Windows filename suddenly gets selected again while renaming it

Question

I am finding, when I try to rename a file on Windows 7, I typically select the file I want to rename, hit F2 (rename) and type the new name.

I've been getting this weird bug that the file name gets selected again, sometimes right in the middle of me typing. I can sit there and watch it reselect the entire filename every second or so as if someone is invisibly hitting Ctrl + A while typing. I have tried making sure that my keys aren't being pressed and also have even gotten a new keyboard, and this problem still consists.

This is on a desktop machine, not a laptop, so there's no issue with a trackpad.

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 01 '20 at 15:55

Hello from the year 2020.

I found out that it is a Google Drive sync issue (the product was renamed to “Backup and Sync from Google” meanwhile).

You can test it yourself:

Click on the Google Drive icon (in the system tray), hit the tree dots and select "Pause".
Go to Windows Explorer and rename the files.

You will see that the file renaming bug is not happening anymore.

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '21 at 16:33

I have ran into this today, its definitely caused by OneDrive for me. Accepted "answer" (turn off Media Features) from microsoft did not helped.

But simply existing OneDrive fixed it.

So was able to rename the folders I wanted, and then started OneDrive again to sync.

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 01 '20 at 19:01

I've had this problem using a product called Syncplicity, while using OneDrive, and Google Drive.

This killed me doing expense reports, because I'd try to rename 100 receipt images, and like you said while typing, or whenever the text cursor is in the home position or end position.

At first, i made the problem go away by disabling all the file sync tools, which worked, but was annoying too.

The problem seemed to be that the filesystem watcher was triggering something weird.

And then, i disabled i just the icon badging by Syncplicity.

It seemed that there was some condition where when setting the icon badge, it causes this selection thing to happen.

BTW, it seemed like performance improved a lot. Apparently, the badge update was happening even when watched files were not changing.

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 25 '11 at 01:50

3

It sounds like you're using a laptop and accidentally touching the touchpad. Try disabling it. Or if you have the feature, set it to ignore spurious activity.

answered Jan 25 '11 at 01:50

Dennis Williamson

111,445

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 29 '14 at 14:30

3

I found that stopping Carbonite solved the problem, for me. It seems that however they hook into Windows Explorer was causing the whole filename to be re-selected shortly after starting to rename a file.

answered Dec 29 '14 at 14:30

wersimmon

982

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 08 '12 at 15:00

I often resorted to copying to desktop, renaming and then copying back to network. If I access files through Windows 7 'Library' before accessing the server directly (through 'network' in explorer), the problem occurs.

Access the share on the server first and then it doesn't matter how you access the file – rename works fine.

I also discovered if I didn't access the server first, I got "RPC failed" when trying to access the server after using Library (which continued to let me access the server – perverse!).

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 05 '20 at 08:36

0

Try to change the default View to Details or List-View. Sometimes the thumbnails make problems like this.

answered Feb 05 '20 at 08:36

Kumar Yong

117

Windows filename suddenly gets selected again while renaming it

7 Answers7