Version: (using KDE 4.2.0) OS: Linux Installed from: Ubuntu Packages If you change system settings to enable Single-click to open files and folders, then you are unable to navigate within the folders panel of Dolphin using the cursor (arrow) keys. If you change to the system settings to Double-click to open files and folders, then you can navigate up and down using the cursor keys.
I don't understand, I can do it just fine... even after restarting Dolphin. Are you making sure to click on the panel, to give it focus?
The issue Chris is explains is reproducible, but I'm not sure how to proceed as the current behavior originally is a wanted behavior: When clicking with the mouse on a folder of the Folders Panel, the main view will automatically gain the focus so that keyboard navigation is possible in the main view. In KDE 4.1 we did not have this behavior and I got several reports that this should be changed... Just one note: I have the same behavior independent from the single-click/double-click setting (KDE 4.2.1). I'm unsure about the wanted behavior. How to you intend to get the focus back for the main view when using the keyboard? Could you give us a more detailed description what kind of task you where doing so that you require to navigate through the Folders Panel? I don't intend to make this setting configurable, so I'd require more informations to find a good default setting :-) Thanks!
Peter, thank you for your quick reply. My desired behavior is an easy way to browse folders and files using the keyboard. Based on your reply, some of my desired behavior is different from that of others. To browse folders, I would select a folder, and navigate up/down the folder tree, possibly expanding folders as needed. This works correctly for me when Double-click to open files and folders is set with one exception. When I want to view the contents of a folder, and I press enter on it, the focus changes to the main panel. I understand this may desired behavior, but I would expect to use the Tab key to switch panels, not enter. I may be wrong about the expected behavior of the Tab key vs. enter in KDE, but having the enter key switch focus seems inconsistent with other behavior in KDE. So to continue browsing after I open I hit enter to open a folder, I need to hit tab until I can focus the folders view again. See https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=186542 for my related issue. Another option would be for the main panel to automatically track the folder selection, so that as I move up and down the folder tree, the main panel shows the contents of my selection, as if I had hit enter on each folder. This would work with single click mode turned on, but again as soon as I select a folder the focus switches to the main panel, so I cannot continue browsing folders. For me it seems like having the main view not automatically gain the focus would make it more use-able. As always you cannot make everyone happy. Please take these as suggestions for improvement, not as criticism. You did ask for my desire. Thank you for your efforts,
I would suggest these keyboard shortcuts, regardless of single/double click settings: Alt-right: forward in history Alt-left: back in history Alt-up: Up one level Ctrl-up: Move folder selector to the previous folder (up in the view) Ctrl-down: Move folder selector to the next folder (down in the view) Ctrl-right: expand collapsed folders Ctrl-left on expanded folder: collapse it Ctrl-left on collapsed folder and folders with no subfolders: Go up one level Space / Enter: set the selected folder as the folder seen in the main Dolphin view. I think that Kmail uses these shortcuts, no?
Resetting assignee to default as per bug #305719
This seems fixed now. I can use the arrow and enter/return keys exclusively to navigate through folders when in single-click mode. For that matter, I can do the same when using double-click mode too.