Ocelot File Manager

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Network and servers

Two ways to reach files on other machines:

Both are in every edition.

Nearby computers

Network in the sidebar lists the file servers found on the local network. macOS asks once whether the app may look for them; if you refuse, the list says it cannot browse the local network and System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network has the switch.

Click a computer to see its shared folders in the pane. The app connects without asking when it can: with your account if the system holds one for that computer, otherwise as Guest. A bar above the shares says how ("Connected as Guest", "Connected as name"), and "Connect As…" signs in with a name and password to see what that account may see; "Remember this password in my keychain" saves it. The sign-in form appears by itself only when the computer lets no guest in. A wrong name or password is reported in the form.

A Mac that takes your Apple Account offers "Sign In with Apple Account…", which opens the system's own window once; after that the app remembers the computer's shares and shows them on the next visit ("Not connected. Open a folder to connect."), and opening one connects it without a password. The bar then says "Connected with your Apple Account".

Opening a share mounts it. The shares a computer's row opened stay inside that row, with one disconnect button for all of them.

Connect to Server (⌘K)

Go ▸ Connect to Server… opens a sheet with a kind picker:

A saved server appears under Network. Its context menu has "Edit Server…" (leaving the password field empty keeps the saved one) and "Remove Server", which says whether the password stays in the Keychain. Two servers cannot share a name. Passwords are Keychain items named "Ocelot — <server>", so they are easy to find in Keychain Access; the app sends a password only to the server that was asked, never to a host a redirect points at, and never over a downgrade to http.

Browsing a server

A server browses like a folder. Quick Look and Open download the file; copying to and from a local folder uploads and downloads with progress; rename and move within the server are one Undo step each; New Folder and New Document work; search narrows the folder by name. Large downloads go to a file, not to memory. A folder download has limits on depth and size, so a server that never ends its listing cannot fill the disk.

A server has no Trash: Delete asks and is permanent.

A folder on a server that holds two names that look the same says so in a banner, since one of them would hide the other on your disk.

Live updates

Folders on SMB shares update within a second or two when somebody else changes them (the server sends change notifications), with a check every 30 seconds as a safety net. On NFS, WebDAV and AFP mounts, and on WebDAV and S3 servers, the folder you are looking at is checked every second and the other open folders every four seconds, with one small request instead of a full listing. Nothing is checked while the window is hidden, minimized or covered.

Slow or vanished servers

A listing on a network volume runs off the main thread with a 30-second limit. After one and a half seconds the pane says "Waiting for the server…"; after the limit, "Server Not Responding" with Retry and Disconnect. Connecting to a server that never answers gives up after a minute. A saved session that opens on a share of a computer that is off does not hold up the launch: the window opens at Home and a banner says which folder was skipped.

Disconnecting and ejecting

⌘E, the eject button in the sidebar and Eject in a volume's context menu unmount a share or a disk; shares say Disconnect. The window does not wait while a slow volume is unmounted. Every volume except the startup disk can be ejected.