File Manager: Showing "No files" while access to existing files is denied is misleading.

[Matthew Exon]

Open File Manager. Down the left-hand side under "Places" it shows many folder icons and at the bottom a hard disk icon. Tap on the hard disk icon. At the top it now reads "Device / home / phablet" and "Device" is highlighted in white. In the main panel it shows "No files". If I tap the options icon and select "Show Hidden Files", it still shows "No files".

This is presumably meant to represent the root directory of the phone yes? Then it should show what's there. What it definitely should not show is "No files", because that is telling me that there are no files on my device at all, and this is clearly not true.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

The security policy forbid access to the filesystem outside of the home directory of user 'phablet'. To access these files you have to tap on the top right menu in the filemanager, and select 'unlock access' then type your passcode.

I'm closing this report because it is not a bug. Don't hesitate to file any issue you may find.

[Matthew Exon (ubuntubugs-mexon)]

I suspected that it would be a policy thing. My complaint is that it is not at all obvious. It is misleading to show "No files" if what it means is "there are files but I can't show them to you".

So, it's great that there's a switch to show the files. Instead of saying "No files" it should say "Please select 'unlock access' in the options to view files in this folder" or something along those lines. Ideally with an arrow pointing to the correct menu.

Is it OK to reopen this bug or do you want me to submit a new one?

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks, it makes sense. Set as wishlist against the filemanager to make it more obvious.