An old OSX problem: system thinks I want to rename a file when it is selected in List view

[lipwak]

Hi,

Here's an old problem that has been going on for many years with OSX for me. I use List view to look at my files, sorted alphabetically. When I scroll through them, the system will think that I want to re-name whatever file I happen to pause on or go slow enough when scrolling through them. It highlights the file's name and waits for me to rename it. Often enough I accidentally blow away the file name which doesn't make me happy.

This has been going on since I started using OSX 10-15 years ago!

Is is something I have on my system that is causing this? I don't what app or tweak I've been using since then that I still have but maybe something is carried over when I use my old data with system upgrades?

I mentioned this to a senior rep at Apple Care years ago and he agreed that it can be a problem and didn't have a solution for it.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

I have my trackpad set to tap to click. The speed, in the Accessibility pane, is set to one mark from the furthest to the left Slow speed. I'll move it over to the slowest mark and see if that helps.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

It could actually be Tap to click causing the issue. Have you tried disabling it, or changing the finger gesture to more than one finger?

C

 

[lipwak]

Interesting, thanks. I don't see how I can change it from one to two. There is secondary click which allows two fingers but so far hasn't worked to tap and click...

 

[Cory Cooper]

Oops...my bad. You can't change that gesture.

Try disabling Tap to click and see if that cures the issue.

C

 

[lipwak]

It might. Unfortunately that's gonna aggravate my arthritis so I won't be able to live with that. Maybe toggling it will help.