Q-Dir to mq-dir: a Windows quad-pane refugee migration guide

If you used Q-Dir on Windows for years and switched to Mac, you've probably noticed: nothing on Mac quite has the four-pane shape Q-Dir popularized. Until mq-dir, that was true. This guide is the practical migration from Q-Dir to mq-dir.

Why this migration is worth doing

If you're reading this, you're probably either:

• A new Mac user who used Q-Dir on Windows and is hunting for an equivalent.
• A long-time Mac user who tried Forklift / Path Finder / Marta and found them all 2-pane.
• Someone running Q-Dir under Wine on Mac and getting tired of the rough experience.

For all three, mq-dir is the closest 1:1 fit available in 2026. Native Mac, four panes, free, MIT-licensed.

Pre-migration prep

Before installing mq-dir:

1. Note your most-used Q-Dir features

Be specific:

• "I always have 4 panes open with Downloads / Documents / Source / Pictures."
• "I use Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+4 to switch panes."
• "I open .zip files inline by double-clicking."
• "I have 12 bookmarks I jump to via Ctrl+B+number."

2. Note your most-used Q-Dir keyboard shortcuts

The ones that come automatically. F-keys, Ctrl combinations, etc.

3. Take a screenshot of your typical Q-Dir layout

You'll recreate this in mq-dir.

Day 1 — Install + Cmd+1-4

brew install --cask mq-dir

Open mq-dir. Hit ⌥⌘4 to enter four-pane layout. The 2x2 grid appears.

⌘1, ⌘2, ⌘3, ⌘4 focus each pane. (Not Ctrl — Cmd. This is the first muscle-memory adjustment.)

Navigate to your typical 4 starting folders:

• Pane 1 (top-left): your Downloads or main project.
• Pane 2 (top-right): your Documents or reference folder.
• Pane 3 (bottom-left): a third context.
• Pane 4 (bottom-right): a fourth.

mq-dir will remember these on relaunch.

Day 2 — Tabs

Q-Dir has tabs per pane; mq-dir has tabs per pane too. Different shortcut:

• ⌘T opens a new tab in the focused pane (Q-Dir was Ctrl+T).
• ⌘W closes the current tab.
• ⌘⇧T reopens the most recently closed tab.
• ⌘[ / ⌘] history within a tab.

Open a few tabs in each pane to recreate your Q-Dir tab layout.

Day 3 — Layout shortcuts

Q-Dir layout shortcuts → mq-dir equivalents:

Note: mq-dir has 2H (horizontal split) and 2V (vertical split) as separate layouts. Q-Dir's 2-pane was just one. mq-dir gives you the choice.

Test: hit ⌥⌘1 (single pane), then ⌥⌘4 (back to four). The off-screen pane state preserves — you don't lose your folders.

Day 4 — Favorites / sidebar

Q-Dir's bookmark Ctrl+B+1 to Ctrl+B+9 → mq-dir's sidebar Favorites.

Add favorites:

• Drag a folder from a pane to the sidebar's Favorites section.
• Or right-click in a pane → Add to Favorites.

Recreate your top 10 Q-Dir bookmarks here.

Day 5 — Projects (mq-dir advantage)

Q-Dir doesn't have named workspaces. mq-dir does.

If you switched between "configurations" in Q-Dir manually (Downloads project vs Documents project), turn each into a Project in mq-dir:

1. Set up your panes for "Configuration A" — e.g., 4 specific folders.
2. Sidebar → Projects → "+" → name it "Configuration A".
3. Switch to "Configuration B" — change all 4 panes.
4. Save as "Configuration B".

Now click between them in the sidebar; the layout swaps. Outgoing project auto-saves.

This is genuinely better than Q-Dir's manual reconfiguration.

Day 6 — Per-tab tree view

Q-Dir's tree view is one per pane. mq-dir's is per-tab.

In any tab, toggle the file tree (View menu or ⌃⌘T). Now you have Finder-list + tree side-by-side within one tab.

Use this for code navigation — toggle on for source folders, leave off for artifact folders.

Day 7 — Per-tab preview

Q-Dir's preview is one per pane. mq-dir's is per-tab.

Toggle preview in any tab (View menu or ⌥⌘P). Now you can browse images in one tab while keeping a code listing visible in another tab of the same pane.

For multimedia browsing (images, video, PDF, Markdown with full GFM), this is dramatically better than Q-Dir's pane-level preview.

Q-Dir features that don't transfer

For honesty:

Colored pane backgrounds

Q-Dir's distinctive blue/green/red/yellow pane backgrounds aren't in mq-dir. mq-dir uses macOS-conventional focused-pane outline.

Workaround: use the focused-pane outline as your orientation. Within a week your eye adapts.

Asymmetric layouts (1+3, 3+1)

mq-dir is symmetric 2x2 only.

Workaround: if you specifically used 1+3 to keep one pane primary and others reference, mq-dir's 4-equal panes will feel different. You'll need to context-switch via ⌘1-4 more.

F-key shortcuts

Mac convention is no F-keys. Pure ⌘ and ⌥ combinations.

Workaround: the macOS shortcuts are ergonomically similar — Enter to rename, Space for Quick Look, ⌘O to open. They feel different but aren't worse.

Q-Dir's small footprint

Q-Dir is genuinely tiny. mq-dir is bigger (5MB app, 80MB resident).

Workaround: not an issue on a modern Mac with 16GB+ RAM.

What you gain from mq-dir over Q-Dir

For balance:

Religious state persistence

Q-Dir's persistence is OK; mq-dir's is uncompromising. Layout, panes, tabs, sort, scroll, focus, hidden state, tabs, projects — all survive force-quit.

Q-Dir users have lost layout to a crash; mq-dir users haven't.

Per-tab preview / tree

Q-Dir's preview is pane-level (one per pane). mq-dir's is tab-level (one per tab). Compare four files visually across four panes simultaneously.

Projects (named workspaces)

Q-Dir doesn't have this. mq-dir does. Real productivity gain for multi-project workflows.

cmux integration

If you use a terminal multiplexer (cmux on Mac), mq-dir's sidebar mirrors your active sessions. Q-Dir has nothing equivalent.

Native macOS feel

mq-dir is SwiftUI/AppKit native. Looks coherent with Mail, Safari, Notes, your other Mac apps. Q-Dir on Wine never quite fits.

Open source

Q-Dir is closed-source freeware. mq-dir is MIT, source on GitHub, community contributions welcome.

End-of-week 1 checklist

After 7 days you should be able to:

• Hit ⌘1-4 to focus panes without thinking.
• Open new tabs with ⌘T, close with ⌘W.
• Switch layouts with ⌥⌘1-4.
• Find your most-used folders via Favorites or recent history.
• Use one Project that mirrors your typical Q-Dir setup.

If yes, the migration is going well. The remaining adjustment is just hours of muscle-memory consolidation.

Common stumbles

"Where's my colored pane?"

Mac convention is uniform pane backgrounds with a focused-pane outline. Adapt; the outline becomes natural.

"Why are tabs not Ctrl+T?"

Mac uses ⌘ everywhere ⌘ is muscle memory. Ctrl is for terminal/system commands. ⌘T for new tab is consistent across Safari, Chrome, Finder, mq-dir.

"Where's the asymmetric layout?"

Not yet. File a feature request on GitHub if it matters.

"How do I batch rename?"

mq-dir doesn't have it yet (v0.2 will). For now use Finder's built-in or A Better Finder Rename.

"Why is preview so much better?"

mq-dir's preview is intentionally first-class. This is real value, not friction.

After a month

Most ex-Q-Dir users settle in within a month:

• Q-Dir muscle memory has faded.
• mq-dir's ⌘1-4 is automatic.
• The four-pane comfort is back.
• Some Q-Dir features missed; most replaced with companion tools or workflow adjustments.

You're back to work, but on a Mac with native quad-pane.

What to do if you hit a wall

If after a month you genuinely miss Q-Dir specifics:

1. File a GitHub issue — be specific about the missing feature. mq-dir's roadmap responds to user feedback.
2. Run Q-Dir under Wine for the missing-feature-only workflow (rare).
3. Combine with another tool (e.g., Forklift for SFTP, A Better Finder Rename for batch).

Most users find mq-dir covers their Q-Dir use within 2-3 weeks. The remaining gaps are usually either roadmap items or genuinely niche features.

Verdict

Q-Dir on Windows defined four-pane file management. mq-dir on Mac is the spiritual heir — same core design, native Mac polish, plus features Q-Dir didn't have (per-tab preview, religious state, projects).

The migration is real work (mostly muscle-memory relearning) but the destination is good. After a month most users wonder why they ever ran Q-Dir under Wine.

brew install --cask mq-dir

Free, MIT, zero telemetry. The closest thing to "Q-Dir if it were native on Mac" available in 2026.