Feature: Add separate open with single click settings for files and folders

[emvaized]

What feature or improvement do you think would benefit Files?

It would be great to have such mouse behavior mod, which will open folders by single click, and files by double click.
This way user could benefit from fast folder navigation, but still make use of the Preview pane to quickly preview images and documents.

Requirements

This proposal will provide an additional mouse behavior option in settings, which will serve as a middle ground between Single click and Double click open behavior

Files Version

3.9.1.0

Windows Version

11 23H2 (22631.4602)

Comments

No response

[Josh65-2201]

Thanks for the feedback

[yaira2]

Have you tried using the arrow keys for selecting files without opening them?

[emvaized]

Have you tried using the arrow keys for selecting files without opening them?

Yes. But I found It not handy for folders with dozens of items, especially when you need to select a file in the middle of the list.

Another possible suggestion could be to use the checkbox in the top left corner, but then you have to reset the selection each time, otherwise you will get 2 files selected, and preview and details for the last selected file will not appear on the Info pane.

[yaira2]

There is also an option to select files when hovering over them.

[emvaized]

There is also an option to select files when hovering over them.

Yes, also Ctrl + click is available.

But as I mentioned, all these serve a different purpose and add the file to the current selection rather than what single click does in the "Double click" mode (clear the current selection and select only the clicked item)

[yaira2]

Selecting via hover will clear the previously selected item.

[emvaized]

Selecting via hover will clear the previously selected item.

Oh, I see now! Thanks, I will try to use it this way, but probably there will be too much mistake selections

[yaira2]

Keep us updated.

[emvaized]

I tried this behavior, and there were little to no mistake selections due to the present delay on hover. However, the same delay adds an unwanted friction whenever I intentially hover the element to highlight it, which brings overall frustration when using the app intensively.

Therefore, I would very much prefer having the requested option instead (open folders with double click, files with single click), which fits my use behavior perfectly, and matches the already available behavior in Columns view — but could be useful with other view modes as well.

[yaira2]

Thank you for sharing your feedback. As you noted, we already have similar behavior in the Columns View (although for different reasons). If we see more interest, it should be pretty straightforward to allow users to set this for other layouts as well.