Bug 506161

Summary:	Clicking folder icon in location bar does nothing when clicked if the folder is empty
Product:	[Applications] dolphin	Reporter:	Michael Schmidt <mitchi5000.ms>
Component:	bars: location	Assignee:	Dolphin Bug Assignee <dolphin-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	minor	CC:	kfm-devel, meven
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	24.12.3
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Kubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Michael Schmidt 2025-06-25 12:38:59 UTC

SUMMARY
With the "Show full path in location bar" option enabled, the location will display a little icon before each folder name in the path. Clicking the item is supposed to show all sub folders inside the clicked folder for easy navigation. However, if the folder is empty, clicking the icon does nothing. There is no feedback at all. This is confusing, because the icon is visually advertised as a button, so there is an expectation that it does *something* when clicked.

This problem is especially visible when opening an archive as a folder. Normally, all folders in the path displayed in the location bar have sub folders, except for the last one of course. This is not the case when opening an archive as a folder, which makes it easier to encounter this issue, because there is an expectation that clicking the icon does what it usually does.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Enable the "Show full path in location bar" option (Settings > Interface > Status & Location bars) and the "Open Archives as folders" options (Settings > View > General).
2. Create a new archive in an otherwise empty folder.
3. Open the archive as a folder in Dolphin.
4. Click on the icon of the folder containing the archive.

OBSERVED RESULT
Nothing happens. There is no feedback at all. Nothing opens, there is no sound, the button doesn't change from its hover state, the cursor stays the same. It's like the user didn't click at all.

EXPECTED RESULT
Something happens to give user feedback. I'm not sure what. Some ideas might be:
- Briefly show a tooltip saying "This folder contains no sub folders."
- Show the little context menu folder with sub folders show, but have it contain a single disabled entry called "(empty)".
- Navigate to the click folder as if clicking on its name. This might be surprising to users.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Kubuntu 25.04
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.12.0
Qt Version: 6.8.3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I encountered this issue on my laptop. Since it's harder to aim the cursor with a the track pad, I accidentally clicked the folder icon and I was really confused when absolutely nothing happened. I clicked about 5 more times before I moved the mouse to check whether Dolphin crashed because it just didn't respond.

Comment 1 Méven 2025-06-29 08:29:56 UTC

This happens only for archives though, as they are considered as regular files by the nav-bar, when dolphin wants to open them as folders depending on its settings.

Normally if a folder only contains a folder and with dolphin in the subfolder, click on the parents arrow will show the current folder i.e subfolder.

Comment 2 Michael Schmidt 2025-06-30 08:31:12 UTC

> This happens only for archives though
Yes and no. The icon button not doing anything also happens for regular folders that don't contain sub folders. I.e. doing the repro steps and only navigating to the folder with the archive (without opening the archive) will have the same issue.

This issue is not limited to archives. But archives do make the problem more obvious, because the icon button not doing anything can occur anywhere within the displayed path, not just the last path segment.