Viewing and editing¶

The viewer (F3)¶

F3 opens the file under the cursor in a viewer window that floats above the main window. The cursor keys in the pane keep working: the viewer follows the file under the cursor, so you can step through a folder of photos or logs. F3 again, or a click, gives the viewer the keyboard; Esc closes it.

What the viewer and the preview panel show¶

Both show a file the same way; the preview panel is shorter. The first row that fits a file decides:

Kind	Files	Shows
Images	`.png` `.jpg` `.jpeg` `.gif` `.webp` `.bmp` `.svg` `.ico` `.tif` `.tiff` `.pbm` `.pgm` `.ppm` `.pnm` `.pam` `.qoi` `.exr` `.hdr` `.dds` `.ff`	the picture, its size, and for photos the camera, lens, date taken, exposure, aperture, ISO, focal length and place
Videos, AVIF	`.mp4` `.m4v` `.mov` `.mkv` `.webm` `.avi` `.wmv` `.flv` `.mpg` `.mpeg` `.m2ts` `.3gp` `.ogv` `.avif`	one still picture: the frame from the middle of a video (see below)
PDF	`.pdf` (also a PDF with another name)	one page at a time; `⌥PageDown` / `⌥PageUp` (`Alt+PageDown`, `Alt+PageUp`) turn the pages in the preview panel
Archives	`.zip` `.7z` `.rar` `.tar` `.tar.gz` `.tgz` `.tar.bz2` `.tbz` `.tbz2` `.tar.xz` `.txz` `.tar.zst` `.tzst` `.gz` `.bz2` `.xz` `.zst`	the contents as a tree, with the number of files
Fonts	`.ttf` `.otf` `.ttc` `.otc`	a sample of the font with its family, style, weight and number of glyphs
Audio	`.mp3` `.flac` `.m4a` `.m4b` `.aac` `.ogg` `.oga` `.opus` `.wav` `.aif` `.aiff` `.wv` `.ape` `.mpc`	title, artist, album, track, year, genre, the length, bitrate, sample rate, bit depth, channels, and the cover
Markdown	`.md` `.markdown` `.mdown` `.mkd`	rendered (`4`), or as text (`1`)
Text	any file without zero bytes, whatever its name, or UTF-16	the text in its encoding, also huge files (only the visible lines are read); long lines wrapped (`W`) or scrolling sideways
Everything else		the bytes in hex (`3`; also for any file above)

In the preview panel a folder shows the names inside it.

Bella Commander ships no video codec. The picture of a video or an AVIF image comes from what your computer has:

System	Made by
macOS	FFmpeg if it is installed (`brew install ffmpeg`), else Quick Look, as the Finder shows it (the first frame; no `.mkv` or `.webm`)
Windows	the Windows thumbnails, as Explorer shows them (AVIF and some videos may need the AV1 or HEVC extension from the Microsoft Store), else FFmpeg if it is installed
Linux	FFmpeg if it is installed, else the thumbnailers of the desktop (for example `ffmpegthumbnailer` or `totem`)

If none of them can read the file, the panel says so. A video plays in your video player (Enter).

The viewer showing a photo with its photo data

The viewer showing rendered Markdown

F7, ⌘F / Ctrl+F or / searches; F3 and ⇧F3 go to the next and previous match, ⌥C / Alt+C switches matching case. Select text with the mouse or ⇧Up / ⇧Down, ⌘A / Ctrl+A selects all, ⌘C / Ctrl+C copies.

The preview panel (⌥⌘B / Ctrl+Alt+B) shows the same, shorter, beside the panes.

Your editor (F4)¶

F4 opens the selected files in your editor, also from the viewer. Without a setting it uses the system's default app for the file type. Set your editor, also per file type, in settings.toml, see Customize.

Other apps¶

Key	Does
`F11`	opens the active folder in a terminal app (Terminal, Windows Terminal, or the one you set)
`⇧F11`	opens the active folder in your editor
`Enter`	opens a file with its app
Open with…	lists the apps that can open the file (also in the context menu)