One of the complaints about Chrome OS is the severely limited Chromebook file manager. It seems like Google is encouraging (read: forcing) users of Chrome OS to keep their data in the cloud by not providing an elegant, or even adequate solution for managing files locally. Luckily, Michael Connick just came up with a brilliant work-around. It makes use of the built-in browser functionality to navigate and manage files and directories via a web page interface. Check out the details on Michael’s blog, Staying Connected.
After you try out the “new file manager”, consider checking out the Chrome OS extension, Panelize. ChromebookUser.com contributor Seldon D. has this to say about the extension,
“Panelize is one of my favorite extensions, and makes this work even better. Just save file:///home/chronos/user/Downloads/ to a bookmark in the Panels folder. Then you can open a new “file manager” window in Panelize. Right click on any file, then choose “Save as…” I find this approach way easier than the native Chrome OS file manager for managing local content.”
Thanks to Seldon for sharing the file manager work-around and the extension!