How do I change spacebar function in Thunar from opening folders and files to just selecting the file or folder?
 

Hi, I am trying to change the behavior of the spacebar in the Thunar file manager. Not the 'funcation,' just the function.

Right now, if I am scrolling through files and folders and press spacebar, it will open the file or folder.

Other than 'stop pressing the spacebar,' how do I change or re-map the spacebar in Thunar to stop doing that?

I am using xfce4 (4.14) and thunar (1.8.14-0ubuntu1) in Linux Mint 20, and:
CPU: Dual Core Intel Core i5-3320M (-MT MCP-)
speed/min/max: 3222/1200/3300 MHz Kernel: 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64 Up: 4h 13m
Mem: 2471.4/7663.0 MiB (32.3%) Storage: 238.47 GiB (12.1% used) Procs: 223
Shell: bash 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38

uname -ar:
Linux matthew-ThinkPad-T430 5.4.0-42-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 10 00:24:02 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Thanks.

Reminds me of an old joke: "Dr., it hurts when I do this..." ;)

When you are "scrolling" do you mean using the arrow keys or mouse?
When you stop scrolling, the highlighted file/folder is already selected, yes? Not sure what else you need to do.

When I say scrolling, I mean using the arrow keys.

I guess my question can be rephrased, "How do I change the function of the spacebar so it does not open stuff?"

Thanks!

It might be possible to change a few keybinds, but my guess is that this specific behaviour is hardcoded, and in that case the correct answer is: Change the source code, recompile thunar.