The default file manager in the GNOME desktop environment is Nautilus. If you've been using GNOME for a while, then you're probably familiar with Nautilus' built in Nautilus Scripts function. The Scripts function is great, but there's an even better way to add functions to Nautilus; with Nautilus Actions.

In Mac, the QuickLook feature allows you to preview your files without opening them. For Linux users, particularly for those with Gnome desktop, you can also get a similar QuickLook functionality in your desktop with Gloobus-Preview. Gloobus-Preview is an extension for the Gnome desktop designed to enable a full screen preview of any kind of file.

The K Desktop Environment (KDE) has more menu styles than any other desktop environment available. There is the Classical type, the Kickoff style (which most users dislike), Lancelot (better than Kickoff, but with a few shortcomings), the ROSA Launcher (for Mandriva Desktop 2011), and the Takeoff Launcher.

Ubuntu 9.04 desktop support accessing remote file system from the places menu. Click on Places->Connect to server . You will get the following pop up.

This little tutorial will explain how to maintain a clean desktop and at the same time have quick access to your data. It makes use of Compiz widget layer and a lightweight File Manager by creating a folder to store all your Desktop icons/files and make it into a widget where you can access it easily.

If you like a clean, tidy Gnome desktop, you probably don't want it littered with file shortcut icons. Wouldn't it be nice to have a drop-down (or drop-up) file menu in one of the Gnome panels, from which you could select and launch your frequently used documents, spreadsheets, images, etc?

"... if for example you have two windows in your application and both of them have a file menu, rather than having the file menu code in both of the windows, you can define an overlay and then share this one file between both windows. This centralizes the code for the file menu and makes updating/extending the menu much easier because code changes are only required in one place..."

Many Linux users make use of the KDE or GNOME desktop environments and when it comes to file management, they don’t venture beyond using the environment-provided file management tools like Konqueror or Nautilus. Considering this is Linux, there are many other file management tools to choose from, some of which you may find preferable to the “defaults.”

One of the reoccurring ideas in revisions of the desktop is to tie it more closely to the Internet. The idea was last popular in the late 1990s, when one example of it was the use of KDE's Konqueror for both web browsing and file management. Now, with the GNOME Online Desktop (GOD), the idea has been revived to reflect the rise of social networks and file sharing.