Using the context menu in Files/Nautilus

FWIW, it seems that there really wasn’t any GTK issue opened upstream for that (or I failed to find it), so I made one right now: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/5115

Maybe I’m mixing different issues, but https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/3279 is moved from GTK to mutter, where it doesn’t get a lot of attention. Kai Hiller and you seem to disagree, whether or not this is related, but “Cannot Open Popovers With Touch-Only Input” sounds very related to me.

In https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/Phosh/phoc/-/issues/220 I asked what the actual GTK bug is, but no answer.

So, which bug is really responsible for the lack of support for context menus in nautilus and others? Are we waiting for the fix to a bug that was never filed? If I cannot help, at least I’d like to watch if there’s any activity.

We had a mid-air collision here, thanks for the link to the new bug.

That one is a GTK4 bug that, as far as I’m aware, happens only on Mutter. Also, with the bug we are experiencing, the popups are actually opened just fine - they just get dismissed as soon as you release your finger, which is a different behavior than what’s described in this ticket:) It’s also talking about popovers, which work fine for us (menus are popups, not popovers; the latter are implemented in GTK3 using subsurfaces).

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got it, thanks

Hi,
I currently have the same problem, the bug is still out there, right?
Thanks.

I discovered a way to use the context menu in Nautilus. Select a file/folder (I have it set to open on double-click), then switch to the Terminal keyboard using the special key next to the spacebar, go to the Terminal keys using the other special button by the spacebar, and hit “Menu”. The context menu will appear and you can tap things in it successfully.

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yes, using the menu key on the terminal keyboard was the workaround i had settled on. tedious but it works.

does the fact that this is still being discussed mean it’s still a bug, after all this time? i haven’t tried using nautilus on the librem 5 for quite some time.

long live libre software and hardware!

The key is to forget about using “press and hold” to display the menu.

Instead, after selecting the file or folder, tap on the “menu” icon (3 short horizontal bars) in the top-right corner of the Nautilus page. This brings up the usual context menu, unfortunately only in icons, not words.

To interpret the icons:
Cut - pair of scissors
Copy - one rectangle overlaying another
Paste - picture of a clipboard
New Folder - picture of a folder, with “+” in bottom right corner.

Note that the file that has been “Cut” does not disappear from its prior location until it is pasted into the chosen new location.

There is no icon for “Move to Trash”. You have to “Cut” the item and then “Paste” it into the Trash folder.

Yes, dos’ bug report about this over at GNOME doesn’t seem to have got anyone’s attention so far:

It makes a difference whether you have the View set to “List View” or “Icon View”.

In Icon View, with preference set to “Double Click”, directories open for me as expected. In List View they usually don’t.

(Personally I don’t like Icon View, but it seems that I have to accept it for this device.)

I just wanted to note that this issue still remains. I’ve confirmed the workarounds work although for a typical user, they are certainly not intuitive, especially for a standard out-of-the-box application. I also haven’t seen any work towards fixing it in the current bug created? Does this mean there are more critical bugs or does it mean nobody intends to fix it?

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I would guess “more critical bugs”.

I can confirm that this issue still happens on Librem 5 with a fully updated PureOS system.

For people who want to do some work can create the menu button on custom Squeekboard. I’m using it for 3 weeks right now and it works fine with every context menu (Nautilus included). However, I agree that there should be a fix some day.

Do you mean that if you are using a custom squeekboard then you will have to add the Menu button yourself? Because if you are using the standard available “keyboards” then the Terminal keyboard already has the Menu button.

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Oh right, forgot about it (didn’t use default Terminal keyboard for so long). So it is even easier.

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Here is a GitLab ticket for this issue:

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