Cursor moves to left or selects all text when renaming files in windows explorer. Windows 11

Anonymous
2022-02-01T15:12:11+00:00

Hi,

I am struggling with a new issue in File Explorer. I have recently updated to Windows 11, but I think this issue has started since this version update.

When I try to rename a file or folder in Windows file explorer, I am unable to place my cursor at a particular point in the filename - eg to insert some letters or numbers.

Instead, wherever I place my cursor, within a second, the whole file name has been selected, which means I start typing a new filename from scratch. This is different to how it has previously behaved, and very annoying.

A related issue - when I am renaming a file saving a file from within a program, a slightly different issue occurs. I put my cursor at the end of a filename, eg,to add a new version number to the filename, but the cursor jumps to the left - to the start of the filename.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-23T09:44:37+00:00

    I found if I paused the OneDrive sync I could rename the folder and then continue syncing - not ideal to have to do it in the first place, but a way around the problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-10-17T04:28:18+00:00

    This actually happens on Win10 also, definitely something to do with OneDrive syncing. It's still a bit unclear but it seems to me that if any file syncing is happening (not necessarily in the same folder either) while your renaming a file, it will usually mess up the selection. So if I copy a file, wait for it to sync and nothing else is happening either, the renaming usually works fine.

    Just one example of a small but annoying thing that messes up your workflow...

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-11-24T05:11:59+00:00

    I have this same issue, it is happening on OneDrive and Sync, it happens not only on file explorer per se but when saving through cloud folders using an app for e.g. saving through Adobe to my Cloud Folders, it keeps on preventing me from inserting (the cursor will reset to left and/or will select the whole text instead)

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-08-02T21:46:26+00:00

    Same problem here. My "workaround" is enter rename mode, click somewhere, wait a moment, watch the whole filename get selected, then finish my rename. Huge hassle. I have tested multiple times between folders in and out of OneDrive's purview and this only happens to me with OneDrive.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-05-30T10:43:02+00:00

    Yeah it's OneDrive for sure. These issues only started when I moved accross to it. It's also absolutely terrible atactually syncing files between computers. In a lot of cases, I have to put a dummy file into a folder for it to realise that someone else has put multiple files in. I create the dummy file, all of a sudden it updates correctly.

    I'm moving back to DropBox.

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