Bug 508196 - Create New Folder ignores selected folder and broken with mouse
Summary: Create New Folder ignores selected folder and broken with mouse
Status: REOPENED
Alias: None
Product: dolphin
Classification: Applications
Component: general (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 25.08.2
Platform: Debian stable Linux
: HI normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Dolphin Bug Assignee
URL:
Keywords:
: 507490 508353 508537 508823 508898 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-08-13 10:29 UTC by René
Modified: 2025-10-17 09:15 UTC (History)
11 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In: 25.08.1
Sentry Crash Report:


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Description René 2025-08-13 10:29:18 UTC
***

SUMMARY
In detail view mode when I create a new sub-folder with context menu, then it is created in the right clicked folder. . However, when in the detail view I select the folder and then use the F10 key it creates it in the present work directory.  This I consider unexpected behaviour because F10 does not respect the selected folder. 

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Set Dolphin in Details View mode (Ctrl+3). Makes it easier to see where the folder is actually created. 
2. Right click a folder and click Created New > Folder F10 to create a subfolder
3. The sub-folder is created in side the right clicked folder. Expected behaviour.
4. Click (select) a folder and hit the F10 key to create a subfolder
5. The sub-folder is created in the present work folder (the pwd when you hit the F4 key). 

OBSERVED RESULT
F10 creates subfolder in (F4) pwd. 

EXPECTED RESULT
F10 creates sub-folder in selected folder (consistent with mouse UX). When keyboard operated you move around folder with arrow keys and open folders with Enter. When you don't enter the folder the arrow keys determine which folder remains selected. Just like mouse operated it should then be possible to create a sub-folder without entering the folder. F10 in the context menu suggests that. The present behavior breaks this consistency. When mouse operation respects the selected folder and context menu suggest F10 as alternative, then it should also be consistent with mouse operation.  

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Debian 12
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.103.0
Qt Version: 5.15.8
Comment 1 Filip 2025-08-13 11:50:27 UTC
Hi, I'm afraid Dolphin 22.12.3 no longer receives updates or maintenance from KDE; active versions are 25.04.3 or newer. Please upgrade to an active version as soon as your distribution makes it available to you, or use other application distribution methods such as Flathub. Dolphin is a fast-moving project, and bugs in one version are often fixed in the next one.

 If you need support for Dolphin 22.12.3, please contact your distribution, who bears the responsibility of providing help for older releases that are no longer receiving updates from KDE.

If this issue is still reproducible in a supported version of Dolphin, feel free to re-open this bug report.

Thanks for understanding!
Comment 2 René 2025-08-19 08:16:28 UTC
See: https://i.imgur.com/uBSmsBm.png

I selected Downloads and Ctrl+Shift+N and as you see it will New Folder will be created in /home/c2 not in /home/c2/Downloads

This is the flatpak version I installed with 

flatpak install flathub org.kde.dolphin
flatpak run org.kde.dolphin
Comment 3 René 2025-08-19 12:19:25 UTC
There is another issue in this version. With the mouse when you right click a folder and then click Create new folder, then it  does not show any dialog at all to enter the name.  The context  menu apparently was only tested in the opened folder background or not at all. Imho when a context menu appears it should work. When it is not supposed to work, then the context menu should not appear either. 

In defense I call this functional regression. These were the early revolutionary UX advances of the graphical UI that nowadays seem taken for granted. These should be included in the UX tests, cherished like gold. Is Dolphin ready for voice commands like "Dolphin, create new folder in Home Downloads called KDE"? Until that works flawlessly you still depend on the old UX and its functionality need to be tested.
Comment 4 Méven 2025-08-26 09:24:56 UTC
Git commit 24d859cf19e90fa22ed687b36a68231625c1bd80 by Méven Car, on behalf of lzwind lzwind.
Committed on 26/08/2025 at 09:24.
Pushed by meven into branch 'master'.

Make create folder use selected directory

This change makes `Ctrl+Shift+N` behavior consistent with right-click context menu:
- If a single directory is selected, create inside it
- Otherwise, create in current working directory

M  +20   -2    src/dolphinmainwindow.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/24d859cf19e90fa22ed687b36a68231625c1bd80
Comment 5 Christoph Feck 2025-08-28 10:03:00 UTC
*** Bug 507490 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 6 Filip 2025-08-28 12:02:22 UTC
*** Bug 508823 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 7 Christoph Feck 2025-08-28 12:42:35 UTC
*** Bug 508537 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Filip 2025-08-28 14:49:47 UTC
*** Bug 508353 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 9 Christoph Feck 2025-08-28 18:19:51 UTC
Running 7d224aab, the context menu issue is still present?
Comment 10 Méven 2025-08-30 12:54:43 UTC
*** Bug 508898 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 11 Méven 2025-09-01 11:07:58 UTC
Git commit 65bb95f50ed591c8e5c7b07b9ef6072dfcecf89e by Méven Car.
Committed on 01/09/2025 at 11:07.
Pushed by meven into branch 'release/25.08'.

Make create folder use selected directory !1026

This change makes `Ctrl+Shift+N` behavior consistent with right-click context menu:
- If a single directory is selected, create inside it
- Otherwise, create in current working directory


(cherry picked from commit 24d859cf19e90fa22ed687b36a68231625c1bd80)

900d5d8f Make F10 create folder respect selected directory
e5ebe618 Apply 1 suggestion(s) to 1 file(s)

Co-authored-by: lzwind lzwind <liuzheng@uniontech.com>

M  +20   -2    src/dolphinmainwindow.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/65bb95f50ed591c8e5c7b07b9ef6072dfcecf89e
Comment 12 Méven Car 2025-09-02 08:15:07 UTC
Patch for the mouse case:
https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/efbda5eaa74dfe1ed81c2973c0fbcdf5c97666dc

Will be in next 25.08 maintenance release, 25.08.1.
Comment 13 NecRaul 2025-09-17 02:25:57 UTC
Any way to make this optional? Because at the moment, it is annoying enough that I downgraded to 25.08.0 for the time being.
Comment 14 SigHunter 2025-10-08 18:49:38 UTC
(In reply to NecRaul from comment #13)
> Any way to make this optional? Because at the moment, it is annoying enough
> that I downgraded to 25.08.0 for the time being.

this is very annoying indeed and makes for extra work: one extra ESC press for every folder I create with Ctrl+Shift+N to make sure I have nothing selected. or alternatively check for a few seconds if anything is selected in the potentially thousands of subfolders my dolphin currently displays. 

And for a time I was going nuts because creating folders seemingly stopped working until I noticed hundreds of empty folders in  folders that were randomly selected at that time
Comment 15 Méven 2025-10-11 11:00:11 UTC
Is being discussed in https://discuss.kde.org/t/slightly-strange-behaviour-in-dolphin/40209

Would having a button "Create another folder" or a shortcut from when the dialog is opened help ?

Arguably Ctrl+SHIFT+N / F10

As I suggested in https://discuss.kde.org/t/slightly-strange-behaviour-in-dolphin/40209/15

A setting might be necessary unfortunately as users expectations vary apparently. But adding an option should be last resort.
Comment 16 NecRaul 2025-10-13 20:44:56 UTC
(In reply to Méven from comment #15)
> Would having a button "Create another folder" or a shortcut from when the
> dialog is opened help ?
> 
> Arguably Ctrl+SHIFT+N / F10
That would be pretty accommodating. One could disable the initial shortcut and set the new action to the previous shortcut and continue as if nothing changed.
Comment 17 NecRaul 2025-10-13 20:49:10 UTC
I should clarify as I made my comment before reading the discuss thread, I want a button that creates a new folder in the current directory regardless of whether or not something is focused. In the example given by OP in the discuss thread, this new button wouldn't create ~/1cat/2dog and ~/3pig but ~/1cat, ~/2dog and ~/3pig even if one of the folders were focused.
Comment 18 René 2025-10-15 18:09:20 UTC
(In reply to NecRaul from comment #17)
> I should clarify as I made my comment before reading the discuss thread, I
> want a button that creates a new folder in the current directory regardless
> of whether or not something is focused. In the example given by OP in the
> discuss thread, this new button wouldn't create ~/1cat/2dog and ~/3pig but
> ~/1cat, ~/2dog and ~/3pig even if one of the folders were focused.

OP's take on this. The users who now complain got used to the bug and considered it a feature. Don't try to reinvent the UX wheel. The feature you need was already there. After you right-clicked or selected something you can still right-click the background in between to focus their parent or you can click the background to unselect any sub-folder. It is a bit more complicated in "Details View Mode" (Ctrl+3). I noticed that there the beckground is in the left margin or under the end of the list.
Comment 19 NecRaul 2025-10-17 05:38:13 UTC
(In reply to René from comment #18)
> OP's take on this. The users who now complain got used to the bug and
> considered it a feature. Don't try to reinvent the UX wheel. The feature you
> need was already there. After you right-clicked or selected something you
> can still right-click the background in between to focus their parent or you
> can click the background to unselect any sub-folder. It is a bit more
> complicated in "Details View Mode" (Ctrl+3). I noticed that there the
> beckground is in the left margin or under the end of the list.
I asked for a toggle that would allow the previous behavior to remain possible, and the response I got instead suggested adding a new feature/button/command for that old behavior. Your argument feels strange to me, because I just upgraded to 25.08.2 to test it, and the UX wheel you’re talking about is still inconsistent and wrong. I can copy or cut a file, select a folder, try to paste and it won’t paste into the selected folder. I can press F10 > Create New > Folder and it will create it in the current directory, not the selected one. You know why? Because paste (just like create) has always been meant to work for the CWD, not the selected folder. If anything, I'd say the behavior you were expecting seems like a bug rather than a feature but I digress. I use my keyboard and not my mouse, so even in Details view mode it's easy for me to unselect whatever is selected by pressing Escape and making a new folder in CWD with a shortcut, that isn't the argument I'm making however. Fact of the matter is, this new fix hinders me from working at the speed which I'm used to. As I mentioned earlier, I am for making this behavior optional or as Meven suggested, making a new button entirely. I want to be able to create a folder in the current directory, regardless of whether something is selected or not using a keyboard shortcut.
Comment 20 René 2025-10-17 09:14:23 UTC
(In reply to NecRaul from comment #19)
> I asked for a toggle that would allow the previous behavior to remain
> possible, and the response I got instead suggested adding a new
> feature/button/command for that old behavior. Your argument feels strange to
> me, because I just upgraded to 25.08.2 to test it, and the UX wheel you’re
> talking about is still inconsistent and wrong.
Yes, you are right, I just tried 25.08.2 creates in the correct context when you use Ctrl+Alt+N. However F10 opens the context menu and still ignores the context when you navigate to Create > New Folder with the keyboard arrows. So it is half fixed. Hereby I changed the status accordingly.