbar does not push it off-centre, and on two monitors it stays on the monitor it was already on.

To give Center window a shortcut, add this to your key bindings:

{ "keys": ["Ctrl+Alt+C"], "command": "center_window" }

Hidden search keywords

A command can also be found by words that are not in its name. Those keywords are never displayed: typing transparency selects the row that still reads Set window opacity.

Add your own in %APPDATA%/fman/Plugins/User/Settings/Command Keywords.json (the equivalent Plugins/User/Settings/ folder on macOS and Linux), next to your Key Bindings (<OS>).json:

{
    "set_window_opacity": ["transparency", "opacity", "alpha"],
    "pack": ["zip", "7z", "tar", "compress"],
    "video_mute": ["sound", "volume", "audio"]
}

• Exact matches come first. Typing a command's whole name, or a whole keyword, puts that row at the very top — which is why exit offers Quit before Extract to opposite, whose name merely happens to contain e, x, i and t in that order.
• Otherwise names match first. A row found by its real name ranks above one found only by a keyword, and only a name match highlights the characters you typed.
• The keys are command names — the same ones you use in your key bindings, viewer commands such as video_mute and viewer_next_file included.
• Your list replaces fman's for any command you name there, so repeat the built-in terms you want to keep. Every other command is left untouched.
• Terms are lowercase, and matched the same fuzzy way names are.

Viewers have their own palettes

Each in-pane file viewer has its own command palette, also on Ctrl+Shift+P, reaching the commands that make sense for what you are looking at. While a viewer is open the file list is hidden, so the global palette cannot reach it — that is why viewers ship their own.

A viewer palette fuzzy-searches and shows shortcut hints exactly like the global one. The entries change with context — the text viewer offers different commands in view mode than in edit mode.

Viewer commands are separate from the global ones. Bind your own keys to them in a separate Viewer Key Bindings (<OS>).json file.