Configuring GNOME to have Full File Path Text Fields in File Open Dialog Boxes

bgoodr · 11-26-2011, 01:49 PM

I am running GNOME on Debian Testing 6.0.3. I need to be able to navigate quickly to a given directory when I have already cut and pasted the full path to the directory (or to a file) in the cut buffer.

What do I need to do to configure GNOME so that it always shows the text field for typing in the full path, so that I can paste the path in there or just type it in? (e.g., In Firefox, File/Open, that is the dialog box I'm talking about, but not limited to FireFox)

I would have sworn that there was some sort of Gconf thing I could change, but my sleuthing didn't turn anything up.

I think this might be a GNOME3 issue.

EDIT: Here is a Screenshot of the dialog box that is missing the file path field (probably called "Location").

Thanks,
bg

rizzy · 11-28-2011, 11:38 AM

Ctrl-L in Nautilus will show full path and can be pasted to. This can be set permanentely in gconf/nautilus section. Sorry, not at my PC at the moment, don't remember exactly the name of the string.

bgoodr · 11-29-2011, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rizzy

Ctrl-L in Nautilus will show full path and can be pasted to. This can be set permanentely in gconf/nautilus section. Sorry, not at my PC at the moment, don't remember exactly the name of the string.

The configuration option did not work on my 32-bit Debian Testing laptop with GNOME3 in it (upgraded recently). The version of Nautilus I have given by the COLUMNS=100 dpkg --list nautilus command from my non-root user account on the 32-bit Linux Debian Linux desktop machine is:

Code:

bg@brentg : COLUMNS=100 dpkg --list nautilus
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                Version             Description
+++-===================-===================-======================================================
ii  nautilus            3.0.2-4             file manager and graphical shell for GNOME

I found the setting I think is involved from further sleuthing while I was waiting for a response to this thread and found something somewhat related at http://superuser.com/questions/28113...th-in-nautilus which I interpreted to mean the following:

1. Set the setting:

Code:

gconftool-2 --type=Boolean --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry true

2. Verify the setting was properly set:

Code:

gconftool-2 --get /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry true

But after having done the above, opening up Nautilus shows that the location bar is still not there.

What is odd is that, on my 64-bit Linux machine which is also running Debian Linux with the exact same version of Nautilus, the above seems to not have any effect at all on the visibility of the Location bar. Meaning, the Location bar is always there regardless of the setting of the /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry key.

Perhaps I have the wrong gconf key?

bgoodr · 11-29-2011, 09:07 AM

Note that the CTRL-L trick does work, but that is not really what I want. I want the Location bar to be always there in Nautilus and frankly in all File chooser windows for all GNOME-based (ahem, GTK based) windows. yes I know about how to hack around this by using the non-native File Chooser in Firefox, but that is a hack and I don't want to have to research a hack for every file chooser in every GUI application.