Created attachment 81350 [details]
Patch to allow selection of item in detail view by clicking next to the item or in another column.

The current behaviour also annoyed me very often. For users who use the detail view and single-click-open it is not possible to just select a file/folder. Of course one could click on the item's icon. In that case the corresponding item is added to the selection. But in most cases I want to just select an item, so that this file is the only selected item.

With the attached patch, I can do exactly that. If I click on the item's text, then the item will be opened (if single-click-open is active). If I click next to the text or in another column, then this item is selected, but not opened.
Works only in detail view.

Thanks for the patch! I see that this feature might be useful in some situations. However, if I'm not mistaken, it makes it impossible to clear the selection by clicking somewhere outside the "Name" column, and it could thus destroy workflows that people got used to.

(In reply to comment #1)
> The current behaviour also annoyed me very often. For users who use the
> detail view and single-click-open it is not possible to just select a
> file/folder. Of course one could click on the item's icon. In that case the
> corresponding item is added to the selection. But in most cases I want to
> just select an item, so that this file is the only selected item.

You could either:
* make a very small "rubberband" selection then (press left mouse button next to the name, move the mouse up or down slightly, and release), or
* first clear the selection by pressing Esc or clicking some empty space, and then select a single item by clicking the icon or Control-clicking the name.

However, I'm wondering in what situations the current behaviour annoys you. Most things that you might want to do with a single file after selecting it can probably be done by right-clicking it and choosing a context menu action, right? May I ask in which use cases the current behaviour is a problem?

(In reply to comment #2)

You are right. All functionality I need is present in the context menu. And the two alternatives you mentioned also work.

But I prefer to use a combination of selecting a file with a single mouse click and then starting an action by keyboard shortcuts.
For example: select a file by mouse click, then press F2 for rename.
For me this is faster and easier than right clicking and searching for the command in the menu. And if you work on a laptop and have to use the touchpad or trackpoint, you need to carefully aim at the menu command, if you don't want to miss it.

Anyway, I won't be annoyed, if this patch is not applied. I just wanted to make my solution plublicly available.
Besides, rubberband selection does not work with this patch anymore.
If I find the time, I'll try to improve this.

*** Bug 379350 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Hi Bernd,
Thanks for the patch! As much as I would love to see this feature (I really would), I have to agree with Frank that it would interfere with the user's ability to interact with the background--either left-clicking to clear the selection or right-clicking to bring up a context menu not targeting one of the items. macOS Finder has used your behavior for years, and people persistently complain about the issues I brought up.

As simple as knowing your left and right hand! Left click as usual clears multi selection to single select or document open, right click retains and pops up the context menu. Plus there are plenty other space available for background work. I suggest giving it the attention required.

So you're suggesting that left-clicking on an open area selects a file, but right-clicking on an open area opens a contact menu relevant to the background, and not the file? That seems confusing. And if a right-click on the background opens a context menu relevant to an item, then we've lost the ability to right-click on the background to open a context menu relevant to the background (e.g. to create a new file/folder/document in the current folder).