MC V17 Early Access PREVIEW 5

[Mathias (Author)]

Preview #4

----------------------------
Version 17 is not ready for stable release anytime soon, But it already has a lot of new things that need testing

Not everything added to v17 might be included in the final release.
v17 contain many MAJOR rewrites and new addition.

• File Tags/Labels and comments system
• Folder Specific settings
• New Keyboard customization system
• Total rewrite of List/Grid UI component used for File List view, FolderTree view, Most List/Grid UI componets. Without this rewrite all the 3 items above would not be possible
• MultiFileViewer can now show CSV/Parquet files as data in a grid. and if it is CSV it can be edited and modified and saved backed
• Some extension in MC can now be developed using .Net/C#
• Checksum extension now support Blake3 checksum algorithm

This is a early preview. Since it is a early preview it is time locked. and will stop to work after sep-30. (but a new updated version will be out.. )
However it will not be possible to auto update this version until in reached beta. there might be more 16.x releases with fixes before this is officially out

Since this is early preview. NOW is the time to come with feedback you want something to change. How a features with file tags or folder specific settings works or something like that.

Since this preview is developed separately from v16.x, When a new preview is released, it might not have all the fixes or addition that 16.x has. Right not V17 Preview has everything 16.2 build 3205 has. (I think)

Read more and see images here
https://multicommander.com/Articles/multicommander-v17-preview-1

Download portable version here (64bit only) (Preview 5)
https://multicommander.com/files/updates/preview/MultiCommander_x64_Portable_(17.0.0.3452).zip






Test and leave feedback
Please do testing specially on Tags.. 
How does tags work for you,  What missing with tag.. How can it be improved.  What does not work with tags. and so on.

Changes

 v17 PREVIEW 5 (Build 3452) - 2026-10-30

  ADDED - Extension manage can now install/uninstall external extension. 
  ADDED - New extension MCWebAccess, But not delivered with normal installation/upgrade (Use Extension manager to download and install it)
          Extension to share/recieved files from/to webbrowser. Intended to be used only on LAN. 
  ADDED - Language editor got a face lift and will warn if control characters are missing in translation. (For example, %s, %d, %1, %2 etc) and more
  ADDED - Selection status in Explorer panel is shown in a different way
  ADDED - Copy/Move progress dialog now includes a customizable transfer-speed graph with separate read and write speeds. (Can be disabled in Settings.)
  ADDED - MultiScript Debugger window support Syntax Highlighting/Dark mode and more.
  ADDED - Folder tree - Drives can show free space bar under the device name, like the Device dropdown.
  ADDED - Command line :help command, inline help for built-in commands, and suggestions while typing commands.
  ADDED - Command line now supports the same ${...} tags as user commands and the launch bar, including selected-item path and name tags.
  ADDED - Device dropdown now shows free-space bars, device details tooltips, group separators, and Windows drive commands on its context menu. (Can be disabled in Settings.)
  ADDED - Device dropdown supports middle-click to open a device in a new tab, Ctrl+click to open its root, and an option to hide drives without media.
  ADDED - MultiDataViewer now supports dark mode and has an improved line-filtering tool with progress, cancellation, regular-expression highlighting, and non-ASCII case-insensitive matching.
  ADDED - "Hide Tags toolbar" command to the Manage Tags toolbar button context menu.
  CHANGED - Keyboard shortcut customization now removes a shortcut from its previous command when it is assigned to another command.
  CHANGED - File coloring and Medium toolbar icons are now enabled by default for new installations.
  CHANGED - Updated the default button panel icons for Refresh, View, Edit, Copy, Move, Make Directory, and Delete.
  CHANGED - SFTP extension updated to use modern encryption algorithms through LibreSSL instead of WINCNG.
  FIXED - Copying with Unpacker now recognizes old-style multi-volume RAR archives.
  FIXED - Thumbnail view shows item without thumbnail better, also keep customized thumbnail if set.
  FIXED - FileOperation Copy plugin : Unpacker will now unpack old style multi-volume RAR archives again.
  FIXED - Status-bar messages, progress bars, free-space display, and text rendering issues.
  FIXED - Keyboard customization now correctly handles default shortcuts and shows conflicting shortcuts.
  FIXED - 50+ Minor fixes and improvements.
  FIXED - 10+ Stability issues.
  
v17 PREVIEW 4 (Build 3430 - 2026-10-19)

  ADDED - Split file and Join files commands in the Tools menu and file context menu. Compatible with Total Commander, HJSplit and 7-Zip split files.
  ADDED - Expand / Shrink selection can now use multiple filters, one per line, mixing wildcard, size, date and regex filters.
  ADDED - FileType Setup - Custom icons for specific files and folders.
  ADDED - FS-7Zip now support compressen method and compress level for when creating 7zip archives.
  FIXED - File list no longer jumps to another scroll position when refreshed while scrolled down.
  FIXED - Horizontal scrollbar flashing by on refresh when columns are auto-sized to the view width.
  FIXED - Clicking on empty space in the file list did not unselect all items.
  FIXED - ${mcpath} icon paths not loading in the icon picker in FileType Setup.
  FIXED - Thumbnail list mode - Missing gridlines and checkboxes covered by the image.
  FIXED - Italic text being clipped at column edges.

v17 PREVIEW 3 (Build 3415) - 2026-09-28

Around 25+ Changes since Preview 2

  FIXED - Folder specific settings dialog changes
  ADDED - MultiFileViewer - Can now specify number of rows to skip when reading CSV data.
  ADDED - Shortcuts can now be assigned to Edit comment and Clear Comment
  FIXED - CSV Data grid now handle many columns better.
  ADDED - Shortcuts can now be assigned to Tags, Tags  popup
  FIXED - Rendering of file tags, Will not overwrite entire filename
  FIXED - Range selection (shift+click) issue.
  ADDED - Some new icons to be used in file tags
  ADDED - Support for converting and saving images into WebP format 
  FIXED - Many other minor fixes.
  + All fixes in v16.5 up to build 3222

[Lukasz S.]

Hi,

Issues which I found with tags:
1. Tags do not shows icons near file/folder names, just the colour.
2. I can set few tags simultaneously for example work & personal, it is strange for me
3. I can set simultaneously like it and dislike it (I think it should switch between both)
4. There is no possibility to filter files by tags (or didn't find such option yet)
5. No icons in context menu

[total_annihilation00]

Hi,

Issues which I found with tags:
1. Tags do not shows icons near file/folder names, just the colour.
2. I can set few tags simultaneously for example work & personal, it is strange for me
3. I can set simultaneously like it and dislike it (I think it should switch between both)
4. There is no possibility to filter files by tags (or didn't find such option yet)
5. No icons in context menu

1. Go to Configuration → Explorer Panel Settings. Under Tags/Labels, enable "Show tag icon instead of color marker."
2–3. Yes, you can assign multiple tags.
4. Right-click the tag in the toolbar and select "Filter view by this tag."

Hope that helps!

[total_annihilation00]

Thank you, Mathias—Christmas came early this year! I'm loving the new thumbnail support for custom file and folder icons, the status bar updates, and especially the ":" command-line autocomplete feature.

[Lukasz S.]

Hi,

Thanks total_annihilation00, my comments:

1. I was looking in settings, but I missed it :-)
2–3. I think we shouldn't be able to set like and dislike together it doesn't make sense:-) In other, mainly graphic apps, we can set one tag only (star rating, clasification) to the picture. Similarly, if I set a work tag I do not set it as personal
4. I know, but there is separate filter option which I showed on screenshot.

Anyway, tags are very good feature in MultiCommander. I'll keep testing it.

[total_annihilation00]

Bug: Paste action unavailable on an empty USB drive

After formatting a USB drive, I couldn't paste files onto it because the drive was empty and the Paste action wouldn't trigger. I had Show hidden and system files disabled (Enabling the setting displayed the hidden 'System Volume Information' folder, after which copy/paste worked again —This seems like unexpected behavior: file operations on the drive shouldn't depend on whether hidden or system files are visible (thereby requiring a single file/folder to exist).)

The Paste action should be available when browsing an empty removable drive, regardless of whether hidden and system files are displayed.

Additional note: I use TeraCopy, which prompts me to choose between TeraCopy and File Explorer for transfers. This could be specific to my setup, but the transfer never starts because the "..." indicator doesn't appear in the file list's first column.

[total_annihilation00]

Hi,

Thanks total_annihilation00, my comments:

1. I was looking in settings, but I missed it :-)
2–3. I think we shouldn't be able to set like and dislike together it doesn't make sense:-) In other, mainly graphic apps, we can set one tag only (star rating, clasification) to the picture. Similarly, if I set a work tag I do not set it as personal
4. I know, but there is separate filter option which I showed on screenshot.

Anyway, tags are very good feature in MultiCommander. I'll keep testing it.

Actually, I often assign multiple tags to a single item (chaining them)—for example, using the white-flag tag to mark my favorite game ROMs and the dislike-flag tag to identify ROMs that have been AI-patched.

If you're wondering how to add a custom filter to the filter box's right-click menu:

1. Right-click the filter box and select Customize.
2. Click the green + button.
3. Create a filter with these settings:

Display name: Tagged Items Only

Filter:
$Important $Work $Personal $Review $Archive $Like $Dislike

[Jungle]

I think we shouldn't be able to set like and dislike together it doesn't make sense:-)

When you say "like" and "dislike", it sounds like "good" and "bad". But a tag is basically just a text/color. I suppose, technically everything is possible, but I find implementing non-overlapping tag/groups unnecessarily complicated. What if you tagged a file with "like", but then decide to change it to "dislike", what should be done -- silent change or some warning? It would be a mess.

[total_annihilation00]

I think we shouldn't be able to set like and dislike together it doesn't make sense:-)

I've tagged thousands of files, using different tag combinations to represent various states. Losing these tags would be a serious problem, as creating them was extremely time-consuming. The current behavior works as expected, so I don't think its functionality needs to change.

P.S. You can uncheck any tags you don't want to include to keep the item's tagging clean and limited to a single tag.

When you say "like" and "dislike", it sounds like "good" and "bad". But a tag is basically just a text/color. I suppose, technically everything is possible, but I find implementing non-overlapping tag/groups unnecessarily complicated. What if you tagged a file with "like", but then decide to change it to "dislike", what should be done -- silent change or some warning? It would be a mess.

Yeah I agree completely.

[Mathias (Author)]

Hi,

Issues which I found with tags:
1. Tags do not shows icons near file/folder names, just the colour.
2. I can set few tags simultaneously for example work & personal, it is strange for me
3. I can set simultaneously like it and dislike it (I think it should switch between both)
4. There is no possibility to filter files by tags (or didn't find such option yet)
5. No icons in context menu

1. In config, switch badge or icon.

2/3. Yes you can set multiple tags.. the name of the tags are examples. Idea is that you modify the name to what you want to have. I just myself multiple tags on many files. But Sure Maybe an option to only allow 1 tag at the time. or maybe Tags should be able to be configured to not be allowed to be combined with others.

4, Yes you can filter by tag.. Both from clicking ( or right click on tag in toolbar and select filter by tag. and by typing in filter box  Prefix tag name with $ eg "$Important"  )

5. Correct. It did not want to work.. there are some issue with the menu items rendering. Do not like the icons.

*** Edit : Add did not see that total_annihilation00 had answered almost everything already

[Mathias (Author)]

Bug: Paste action unavailable on an empty USB drive

After formatting a USB drive, I couldn't paste files onto it because the drive was empty and the Paste action wouldn't trigger. I had Show hidden and system files disabled (Enabling the setting displayed the hidden 'System Volume Information' folder, after which copy/paste worked again —This seems like unexpected behavior: file operations on the drive shouldn't depend on whether hidden or system files are visible (thereby requiring a single file/folder to exist).)

The Paste action should be available when browsing an empty removable drive, regardless of whether hidden and system files are displayed.

Additional note: I use TeraCopy, which prompts me to choose between TeraCopy and File Explorer for transfers. This could be specific to my setup, but the transfer never starts because the "..." indicator doesn't appear in the file list's first column.

Strange.. Might be that it think the folder is invalid since it does not have anything there not even a "..", maybe .. or something
Anyway, I will investigate

[total_annihilation00]

Bug: Paste action unavailable on an empty USB drive

After formatting a USB drive, I couldn't paste files onto it because the drive was empty and the Paste action wouldn't trigger. I had Show hidden and system files disabled (Enabling the setting displayed the hidden 'System Volume Information' folder, after which copy/paste worked again —This seems like unexpected behavior: file operations on the drive shouldn't depend on whether hidden or system files are visible (thereby requiring a single file/folder to exist).)

The Paste action should be available when browsing an empty removable drive, regardless of whether hidden and system files are displayed.

Additional note: I use TeraCopy, which prompts me to choose between TeraCopy and File Explorer for transfers. This could be specific to my setup, but the transfer never starts because the "..." indicator doesn't appear in the file list's first column.

Strange.. Might be that it think the folder is invalid since it does not have anything there not even a "..", maybe .. or something
Anyway, I will investigate

Thank you, I think you will see having no files [in a Removable Media] removes the "..." column so no Paste is possible.

[total_annihilation00]

2/3. Yes you can set multiple tags.. the name of the tags are examples. Idea is that you modify the name to what you want to have. I just myself multiple tags on many files. But Sure Maybe an option to only allow 1 tag at the time. or maybe Tags should be able to be configured to not be allowed to be combined with others.

If you accidentally set it to Single Tags in options then you lose all your multi-tags-applied items (all wiped out) ! So it's a can of worms really !

[Lukasz S.]

I think we shouldn't be able to set like and dislike together it doesn't make sense:-)

When you say "like" and "dislike", it sounds like "good" and "bad". But a tag is basically just a text/color. I suppose, technically everything is possible, but I find implementing non-overlapping tag/groups unnecessarily complicated. What if you tagged a file with "like", but then decide to change it to "dislike", what should be done -- silent change or some warning? It would be a mess.

I think there could be a possibility to set in tag settings some logic, if this tag is set and you press its opposite it should replace the tag. There could be an option to set some tag pairs or somthing, which will work like described. Similar situation could be to set some rating from 1 to 5, if it is set to 3 and you change your mind and set to 4, 3 should be disabled automatically.