The interface

Newt’s main window contains two file panes above a terminal panel. The dividers between panes and the terminal can be resized with the pointer.

File panes

Each pane maintains its own location, selection, sort order, filter, and navigation history. The active pane receives keyboard commands.

The pane header contains:

• A filesystem selector for local and mounted filesystems
• Clickable path breadcrumbs
• Git branch and working-tree information when inside a repository
• Available disk space when the filesystem reports it. Select the value to open the volume’s Properties dialog.

The status bar shows the focused path, file and directory counts, and the size of the current selection.

Press Tab to switch panes. Press Backspace to move to the parent directory, or Enter to open the focused entry.

File-list spacing is configurable under Appearance → Row Density. Comfortable uses 22-pixel rows; Compact uses 20-pixel rows.

Selection

Use Insert to toggle the focused item and advance to the next row. Hold Shift while moving to extend the selection. Standard pointer selection, range selection, rectangle selection, and drag and drop are also available.

File operations act on the selection when one exists, or on the focused item otherwise.

Terminal

The terminal panel can be shown, hidden, and resized. It supports multiple tabs and uses the same local, SSH, elevated, or WSL session as the panes.

Clicking a terminal gives keyboard focus to it. Commands for returning focus to the panes remain available, and terminal tabs can be opened or closed without changing the file selection.

Background operations

Copy, move, delete, and archive operations report their progress separately from the panes. An operation can be moved into the background while you continue navigating.

When a conflict or error needs a decision, Newt presents the affected path and available resolutions. Progress includes processed bytes, throughput, elapsed time, and estimated remaining time when those values are available.