Pushing backspace deletes links in places accidently

[Tobias Strauß]

Binary package hint: nautilus

Pushing backspace deletes links in places and navigates to top folder. Often i don't recognize the focus and delete the references. Its more an annoyance, but why exists a short cut for delete the links?
If i move into an folder via double click upon an link, the focus should switch to the target too.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description didn't include enough information. You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" <http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html>. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem.

 We have instructions on debugging some types of problems. <http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures> Thanks!

[Tobias Strauß (tocomo)]

how usefull is it to say 'description didn't include enough information'? Please tell me what kind of information you miss instead of pasting standard text snippets.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Did you read the links in the previous comment? Bug reports are supposed to be detailled description to allow maintainer to fix issue, your bug lacks basic details like the version of Ubuntu you are using. The description is also not clear. Backspace is the key to delete, that's not specific to links. Could you describe easy steps to trigger the bug (how you create the link, where you click, what key you press, what happens, what you expect, etc)

[Tobias Strauß (tocomo)]

OK: affected ubuntu releases: gutsy, feisty , possible more

you are right - there are some details worth to mention ...

Open nautilus in browsing mode and drag any folder (but not desktop or $home) to the places area. Switch the view mode to 'list view'. Then click two times at the new link. The content will get visible in the right window. Click now into the content area (but don't select an entry). Pushing backspace to navigate to the parent directory does not work, the focus is still at the link in places, instead the link get deleted.

Switch the view mode to 'icon view' - and you will get the expected behaviour.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Confirmed, minor upstream issue

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the behaviour is not really a bug. what change would you suggest? displaying a warning before deleting the shortcut? changing the focus when clicking on the empty area in the list?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to 'New'. Thanks again!

[Lachlan Stuart (binarysplit)]

This bug also affects me. It is a problem in Intrepid.
This isn't an "unstable" bug, it is actually a usability flaw because it results in a user interaction (click link to navigate, then press backspace intending to go up a directory) leading to an unintuitive result (deleting the Places bookmark).

Steps to reproduce:
1) Open a Nautilus File Browser window from a standard install of Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition. Ensure the Side Pane is showing(use F9 or View->Side Pane) and it is set to show Places in the Side Pane's drop-down. Also ensure that you have some bookmarks. These should show in the lower section of the Places panel.
2) Click on one of your bookmarks in the Places bar
3) Press backspace. At this point, the bookmark will be deleted, however the expected action would be that the main pane(file browser) would navigate up a directory.

I suggest 2 possible fixes:
1) Return the focus to the file browser pane after any mouse-based interaction with any of the Places applet. This means that one can quickly change between clicking in the Places pane and using keyboard based navigation in the main window. I specify "mouse-based interaction" as it should still be possible to tab to the side pane and interact with it with the keyboard. IMO, this is the best solution as it both simplifies interaction (reducing cognitive load by removing the "focus is in the places pane" hidden state) and optimizes it (reducing need to return to the file-browser pane).
2) Remove the Backspace keyboard shortcut for deleting entries in the Places panel and allow the rest of the window to handle it, similar to how the Tree and History panels handle backspace keystrokes. I can't see why this shortcut is even in the Places pane's code when it isn't used anywhere else in Nautilus.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

could you open the bug on bugzilla.gnome.org where the people writting the software will read it?

[Lachlan Stuart (binarysplit)]

Moved to: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=559253

[KhaaL (khaal)]

this bug is still alive in jaunty and nautilus 2.26.2

[shazzer (shazmcwaters)]

I dont know if you consider this a bug but I will explain it anyway. Im running nautilus 2.26.2. Just installed easy peasy on my eepc1000h. Since restarting im missing any panels. In fact have absolutely no menus just a desktop with my folders. I can open the folders and open for example a document in open office etc.. but cant select any programs from a menu as menu doesnt exist!

The other wierd thing is that when I open something for example in office or even a window to the home folder, I dont have any close buttons or minimize buttons and the window wont drag anywhwere else?

Any help on this subject much appreciated as its driving me insane and I cant access any of my programs this way. Thanks

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Upstream bug has been marked as duplicate of bug https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=340934

[Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu)]

For info, I just attached a patch upstream.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

the bug is fixed in nautilus 2.30 thanks to Marcus

[Jānis Kangarooo (kangarooo)]

Still exists in 10.04 LTS
Nautilus 2.30.1

[Jānis Kangarooo (kangarooo)]

Still exists in 10.04 LTS Netbook Remix
Nautilus 2.30.1