Nautilus (also known as GNOME Files) is the default file manager for Ubuntu and as such is used to manage files and folders. Nautilus is called "Files" by default on Ubuntu.
Nautilus
This tag is for Nautilus, the default file manager for Ubuntu. It is named for a marine mollusc, which is used as a play on words as the Nautilus shell is used as an analogy for an operating system shell. Nautilus is also known as GNOME Files and is the default file manager for the GNOME Desktop Environment.
As a file manager, Nautilus provides file browser windows and also folder-like functionality for the desktop (namely its ability to contain and manipulate files and icons that represent them). Documentation for Nautilus may be opened by pressing F1 by default, when the program is open.
Brief summary of capabilities
Nautilus supports, among other things, creating file directory bookmarks, file searches, icon and list views, ordering files by properties (e.g., file size) when viewing them in list mode and file thumbnailing.
Customization
There are several packages that may be used to extend the capabilities of Nautilus and modify its existing behaviour and functions. According to the software centre, the nautilus-dropbox, nautilus-actions and nautilus-compare are the most popular packages with such capabilities.
Popularity
Since 13.04 Nautilus usually rates at below 2.5/5 stars in the software centre, with reviewers often citing it being slow and prone to crash as reasons for their negative reviews. Since 13.04 Dolphin and Thunar have usually receive better reviews than Nautilus.
