My Take on Bloom, a Mac File Manager

I've always used a file manager as the center of the way I interact with my computer, much more so than a launcher, dock, or menu-driven UI. I used PathFinder for 17 years before switching to Qspace in 2024. I took advantage of the Black Friday sale on Bloom, a relatively new app, to give it a try. Bloom is a well-designed, affordable app with a lot of promise. It's definitely a tool for advanced users and may be overkill for those who aren't. It's not a Finder clone, so you'll have to reprogram your muscle memory to use it efficiently. The developer is actively adding new features and seems responsive to user feedback.

What I Like

• Multi-pane layouts
• Speed of file operations
• Archive view - see inside compressed files without opening them
• Paste copied images and text as new files
• Search is better than Spotlight
• Built-in file operations for image operations, previewing, and renaming files
• Portal window, a unique and powerful implementation of the shelf concept

Wish List

• Auto-mounting of WebDAV and NFS shares. The hooks into conventional cloud storage options are OK, but this is a power user app, and it should improve support for self-hosted services and European services like Koofr and kDrive.
• To really stand out from the competition, improving its renaming capabilities (with regex and EXIF awareness) would go a long way.
• Improvements in dual-pane persistence and the ability to save named workspaces.
• More powerful tab management - pinned tabs, color-coded tabs, tab groups, keyboard shortcuts for more tab operations
• Integration with Shortcuts, AppleScript, Service Menu, and the addition of a plugin system that other devs could hook into, like they do with Finder.
• It wouldn't appeal to me, but I can see the app reaching a larger audience by implementing a Finder compatibility mode that mimics Finder's keyboard shortcuts, viewing modality, and folder opening behavior.

If you like this kind of tool, I'd pick up a copy now, for $16. The dev's website says that all future updates will be available to anyone who purchases the app—no subscriptions, no paid updates after a year, or any of that monetization optimization stuff. If you need more features right now and don't want to wait, try Qspace, but keep Bloom in mind.

Developer Feedback

Asia Fu, the dev behind Bloom was kind enough to address some of the points I made.

Context Menu Customization

This is not hard. Definitely will look into it when I have spare time.

Auto Connection

You can now save folders located on NFS or SMB volumes in Favorites and Workspaces. When you open folders from these locations, Bloom will automatically connect to the volumes if they are not already connected.

Rename

1. I'll add more fields gradually. You can send the fields you want through feedback. 
2. You can already save rename actions and reuse them later through the main menu, the rename window, or assign shortcuts to them.

AppleScriptsBloom now [has] basic AppleScript support. You can find example usages in this repository.

Services Menus

1. Normally, if you enable "Use as Quick Action -> Service Menu" for your shortcuts, they should appear in Bloom’s context menu. If they don’t, feel free to send me the shortcuts so I can take a look. 
2. If you’re using "Receive Files" actions, make sure Bloom is included in the application list.