ES Explorer - the best file manager for Android

2022-10-24

A detailed review of the free file manager ES Explorer. The features of the mobile file explorer, instructions on how to use it, what is the principal difference from other file managers for Android.

File manager for Android ES File Explorer is a free full-featured application to perform file operations on your mobile device. So far, the application has been downloaded by more than 300 million Android users: statistics show that ES File Explorer is in great demand.

Download ES Explorer

Basic Features of ES Explorer

Firstly, the main features of the ES Explorer file manager should be listed as they are presented on the official website of ES Explorer and on the Google Play page.

• File operations (copy, paste, delete) not only in local mode, but also via LAN, FTP, Bluetooth and Cloud Storage protocol
• Package operations with /files and applications, clipboard support for file operations
• Changing display modes, Filter items in manager list and sort /files and folders
• Search /files in phone memory and SD card, transfer /files to other users via Bluetooth
• Transfer, copy /files and share on network network file management
• Built-in utilities for viewing, copying and text editing
• Playing multimedia /files in local or streaming mode directly in the estrongs file explorer network sharing
• View contents of /files linked to user tools
• Hidden /files can be viewed and visibility control (hide or show items in Explorer)
• Enabled in ES Explorer is a built-in zip-archiver (see our review of archivers for Android)
• Check integrity by MD5/SHA
• Home directory setting in local browsing or remote access
• Analyzer of available file space
• Application backup, uninstall from phone and create shortcuts for quick launch
• Root Explorer, integrated into ES File explorer
• Other ES Explorer features related to file management

How to perform backup via ES Explorer

1. The backup operation in ES File Explorer is performed with root rights - in other words, as root user.
2. For this purpose it is suitable to use an add-on called Root Explorer (Sidebar - Tools - Root Explorer).
3. Go to the file manager settings, see app - check backup data. Then go to app - select app - backup.
4. To restore the data from the installed user applications go to the application manager interface (app manager in ES file explorer).
5. Click on the address bar to access the application backups, it is recommended to follow the intuition.

Advanced backup for Android

The main screen interface of the ES explorer application

File display settings in the ES explorer manager

Commands available when selecting /files in ES explorer (copy, move, etc.)

Working with ES Explorer in Android, navigating through /files

We will not go through all the functionalities of the ES Explorer file manager to manage /files; we will, however, focus on the points that we find the most interesting, which are the features that make Explorer different from applications in this category of managers and how to actually use the utility.

In the home page, through ES File Explorer interface, one can access almost all the file system nooks, functions, cards and about all the supported file transfer protocols through ES File Explorer.

The first line of ES Explorer allows to choose the file formats: images, music, documents, video, apk-applications. Then, you can quickly navigate to the storage source: it is the Android internal memory or sd-card. At the same time, ES Explorer displays the available space for writing /files. By the way, as mentioned above, you can use the tool to find and clean up unnecessary /files. We have already touched on this feature when talking about the popular Clean Master for Android.

ES Explorer settings and space usage analysis

How to perform a space usage analysis in ES Explorer

Sidebar - Tools - sdcard. In the EC Explorer window you will see the total disk space, the used space and the free storage on the disk. By a long click on /files or folders in the EC Explorer you may delete or copy the selected items in the context menu.

Next in Explorer is the Toolbox. Through it the user may inter alia select the cloud storage facility, send the file to other users through a wireless or network connection, use additional functions and utilities, such as the Task Manager (=task manager) or the Recycle Bin. By the way, the Trash is an option to delete/copy a file to an area of the system, where it will be before you clean it up. This way you can recreate a full-fledged Recycle Bin on Android, so /files are not deleted immediately and you have the possibility to restore them.

Download and install Recycle Bin on Android

Use the Recycle Bin feature in ES Explorer

Go to the Sidebar - Recycle Bin. You will be taken to the corresponding recycle bin page in ES Explorer. With a long press on the contents, commands such as Delete or Restore will be available to you.

At last, ES Explorer Android application manager, like other solutions, has bookmarks and they can lead to a download folder, to a website, to a section or to a specific file, on a local drive or over the network. This is a universal way to quickly access certain elements in Android.

The left side bar of the file explorer can also be used for navigation in ES Explorer. Via it, ES Explorer gives access to frequently used tools (such as copy, paste, delete /files) as well as quick settings. It`s worth mentioning that some of the functions of this android application are available only after installing corresponding plug-ins which are not part of ES Explorer but can be downloaded from Google Play. These include e.g. Trash, Application Manager.

Adjusting the interface and display of Explorer elements

In addition to the above-mentioned quick access, the display of lists in the ES Explorer application is flexibly configurable. The interface icons can have large, medium and small size, also the size of the lists can be changed, with different details. Sorting /files and folders in the file manager is performed by name, type, size, modification date.

File operations in ES Explorer

We will not enumerate all file operations available in ES Explorer for Android, but we will take a look at the context menu list available when selecting one or more items in the file list. Certainly, it can be a batch file selection. In ES File Explorer, /files can supposedly be copied, moved to different areas of the local drive, over the network, and to cloud storage. Of the additional file operations, compression (archiving) and file encryption are present. All these options are available without any additional modules. Furthermore the built-in multimedia playback options are very convenient, including video and audio /files, meaning that there is no need to use third party applications, media players.

A few words about Total Commander

As many Android users know, the built-in system file manager is little adapted to actively perform file operations. Of course, you can download the handy Total Commander dual-pane file manager for Android. However, Total CMD is a deprecated solution suitable rather for conservative Android users who use this explorer on desktop solutions and therefore are used to a two-panel file manager for working with /files on a mobile device.

If you take a good look at the top system applications for Android, you will find ES File explorer - a file explorer for Android-based mobile phones. In fact, this replacement for Explorer deserves a lot of attention and that's why we dedicated our review to ES Explorer.

Resume . The android application manager ES Explorer lives up to the expectations and will fully satisfy many Android users as the main file manager. The most noteworthy features are the fast access and transfer of /files via network or wireless protocols, fairly easy file management and batch operations, flexible display management.