Save File dialog standard behavior - Annoying - You think you enter file name, but you're not [SOLVED]

[gugge]

Linux Mint Cinnamon newbee here:

So I'm using Save File dialog and I think that I'm entering the file name but instead I'm apparently searching for files starting with the characters I enter.

I guess it might be me coming from the Windows world, but I have a hard time getting used to this.

I keep on doing this. Without thinking I'm entering the whole file name only to realize that I've been entering the name in the wrong text field.

So, my newbee question is this:

Is this behaviour of the save file dialog connected to the default file manager Nemo or is it the same regardless of file manager?

I'm not so familiar with what's running under the hood of Cinnamon/Mint but is it connected with some gui-development toolkit like GTK ?

Or is this behaviour of the save file dialog something you just have to get used to if you're using Cinnamon or Mint or even any Ubuntu based distro or I don't know how deep it goes?

[smurphos]

The save as dialogs in application are not provided by the File manager but by the toolkit the app is built with (QT, GTK2, GTK3 etc.) or in some cases modified by the app itself.

As far as I can tell this tends to happen if you save as and then click an alternative directory in the side-bar and then start typing. The issue is basically that the file name entry no longer has focus as you've clicked elsewhere. The file name entry box is no longer highlighted, but the text remains highlighted so it's not as visually obvious to the user as it should be that the entry no longer has focus. I'd consider the text remaining highlighted a bug - this is where it should be reported - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk

As to the behaviour itself (which I understand differs from windows) I suspect the GTK devs will argue that it's as designed.

[Moonstone Man]

The save as dialogs in application are not provided by the File manager but by the toolkit the app is built with (QT, GTK2, GTK3 etc.) or in some cases modified by the app itself.

As far as I can tell this tends to happen if you save as and then click an alternative directory in the side-bar and then start typing.

It happens if you backspace the default file name and start typing, however it appears to be a 'wannabe' feature rather than odd behaviour. The file name field is doing two things in that situation. First, of course, it's capturing the file name as it's typed. Second, it's looking up the name as it's typed to see if it matches the name of a sub-directory below the current directory. If one or more matches are found then the matches are displayed below the file name input field as a drop-down list. This is what the OP seems to be annoyed by. This 'wannabe' feature makes it easy to change the path if one is intending to save the file in a sub-directory. I say 'wannabe' feature because it's redundant for users who prefer to visualise the directory structure since the dialog includes the directory structure, which can just be double-clicked.

You can test this by replacing the name in a save as dialog with the root slash. Root's sub-directories, all of them, are listed.

I suppose it's useful for high-speed typist linux gurus because in some rare situations it saves moving the mouse and selecting sub-directories; it's a sub-directory path autocomplete. I can see why it would be a problem for newcommers but, while it gives me the heebie-jeebies, it's not something that one can't get used to. I would put it down as just something the OP is going to have to get used to. Like it or not, this is not Windows, and the irritation is so minor.

[gugge]

Yes smurphos.

You described the problem perfectly.

Here's an example:

If I right click on this very page in Firefox and pick the option "Save Page as..." the "Save as"-dialog pops up.

A default file name is selected/highlighted in the name-textfield at the top of the dialog window.

If I don't want to save the page in the default folder I click on another folder in the column to the left with standard locations, for example in the root of my home directory.

Now the filename IS STILL HIGHLIGHTED and LOOKS selected but when I start to type on the keyboard the typed characters appears in another place - in a special search text field that was completely invisible before I started typing.

I can't rule out that it's the fault of my Cinnamon color theme, but for me, the highlighted filename in the file name text field looks EXACTLY the same when the text field is selected as when it's ("secretly") not selected.

I guess it'll take some time to get used to. My brain, on autopilot, sees the highlighted text and believes that I can start replacing the highlighted characters by typing on the keyboard, but I fail every time.

[smurphos]

I can't rule out that it's the fault of my Cinnamon color theme, but for me, the highlighted filename in the file name text field looks EXACTLY the same when the text field is selected as when it's ("secretly") not selected.

I double checked the behaviour with the default GTK theme (Adwaita) both in Mint and in current Ubuntu 20.04 and it's the same so it's not a theme issue per se. Basically when the text entry has focus both the default filename and the text entry border is highlighted with the themes selected color. When you click elsewhere the entry box border reverts to the non-selected state but the text doesn't.

[smurphos]

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/2680

[cliffcoggin]

I'm relieved I am not the only one to notice this quirk, which caught me out every time for six months or more. I assumed I was doing something wrong.

[gugge]

Thank you smurphos, for clarifying this issue to be a bug in GTK and for filing an issue to the GTK developers.

I fully understand the feature in the GTK save dialog of being able to type characters to filter the content of a folder to look for certain file names, but having the file name still highlighted in the file name text field makes it very confusing.

[AndyMH]

I'm relieved I am not the only one to notice this quirk, which caught me out every time for six months or more. I assumed I was doing something wrong.

Me too. You get the same behaviour in xed, which I find irritating, as it nearly always catches me out.

[Schultz]

This bug has "bugged" me from day one with Linux. The workaround, as I think somebody mentioned above, and here also, is to first type your file name, then change where you want it saved.