How can I downgrade to an older version of Nautilus?

Grab Nemo (Linux Mint team forked nautilus 3.4, because they don't like what was changed in 3.6)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install nemo

On 13.04 you can fairly easily downgrade to a patched version of the older Nautilus 3.4 by adding a PPA managed by the good people at webupd8.org.

Run these commands in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/experiments
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
killall nautilus

For a full description of the patched version (and how to remove it), see this article: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/04/get-nautilus-34-features-back-in-ubuntu.html

N.B.: If the dist-upgrade command attempts to remove packages, there is a problem and you should not continue. Otherwise things should be fine.

You can downgrade to the Nautilus version that came with Quantal (12.10).

Here you find the instruction how to do that:

• In the Dash, type 'Software & Updates'. (Don't type the single quotes.)

• Start the 'Software & Updates' program.

• Choose the tab 'Other Software'.

• Add a new software repository. If you want the Quantal repository, type

  deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu quantal main

• and save.

• Open Synaptic Package Manager.

  If Synaptic Package Manager is not installed, you should type 'Ubuntu Software Center' in the dash. There you choose to install 'Synaptic Package Manager'.

• Choose 'Reload' to update the package information.

• In the Quick search field, type: nautilus, and select nautilus in the list.

• In the menu choose: Package - Force version.

• Choose the Quantal version.

• In the menu choose: Package - Lock Version.

• Log out, log in.