>I would expect that clicking a “Add [...]” button or list item adds a list item to the list, which can be optionally configured. It may directly open a dialog to configure it, but it shouldn’t show an unrelated menu instead.


The rationale of why that's bad UX to have to click to say you want to index a folder, just so that you can not index a folder.

This was as the result of other bug reports.

I'm sure the current state can be improved, but it's not a bug, and the proposal doesn't sound better.

Sorry, I don’t understand your first paragraph. Can you rephrase it?

(In reply to David Hurka from comment #0)
> There is a default list item for $HOME, which can not be removed, and works
> fine so far.
And you see an "indexed" button is on the right and you can turn off/turn back on indexing for $HOME?

> At the bottom, there is a button “Add folder configuration...”. Clicking it
> does not add a list item, but instead opens a menu with two items
> “Start/Stop indexing a folder...”. This is clearly not what I expect from
> clicking a button labeled “Add [...]”. These items read like very unrelated
> actions.
So you are looking for options to add an exception, as it to avoid indexing a subfolder under $HOME, or to ask that a separate folder is also indexed (one not under $HOME)

> If I select one of these items, I get a dialog where I have to select an
> already existing directory. Why do I have to create new directories only to
> change a configuration?
> 
> After selecting an existing directory, a list item is added. This list item
> can not be edited anymore. I can only remove it or toggle between “Indexed”
> and “Not indexed.”
> 
> I would expect that clicking a “Add [...]” button or list item adds a list
> item to the list, which can be optionally configured. It may directly open a
> dialog to configure it, but it shouldn’t show an unrelated menu instead.
You'd prefer that "Add folder configuration" would include a new folder to the list without a second dialog. The folder would (probably) show the "inherited" index state (some looking up the folder tree required) and you'd toggle this via the on the right hand drop down menu?

> I would expect that a newly created list item can be configured, e. g.
> clicking the path column (or a button in this column) opens a dialog or a
> line edit. The usual print dialog shows such an example, where you can enter
> the file path directly in a line edit, without the overhead of navigating
> through dialog windows, or choose the path from a dialog window.
You can manually type a foldername in the "Select a folder to include" / "Select a folder to exclude" dialogs. There's an edge case, where you want to exclude a hidden folder, where you have to do that (see "neighbouring" Bug 431588)

(In reply to tagwerk19 from comment #3)
> (In reply to David Hurka from comment #0)
> > There is a default list item for $HOME, which can not be removed, and works
> > fine so far.
> And you see an "indexed" button is on the right and you can turn off/turn
> back on indexing for $HOME?
Yes, that works. Except that this item duplicates itself, as reported in Bug 429910.

> > At the bottom, there is a button “Add folder configuration...”. Clicking it
> > does not add a list item, but instead opens a menu with two items
> > “Start/Stop indexing a folder...”. This is clearly not what I expect from
> > clicking a button labeled “Add [...]”. These items read like very unrelated
> > actions.
> So you are looking for options to add an exception, as it to avoid indexing
> a subfolder under $HOME, or to ask that a separate folder is also indexed
> (one not under $HOME)
Yes.

> > If I select one of these items, I get a dialog where I have to select an
> > already existing directory. Why do I have to create new directories only to
> > change a configuration?
> > 
> > After selecting an existing directory, a list item is added. This list item
> > can not be edited anymore. I can only remove it or toggle between “Indexed”
> > and “Not indexed.”
> > 
> > I would expect that clicking a “Add [...]” button or list item adds a list
> > item to the list, which can be optionally configured. It may directly open a
> > dialog to configure it, but it shouldn’t show an unrelated menu instead.
> You'd prefer that "Add folder configuration" would include a new folder to
> the list without a second dialog. The folder would (probably) show the
> "inherited" index state (some looking up the folder tree required) and you'd
> toggle this via the on the right hand drop down menu?
Yes, I would prefer that.

Maybe this could be reopened and flagged as wishlist?