Bug 510166

Alternatively, i would also be happy with a new shortcut that is for creating a new directory *in the current* directory, regardless if something is selected or not.

I feel this pain as well. In my opinion, a right-click of a folder to create a new folder inside that directory does make at least some sense. At the exact moment of right-clicking, the context is "the thing I just right-clicked." But when using a keyboard shortcut, it feels like the most appropriate context is the window (and therefore the current directory you are looking at, not whatever is selected). If my knowledge includes "Ctrl+Shift+N" makes a new folder inside what is selected, what am I to assume will happen when I have multiple folders selected? It is not immediately clear.

Where I think this design could go either way, though, is in the Details view. If I'm using arrows to navigate around a couple layers deep, what should Ctrl+Shift+N do? Is the context A) the root address that is in the address bar at the top, or B) the directory where my selection resides? I would lean towards option B because it gives more functionality. But then, if the goal was consistency, that would conflict with what feels more appropriate in the first paragraph of this comment.

We can get close to consistency in all views by placing the new folder either in the current directory with no selection or in the same directory as your current selection (but not within it). In Icons view, there would be no difference between the two. In Details view, this would allow you to place new folders some levels deep, but you would not be able to create a new folder inside an empty folder because there are no selections to put you within that directory first.

The only other solution I can come up with is to expose the options after pressing the shortcut, somewhere within the New Folder popup. If a folder is selected, perhaps prefill the path with the name of that folder with only the name of the new directory highlighted, so that 1) what is going to happen is presented immediately, in case you were not aware of a selection, and 2) you can change/fix it even before creating the folder. With a Dolphin window open to the directory "Receipts" and "October" highlighted, the new folder popup would show "October/New Folder" with just New Folder being highlighted. At this point if you realize that you didn't intend to create the new directory within your selection, you can Ctrl+A to highlight all and start typing to put your folder directly in Receipts. In the Details view, this path could be qualified all the way from the Window context to the new folder. "Work/Finances/Receipts/October/New Folder"

This is all a lot more work than a checkbox though. If the preference suggested by hasezoey is created, it should act on all methods of creation, whether right-clicking or keyboard shortcuts. "Ignore highlights/selections and place new folders in current directory" would be wonderful.

There are multiple cases where, at the end of the intended actions, Dolphin is left with selected folders. Like when you delete or create a folder. There is no intentional context in this cases, it's not me who selected those folders, thus I need to fight Dolphin, which needlessly increases my congnitive load. Well, it already did, because I never needed to read the small text on the dialog until now.

And - I didn't check if it's really possible to do it unintentionally, but - let's imagine Dolphin ends with all folders selected in a thousand subfolders folder and I press F10 and type 'new-folder' and Enter...