Dired ships with Emacs and allows one to navigate the file system in a buffer. By default, Dired shows detailed information about each file in the chosen directory:

total used in directory 72 available 285255156 drwxr-xr-x 3 adolfo adolfo 4096 Mar 16 10:44 . drwxr-xr-x 7 adolfo adolfo 4096 Mar 11 14:34 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 adolfo adolfo 3788 Mar 16 10:44 dirtree.org -rw-r--r-- 1 adolfo adolfo 10003 Mar 9 09:23 emacs-caldav.org drwxr-xr-x 3 adolfo adolfo 4096 Mar 15 22:02 emacs

By default Dired opens each directory in its own buffer, unless one uses I , which appends the content of a directory in the current buffer.

Dired has an option to hide all the details, showing the file name only. This option allows to show Dired on a sidebar, even on smaller screen. Proceed as follows:

Split the frame vertically ( C-x 3 ) and resize it

) and resize it Open Dired on the window of your choice using C-x d or M-x dired

or Select “Hide details” from the menu bar (“Immediate” -> “Hide details”)