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
    2023-11-29T11:41:02+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.

    I just try and beat it speed wise using F2 and usually left then spacebar. Laughable that Microsoft haven't been able to fix it yet.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-29T11:52:30+00:00

    Realistically it's the sort of thing that most people won't report, but it just makes Micro$oft look worse and worse the more small things like this they let slip through the net. Much like Windows 11, 8/8.1, Vista and ME, when Microsoft has its B-Team on the field, they produce some real trash. I mean this is insanity, it's a Microsoft product on a Microsoft platform.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-30T20:00:26+00:00

    This creates inefficiencies that add up and make people frustrated with what should be a simple task. MS has not fixed this or any of the other issues that I've had since they introduced Teams and forced everyone to use OneDrive. The complete lack of a response is exhausting.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-02-03T01:45:54+00:00

    not an ideal solution but at least I am not breaking keyboards out of frustration. :-)

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-02-06T22:38:26+00:00

    This issue was submitted using the Microsoft Feedback Hub (https://aka.ms/AAozgip).  The MS Engineer response was amazingly lame, essentially "Don't try to rename files while OneDrive is syncing. Wait for the OneDrive tray icon to change to some status which indicates sync'ing is done."

    I added a comment to that effect. If the comment doesn't get a response, I'll enter a new issue.

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