In ye olden days, I enjoyed being able to use ArcCatalog as a GIS-savvy file explorer. I could open it and quickly zip around my files to get a quick glance. I usually keep Catalog open on my computer for these reasons. Sometimes a glance is all I need, and I can close the catalog and be done with it. If I wanted to do something with what I found, I could quickly open up a map document and drag the data that I had already navigated to over to the document.
Now, the process is much more cumbersome - the word "quickly" no longer applies. I still use ArcCatalog for those exploring and previewing and purposes since there is no true Pro equivalent. The catalog view doesn't quite meet my needs - you have to add it as a tab, and it doesn't remember folder connections (or at least the ones it remembers are specific to the project you happen to have open). Further, if you drag it out into its own window, it's useless, as the contents/catalog tree doesn't come with it. It's also impossible to drag into your map's TOC if you drag it out into its own window, as the TOC changes to reflect Catalog View. But I have to use both ArcCatalog and Catalog View, since I cannot drag and drop feature classes or shapefiles from ArcCatalog into an ArcGIS Pro project.
I believe a beefed up Catalog View, offered as a standalone application, would resolve many of these issues.
