# Dual panes, folder tabs and a dockable workspace

> Two folder panels side by side, folder tabs in each, and terminals, git views, the folder tree and the AI assistant docked around them. One command resets it.

- Canonical: https://cwdio.com/features/dual-pane-and-tabs/
- Updated: 2026-08-15
- Product: Cwdio File Manager (cwdio) — https://cwdio.com

cwdio is a two-panel file manager in the Norton, Total Commander and Midnight Commander line: two folders
side by side, one active, and every copy or move goes from the active one to the other. Around those two
panels sits a dockable workspace — terminals, the folder tree, git views, a preview pane and the AI
assistant — all closed until you open them, so on first launch you see two folders and nothing else.

## What it does

- **Two panels, always left and right.** <kbd>Tab</kbd> switches between them; <kbd>Ctrl+U</kbd> swaps the
  folders they show. Each panel has its own breadcrumb address bar, back/forward history with a
  drop-down of recent locations, drive selector, sort order and columns.
- **Folder tabs per panel.** <kbd>Ctrl+T</kbd> duplicates the current folder into a new tab, <kbd>Ctrl+W</kbd>
  closes, <kbd>Ctrl+Tab</kbd> / <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+Tab</kbd> cycle. Tabs carry their own history, can be pinned,
  reordered by drag, moved to the other side, and reopened after closing (Go ▸ Reopen closed tab).
- **A dockable workspace.** Terminals, Locations (drives, servers, favourites, the folder tree), the Quick
  View pane, Git changes, Git history, Web preview and the AI assistant are dock panels: drag them beside,
  below or on top of the file panels, close them with their tab ×, or collapse them to a thin edge rail
  and click the rail to bring them back.
- **Presets and reset.** The status-bar chip switches between named tool-window sets (Orthodox, Commander,
  Explorer, Cull, Developer); <kbd>Ctrl+Alt+0</kbd> resets to the two-panel default. Go ▸ Saved layouts…
  stores a named pair of folders with each panel's tabs and restores it later.
- **More windows.** <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+N</kbd> opens another cwdio window; the Explorer context-menu entry and the
  command line (`cwdio <path>`) open a folder in a new window too.
- **Appearance.** Dark and light themes, seven accent presets, and an English or Ukrainian interface — all
  in Preferences ▸ Appearance and remembered across restarts.

## How to use it

1. Put the folder you are working *from* in one panel and the folder you are working *to* in the other. Go
   ▸ Open folder in other panel sends the inactive panel to where the active one is.
2. <kbd>F5</kbd> copies the selection to the other panel, <kbd>F6</kbd> moves it — no target to type.
3. Open as many tabs as the job needs with <kbd>Ctrl+T</kbd>; middle-click a folder to open it in a
   background tab; right-click a tab for Duplicate, Pin, Close others and Move to other panel.
4. Need a terminal? <kbd>Ctrl+&#96;</kbd>. Need the folder tree? <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+E</kbd>. Close them again and
   the two panels are all that is left.

## What is remembered

Everything about the workspace persists: the dock layout, each side's tabs and active folder, which tool
windows are open, collapsed to a rail or closed, panel columns and widths, sort order, the theme, accent
and language, plus the list of recently closed tabs. Only the primary window's size and position are
saved; a second window cascades from the first and is not remembered. A corrupt or partial settings file
never throws — the good fields are kept and the rest fall back to defaults.

## What it deliberately does not do

- It does not offer a third or fourth panel. The two-panel invariant is what makes "copy to the other
  panel" unambiguous; use tabs, a second window, or single-pane mode instead.
- Tool windows do not pop out into separate OS windows. They dock and rail inside the cwdio window.
- Both sides *can* be hidden — an empty work area with a full-screen terminal is allowed. The View ▸ Panels
  list and the edge rails bring them back.

## Related

- [Terminal sync](/features/terminal-sync/) — the terminal that lives in this workspace and follows the panel.
- [Views, columns and thumbnails](/features/views-columns-and-thumbnails/) — what each panel can show.
- [Command palette and keyboard](/features/command-palette-and-keyboard/) — every panel and tab command by chord.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can I have more than two panels?** No — exactly two are visible, left and right, and each of them can hold any number of folder tabs. Two panels is what F5 (copy to the other panel) and F6 (move to the other panel) depend on. You can hide either side and work single-pane, or open a second cwdio window with Ctrl+Shift+N.

**How do folder tabs work?** Ctrl+T opens a new tab on the current folder, Ctrl+W closes it, Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab cycle. Each tab keeps its own back/forward history. Middle-clicking a folder opens it in a background tab, tabs can be pinned and dragged between the two sides, and Go ▸ Reopen closed tab brings back what you closed — even after a restart.

**What happens to my layout when I restart?** It comes back. The dock layout, each panel's tabs and folders, which tool windows were open or collapsed to an edge, the theme, the accent colour and the language are all persisted. View ▸ Reset layout (Ctrl+Alt+0) restores the two-panel default at any time.

**Is there a light theme?** Yes. The title bar carries a theme toggle beside the accent picker, and Preferences ▸ Appearance holds theme, language and accent together. Seven contrast-checked accent presets are available: blue, indigo, cyan, teal, rose, amber and graphite.