How to focus Nautilus' filelist by keyboard?

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1

Hello,

Being visually impaired, I would like to perform as much computer tasks as possible using the keyboard. However, since some time, the file list of the Nautilus file browser cannot be focused by either pressing (Shift+) Tab, arrows, F6 or a combination thereof.

Using Fedora 40 Workstation, GNOME 46, Wayland.

To be sure, I ran the same Fedora 40 inside a Qemu VM with nothing else installed. No shell extensions, no flatpaks, nothing but the bare, up-to-date Fedora.

To reproduce:

  1. Log in to the GNOME session
  2. Open the file browser (Super + 3 in the freshly installed Fedora)
  3. Try to focus the file list (containing folders like Desktop, Documents, etc) using the keyboard

Am I missing something or is this a bug that should be reported?

Thanks,
FWieP

2

Tab appears to cycle through a number of actions in Nautilus, for me it takes five tabs to reach the center pane containing the filelist.

After pressing Super + 3:

  1. Address bar context icon
  2. Address bar search icon
  3. Grid/list view toggle icon
  4. Grid/list view options icon
  5. Filelist
3

Thanks for your quick reply. In my VM, the file list is indeed focus-able by tabbing.

Now I just have to research what’s preventing my regular Workstation’s Nautilus from doing the same.

Oh well, one more thing on my list of things to ponder :slight_smile:

Update: a few minutes later, the issue is gone! Worldly asking for help seems to have driven it away into oblivion. Thank you, once again!

Kind regards,
FWieP

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