ctrl doesn't work when used in conjunction with shift click for multiple file selection

[Dennis Ta]

Ctrl doesn't perform it's expected role of allowing multiple file selection to occur when used in conjunction with the shift key.

For example, when selecting files A, B, C, D, E:

If I select files A thru C using: click A, shift+click C, continuing to hold ctrl+click E should allow me to select the rest of the files, however this is not the case.

Rather it will only select E, so that A, B, C, E are selected in total.

More self-experimentation will show that selection with ctrl+shift result illogical file selection.

This is a standard feature in almost every OS I have run across, and I'm not sure if it's just not implemented or if there are key conflicts that cause this not to occur, but a default install of ubuntu should have this enabled.

[MyR (myr-jedi)]

i click a, hold shift and click c ... a b c are selected
i release shift
i hold shift again and click e ... a b c d e are selected.

is this what you were trying to accomplish?

[Dennis Ta (taofd)]

Sorry What I gave was a little rudimentry...

The issue becomes more apparent when more files are being selected

I'll attach a screenshot so that it becomes more clear.

Try to recreate the following scenario found in the attachment screenshot.

If in windows (or any other desktop environment / OS) I would select logos -> case oakland university, then ctrl+select case_ubuntu locatrix_v1.pdf, then ctrl+select fables_01_aesop.spx, then ctrl+shift+select oo-about-these-files.odt (this would select everything in between), then ctrl+select oo-derivatives.doc, then ctrl+shift+select oo-presenting-ubuntu.odp.

currently in nautilus, it doesn't work this way, as once you have selected file(s), you cannot reselect many files using shift without losing your current selection, or if you use ctrl+shift which most users would attempt to do, you may only select one file at a time.

I hope this makes it easier to understand... I'm not very sure on the terminology / a better way to explain, and am trying to do the best I can. Please DO point out better ways to explain it / any questions you have.

[MyR (myr-jedi)]

you're right. nautilus can't do that.

[MyR (myr-jedi)]

you can however hold control and use your mouse to "marquee select". that is, hold your mouse down and drag a selection rectangle over your desired files (multiple groups of them).
this is useful to some extent.

[Dennis Ta (taofd)]

that is impossible to do with list view though, and it is sometimes hard to select "white space" and not select icons the easiest and most time efficient way is the conventional way of ctrl+shift selecting

but yeah, thats what I use in the meantime, its such a hassle though

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

thank you for your bug report, the description is not really clear though, you basically want a new shift+click use not clearing the selection, right?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the issue described seems similar to http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=524133

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

and that's a duplicate, see bug #205543

[Dennis Ta (taofd)]

ah bug #205543 is exactly it, thank you, I'm glad its been sent upstream to gnome... the problems been there for as long as I've ever used gnome.