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
    2023-10-22T05:52:24+00:00

    Seems that the Microsoft won't fix this anymore. I'm working around this issue by renaming the files within Filezilla instead of the File Explorer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T19:32:25+00:00

    Had the same problem: cursor jumping in Explorer when changing names of local replication files from oneDrive / Sharepoint. Names of files and directories were changed, sometimes when renaming pdf files - new directories were created from the entries, etc. I have tried many things, including deleting all local files and rebuilding them on a newly installed hard drive - no success!

    My solution ? : In addition to oneDrive /Sharepoint, a version of dropbox was also installed on this computer. I have deinstalled this dropbox version and since then it seems to have stopped

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T19:39:09+00:00

    It has nothing to do with Dropbox

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-29T10:49:36+00:00

    Hi, I agree this is a problem, but there is one fix (perhaps you are already aware of this).

    If you have a few files to rename, and you plan to rename files manually anyway, then please right-click the file and go to Properties. Do the renaming from within the Properties dialog box.

    If you have multiple files to rename, then you might probably have to use PowerShell (if there is a pattern to your renaming) or some other method.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-11-29T11:32:47+00:00

    Yeah that works, it's ridiculous that M$ STILL haven't fixed this though. I now put 'cmd' in the path bar and use the 'ren' command. Tab to auto-fill the original name.

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