I know this is 2025 and its been almost 4 years after your reply. But this auto re-selection was occured this morning in my win11 and this solution just work fine without uninstalling anything!! Thanks !!
Re: Renaming files: annoying automatic re-selection of entire filename in Windows 8
So I think I've found a workaround that doesn't require a third party program. I simply can't reply to the original thread because it's closed, but I think my two cents may help some people since I'm having this problem on Windows 10 nearly seven years later.
It seems that, because I'm trying to rename something on dropbox, that there's a lag between me choosing to rename the file and dropbox recognizing that I'm trying to rename a file. At first, I would wait a few seconds, hit "Home" or the left arrow key, and then work on renaming the file hoping it doesn't happen again, which sometimes it does.
It seems though, that if I hit backspace (when the filename is still initially selected), ctrl+z (to undo deleting the file name), and then home (to get back to the beginning of the file name), I can use the arrow keys to move to the portion I need to rename unmolested, almost like it forces dropbox to recognize that a file is being renamed.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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Anonymous
2025-04-12T02:20:15+00:00 -
Anonymous
2024-01-17T16:20:09+00:00 THANK YOU! Still an issue for posterity here, in 2024. And as if I'd have knowingly used WMA ...
And to Microsoft, for the 305,038th time: #$*&^!@ you. You greed, lazy, empirical, unchecked by FTC/DOJ *&^%$#$--^%$#ers have had it way too easy for way too long. So looking forward to you becoming our unelected overlords ...
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Anonymous
2023-12-10T21:31:21+00:00 OMG 3 years since report and nothing done.
Latest version of windows 11 still have this bug.
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Anonymous
2022-04-02T14:45:48+00:00 Hi, wondering if this might help you
I set up a new desktop recently and had sporadic recurrence of the issue. I found a thread in which the problem was (also) linked to automatic refresh of windows explorer, which was linked to a setting in Themes.
This is the relevant advice:
"disabl[e] automatically pick an accent color from my background option from personalization setting."
This is the thread: https://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10/371637-how-solve-issue-auto-refresh-file-explorer-windows-10-a.html
The re-selection issue is almost but not entirely gone. I believe there are some forced refreshes from the multiple cloud-share platforms I use that occasionally cause the problem to recur--but it's much less intrusive.
Hope this helps
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Anonymous
2021-11-22T21:44:43+00:00 This Really Works. Worked for me. Thanks so much.
It works 90% of the time.
Still auto-selects randomly, but at least it's very rear now.
I can't believe that even on Windows 11, years later, that the issue is still present when using OneDrive.
So annoying when all you do is work all day with files you need to rename often, and you have to deal with this issue.
I can't imagine I saved myself a Windows Re-Installation Headache by doing a quick Google search on this issue.
I have reinstalled Windows 10 twice previously just to fix this issue, as it seemed to start all of a sudden after using Windows for a few months.
Thanks again for the help