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Documentation » Using WinSCP » Basic Tasks »

Navigating

There are several ways how to navigate with WinSCP, both with mouse and keyboard. Choose the one you prefer.

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File Panel

In file panel you can enter the subdirectory of current directory by double-clicking the subdirectory icon (or by pressing Enter). If a same way you can “enter” symbolic link pointing to directory. When resolving of symbolic links is disabled for the current session, WinSCP allows you to try to “enter” any file, just in case it is symbolic link.

With Norton Commander interface you can enter the parent directory using the parent directory icon (always the first item in the file list, with caption ..).

Directory Tree

Using directory tree you can enter any directory visible on the tree just by clicking on its icon.

Bookmarks

You can bookmark your favourite directories using command Commands > Add to Bookmarks in Explorer-like interface or Local (Remote) > Add to Bookmarks in Norton Commander interface. Or use keyboard shortcut.

To retrieve and manage bookmarks go to View > Go To > Open Directory/Bookmark in Explorer-like interface or Local (Remote) > Go To > Open Directory/Bookmark in Norton Commander interface. Or find respective icon on toolbar or use keyboard shortcut.

You can select between two bookmarks modes. “Bookmark” mode is available for both interfaces. It is just list of bookmarked paths separate for remote and local panel (local bookmarks are available for Norton Commander interface only). The “Location Profiles” mode is available for Norton Commander interface only. It is list of named profiles consisting of both local and remote directory. The profiles can be hierarchically organised into folders.

Entering Path Manually

Using the Open directory dialog you can open the desired directory also by typing its path manually. Go to View > Go To > Open Directory/Bookmark in Explorer-like interface or Local (Remote) > Go To > Open Directory/Bookmark in Norton Commander interface. Or find respective icon on toolbar or use keyboard shortcut.

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Opening Path Stored in Clipboard

If clipboard contains plain text string only, behaviour of function File(s) > Paste is changed so it attempts to open path stored in clipboard instead of pasting files.

Learn how to copy path to current working directory to clipboard.

Special Commands

In the main menu (View > Go To in Explorer-like interface or Local (Remote) > Go To in Norton Commander interface) and on the toolbars you can find set of special commands that can help you with navigation:

  • Parent directory - To go one level up in directory structure
  • Root directory - To go to the top level directory.
  • Home directory - To open home directory. For remote panel the home directory is by default your user directory on the server and for local panel it is your documents directory. You can override this by setting initial session directories and using preference option Default directory is home directory.
  • Back/Forward - To navigate back/forward in directory history (the same as in Windows Explorer and similar to Back/Forward buttons in a webbrowser).

Synchronized Browsing

When you change your directory in one file panel and this feature is turned on, WinSCP automatically opens the same directory in an opposite panel. For example if you change the directory in remote panel from /home/mprikryl/public_html to /home/mprikryl/public_html/wiki and directory D:\documents\www is opened in local panel, WinSCP will automatically open local directory D:\documents\www\wiki for you.

This function is available in Norton Commander interface only. To turn it on go to Commands > Synchronize Browsing.

You can find this useful together with the function Compare directories for manual synchronization.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Most of the keyboard shortcuts for navigation are the same in both interfaces. However thare are few differences.

Special Devices

WinSCP can respond to the navigation features of some input devices including:

  • Back/Forward buttons on some mice (Microsoft Intellipoint particularly).
  • Back, Forward, Reload, Home and Favorite buttons on multimedia-keyboards.

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Last modified: by 68.108.197.159