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One of the reasons why I sometimes envy Windows users is that under Windows, most applications use the native file chooser, which is quite usable.

Under Linux, this depends on the toolkit. For Qt/KDE programs, I get something reasonable with a user interface I understand. However, for GTK programs (e. g. Thunderbird), I get this abomination:

GTK file chooser example

There are two things that make it an absolute pain for me to use:

  • The address line at the top is not editable. So I cannot quickly type or paste a path like in other file choosers. Sometimes with these breadcrumb-style navigation bars, you can click in the empty area of the line to get a simple text input instead, but this doesn't work here. Also, there's no context menu if I right click anywhere.
  • If I just type some letters, I expect to jump to the first file in the current view that starts with these letters. The GTK dialog instead thinks it has to do a recursive search for the typed text. For me, this usually takes too long and it's also not helpful in many situations.

I would like to know there is some trick to using this dialog that I'm not aware of. My usual use case is that I already know the full path and usually have it available for copy & pasting in an open terminal window.

Things that I'm not looking for:

  • I know that you can add favorites to the left navigation bar, but to me that's just more work in managing them.
  • I know that many programs allow you to specify a file to edit/open on the command line. I already do that whenever possible.
  • Navigate file easily in Linux GUI Apps? is too generic and the GTK file chooser shown in one of the answers seems to be different from what I get.
wrtlprnft
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    To edit the address bar you can use Ctrl-L, is that enough? – Munzir Taha Feb 08 '20 at 10:19
  • @MunzirTaha: That's amazing and exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Care to make it an answer? – wrtlprnft Feb 08 '20 at 15:49
  • Pleased to see this solved your issue. I also added more shortcuts to the answer. – Munzir Taha Feb 08 '20 at 20:06
  • Pleases don't forget to accept the answer since it resolved your question. – MountainX Feb 08 '20 at 20:29
  • You say you envy windows and then complain about recursive search which windows has and GTK file chooser also has by default (until now because people like you complained). If you don't want recursive search, you can use the / key or press CTRL+L. I'm beginning to think you all are microsoft trolls trying to make linux less functional by complaining about basic modern features so people will consider windows a more functional and modern alternative. – mchid Oct 22 '22 at 17:06
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    @mchid I complain because they're all different and because until knowing the shortcuts from the accepted answer, I couldn't figure out how to use it efficiently. Also note that my experience with having to use MS Windows in any real way is probably pretty outdated by now. At least in version 10, it still seems that both features I consider essential work: You can click on an empty part of the address to type (or paste) an address, and when the main file list widget thingy has focus, you can type a letter to jump to a matching file. It also has a search bar, which I can ignore. – wrtlprnft Oct 23 '22 at 18:14
  • @wrtlprnft idk, windows frustrates the heck out of me which is why I don't use it. If you like windows better, use that instead and stop pushing to make linux more like windows I guess is what I'm trying to say. No offense and not to be rude but it just really doesn't make sense to me. Also, if I'm not mistaken, CTRL+V twice should paste the path for you. I guess it just seems rude to approach questions with "something else is better and I want that instead" instead of "hey, how can I do this" because 99% of the time, there is a way to do what you want to do without making things different. – mchid Oct 24 '22 at 07:17
  • @wrtlprnft Also, to help. The path to files in the current directory is ./ so if you type ./ before you start typing the filename, it jumps to the file instead of doing a recursive search. Again, no offense. Hope this helps. – mchid Oct 24 '22 at 07:23
  • @wrtlprnft I think it's an example of an XY problem. Sorry to be rude about it. – mchid Oct 24 '22 at 07:32
  • @mchid I definitely think this question (or myself) is not the thing to be mad about when the GTK/Gnome people make a change you don't like. I had absolutely no hope to influence how the file chooser may look in the future, and I don't think this question got anywhere near enough attention to do so. More than two years ago, I was happy with the answer, and maybe in the mean time this Q/A has helped someone else as well. Making it more obvious how to edit the location bar or moving the search feature to an explicit input would still be a great idea, but oh well. – wrtlprnft Oct 24 '22 at 18:24

1 Answers1

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There are known shortcuts to edit the location bar: Ctrl+L, /, ., ~.

Munzir Taha
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