Select a line in File Explorer.
Right-click another line in some empty space (i.e. do not place the cursor on some text).
Result:
The line is not selected and the context-menu invoked is that of the current folder.
Is there a way to change that?
Thank you.
"Is there a way to change that?"
I wouldn't expect so.
Why are you asking?
Why don't you just right-click on the file you have selected if that's the behaviour you want to use?
All the best,
Denis
Hello Denis,
Thanks for replying.
I'm afraid I was not clear enough.
Let's say you have two files in a folder: A.txt and B.xml.
Left-click and select A.txt.
Right-click on some empty space in B.xml line.
I'd expect B.xml to get selected and have that file context-menu.
This is the behavior on Windows 7.
Best regards.
Ah.....
Left-click to select A.txt.
Ctrl-LeftClick to add B.xml to your selection.
e.g.
All the best,
Denis
No. :)
I want only langs.model.xml to get selected when the cursor is on the red-marked area and I right-click..
so stop clicking on undoclosetab.
the behavior is so you dont have to be incessantly annoyed clicking in a 1 pixel by 1 pixel area for context menu's.
right click the item you actually want. not near it. not beside it. on it.
You select folders or files using left-click. Using right-click also selects them but it invokes the context menu.
I cannot work out what view you are in so I don't know what you are clicking on in that blank area.
- File explorer generally left-aligns folder-file names so there wouldn't be anything further to the left before the text. Seeing your diagram does ring a vague bell though.
All the best,
Denis
It's Windows RTL.
Correct. But I want the right-click to select even if the cursor happens to be on empty space.Using right-click also selects them but it invokes the context menu.
Windows RTL - Understood.
Windows cannot do what you want.
Perhaps there is some utility, a File explorer replacement, that can but I've never looked into them.
Some mice have controls that allow you to swap left & right buttons but that wouldn't be what you after either.
Sorry I could not help,
All the best,
Denis
I get it. I see the problem.
Needless to say, Windows tends to be a hunt for the 'workaround'.
I guess you could just quickly LeftClick - RightClick on the empty line space. Or use something like AutoHotKey to program your middle mouse button to 'LeftClick - RightClick' together and ONLY when the cursor is within an active File Explorer window, and yet like all workarounds, they're rarely elegant and more often messy.
But, I was fascinated by this issue of what you'd think would work, but doesn't. And so more than anything, I just wanted to voice my appreciation for the distraction this morning. ;o)
I'm at that age where it doesn't take much to annoy me. Kids cutting through the back yard, not enough duck sauce in the carry out. In fact, I'm often annoyed by what annoys others here, which of course makes the forum a goldmine to get my silent crank on.
But I thoroughly understood how something like this issue can bring one's workflow to screeching halt as we ponder, 'There's got to be a way...!'
I found it odd that File Explorer understands that the cursor is 'anywhere' along the line ( text or empty space ), when you LeftClick to Select.
AND it also understands that the cursor is 'anywhere' along the line ( text or empty space) once it's ALREADY Selected for the RightClick to produce it's context menu.
And yet when over nothing selected it insists that the cursor be over some text character or icon on an Un-Selected line to understand the RightClick text menu for that item.
OTHERWISE it's the folder's Context Menu.
I suppose when you stop to think about it, Windows didn't really have to provide THAT capability. It could just as easily have said 'You're asking for the context menu of something that's not been selected ( like the empty space ) and therefore you must want the Folder's Context Menu".
After a while you just learn to embrace the mystery.
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