XYplorer Beta Club

Since upgrading to Win 11 a month ago I am having recurrent issues with focus failures of varying kinds. The most irksome one is that I move a file in or out of a folder and the action is not shown until I refresh it, typically by clicking on an adjacent folder then come back, but doing some other file operation in the same folder also causes a refresh to occur. This was not previously an issue. Looking at a file in a list when you know you just shift-dragged it to another folder to move it is quite distracting as you are not sure if there was a mis-click, so check the other folder and it is there, and come back to the original one and it is now gone. Easily replicable my end.

Another manifestation is I go to rename a file and it won't let me do it until I re-click on the folder in the tree, then it can 'see' I am really there and lets me do it. This happens when I have just renamed another file and try to jump straight to the next one, then find I need to re-click the folder name as the slow-click to edit the name refuses to kick in. It happens often, but I just tried to replicate it and it didn't happen, was there a recent fix for this?

If I clumsily try to rename a file while it is still open (eg .pdf's I downloaded), I get the "in Use" pop-up and select Cancel, but the renaming entry keeps focus and doesn't cancel, requiring an Esc to get out of it. If I close the pdf and hit Try Again, that works. So it is just the Cancel option that fails to actually cancel the renaming. Easily replicable.

These are all such blatant flaws I am presuming this me, and it is a settings issue in Win 11 I need to find, rather than a bug?

Edit: I tried turning on Custom Move, to deal with the Win 11 missing action dialogue box mentioned elsewhere, and the behaviour remains identical. If I shift drag a file and drop it on another tab, the Custom dialogue box pops up, the task finishes and the file is still sitting there. Press F5, or go to another folder and back, and the file listing then vanishes.

Edit 2: Auto-refresh had turned itself off, why is that even a thing??? Certainly not a conscious choice by me in the upgrade process. So this fixed the ghosting issue, and I am guessing will have cleared the other items up too, we shall see...

The focus issue remains, but I am struggling to reliably replicate it. I just renamed a .pdf file and went to rename another, but it wouldn't do it until I re-clicked on the folder in the tree, then it renamed just fine. So I set about trying to figure out how to replicate the issue, managed to do that within a few short clicks, but danged if it would do it again! I am testing if it happens after going to another folder (to check best naming convention / whatever) and it seems there could be a link as then the second file sometimes doesn't rename without a refocus click, but then it does, go figure!

There is nothing about the 'unfocussed' file attempted to be renamed that gives away its condition. It is not a lighter shade or something like that, just stubbornly refuses to be renamed, be it by slow clicking or right click and Rename. Until one tries clicking on the folder it is in, gifting it focus that it never should have lost, and all good.

I am using detail view and these are all .pdf's, with Preview on. I use an old version of Acrobat (11.0.09), but am pretty sure this issue is not limited to .pdf's.

The other issue reported also remains, being that Cancel doesn't mean Cancel, without an Esc added. That is a clear bug. In Windows Explorer, Cancel actually does that, completely, with no Esc needed.

Which Cancel are you talking about?

admin wrote: ↑16 Jun 2025 09:11 Which Cancel are you talking about?

The Cancel option on the rename dialogue that pops up if try to rename an already opened document.

Procedure:
1) open a doc by double clicking in XY, doesn't matter what doc.
2) in place where just opened it from, slow-click and rename it
3) observe XY pop-up with Try Again and Cancel options
4) hit Cancel
5) see popup close
6) click some other file in tree
7) get same Try Again and Close popup. This is the evidence that Cancel does not mean Cancel. In WE, it does.

Obviously, if close doc and hit Try Again, it works.

Oh crap, Cancel doesn't even work if you close the doc, it goes ahead with the rename anyway, but at least it doesn't stay locked to the active file name field!

So, in effect, there seems to be no situation where the Cancel in that pop-up actually does Cancel...

6) click some other file in tree

At this point your changed name is still in the box, and clicking somewhere else means to close the box triggering a rename. You have to press ESC again to get out of the box without a triggering a rename.

I know that in File Explorer the first ESC completely steps out of the renaming, but XY's way is better IMO since it does not throw away your work but lets you think again, gives you a chance to stop whatever is locking the file.

We are talking about different things. You are referring to closing the document and hitting Try Again, to preserve the work. I am saying Cancel does not have that effect, whether the open doc was closed or not. And it is an un-needed nuisance, given control of the change is not lost if you just shut the doc. If there was some benefit to a Pause button, maybe add that?

Yes, we may be talking about different things. Can you show a screenshot of your situation?

OK, now I see where the communication impasse is. It is true that WE used to lose the renaming work, a very frustrating aspect of WE! I don't know when they fixed that, be it the move to Win 11 or subsequent, but they did. So now it is a 'clean' experience with WE. If you rename an open doc it pops up the Cancel or Try again options. If you close it and try again, it completes fine, as does XY.

If you realise this is the wrong file you were trying to rename, in WE you hit Cancel, regardless of whether you shut the open doc or not, and it Cancels, ready for your next action. In XY, again regardless of whether you close the open doc or not, Cancel has no effect, and a follow up Esc is required to create that outcome. Or an Enter to secure the renaming that you just tried to Cancel out of. The XY way of preserving the attempted rename by neutering the Cancel button is redundant.

I can't see how any screen shot of the pop-up can increase the comprehension of the explanation; the pop-up itself is uncontroversial, only the actions from it .

Well, I think it's fine how XY handles it.

OK, so the ineffectual Cancel button is, apparently, staying ineffectual where others would soar. Let's see how we go with the focus issue. Finally remembered how to duplicate; it is easy and repetitive.

Have VLC open, or pretty well anything will do, which Excel would be common for me. In XY are some movies to convert from .mkv. In VLC, realise want to rename the files before convert so directly slow click on the file name and no response. The only way to do this rename is to click on the folder name in the tree (just once), then slow-click works. It will let me hop around various files and appear to get focus for each one (by it going dark grey), but until I click on the folder name in the tree, no dice.

Now I see why this is a regular source of frustration, but I just never twigged it was the direct jump to XY that triggers it as coming to XY NOT via the tree, and tough luck, gotta use the tree as the file may be highlighted, but not focussed in a controlable way. Perhaps not the desired way of operating? Thank you.

TLDR.

Come to the point.

That was pretty offensive.

The point is that clicking direct on an XY filename from another app will highlight the name but not allow to change it, even moving to other files, also highlight but don't rename, until click on parent folder name in the tree. For more context, read previous post.

Yes, sorry, that was a bit rude.

But still not sure what you mean. Does anybody understand?

Just went to do a vid of this and no dice. So there is another factor that commonly aligns to produce this irksome behaviour, but I still don't know what it is.

I kid you not, I can change file selection and trying to right click Rename, or slow click rename highlights the selected file just fine, gets no editable field, until I go click on the folder name in the tree.

What I described in my TLDR post was absolutely repeatable, across closing / opening and other apps. I have since rebooted the PC and not a problem now. WGBTYOT.