IDEA: Rename does not select file extension

[Suggs]

I have Windows XP and like to have extensions showing in Windows Explorer.

The trouble is, when I rename a file the selection defaults to the complete filename including the extension.  Almost always, I forget to type the extension when I rename, I get the error message about the extension having changed and all the text I've just typed in the name has gone.

Is there a way of forcing rename to select everything but the extension?  Apparently, it's the default in Vista.

[justice]

Yeah I really miss this in XP.
I used QTTabbar and i think it did something like this as on my desktop suddenly when i renamed an image it didn't select the extension. However I no lnoger use QTTabbar and I would love to see this too.

Surely some small utility that does this must exist.

[yksyks]

If you are not going to switch to some alternative file manager, QTTabBar indeed does the trick in Windows Explorer--when renaming, it selects just the filename:
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Recommended for other features, too.

[justice]

Looking for this led me to looking for a nice file manager, and UltraExplorer renames properly too.

Still no perfect solution though, I had trouble with QTTabBar it blocked my windows-e shortcut and it doesn't work consistently for all files under any circumstance (in my case)

[yksyks]

I had the same problem with Win-E shortcut and also blamed QTTabBar, but it appeared that the culprit was the recent video driver suite (Catalyst by ATI). After painful uninstall/reinstall procedure of Catalyst everything works again, including QTTabBar. It's necessary to reboot after its installation, though.

[Suggs]

QTTabBar does the trick.  Don't need any of the other functionality, but I'll happily have an extra tab in Explorer if it fixes the rename extension problem. Thanks

[tomos]

Surely some small utility that does this must exist.

or a BIG utility: Directory Opus

First just the file name is selected
Control+E selects just the extension
I think theres a shortcut to select name + ext

[BigJim]

Yksyks:
I seem to have a setup and problem similar to what you had.

I had the same problem with Win-E shortcut and also blamed QTTabBar, but it appeared that the culprit was the recent video driver suite (Catalyst by ATI). After painful uninstall/reinstall procedure of Catalyst everything works again, including QTTabBar. It's necessary to reboot after its installation, though.

Could you elaborate on the "painful" part? I'd like to fix it but it's not such a big problem as to screw everything else up. I have enough problems without creating more for myself!
Thanks

[yksyks]

It's out of this topic, but let's hope others will excuse: My problem was when trying to upgrade to ATI Catalyst 7.10 for ATI Radeon X800 card. It displayed some warning at the beginning of uninstallation, but I was unable to read it. (It's necessary to completely remove all ATI software first, they say.) After first reboot it still ran in the same video mode, while it should run in some basic one and on a single monitor only. I finished the installation anyway thus creating quite unstable system with many strange symptoms. Then I realized that I should start all over. The second attempt went okay and it's still running good.

The painful part is that you have to set everything from scratch, recalibrate monitors, install Hydravision (if you need it, but I do, unfortunately) and set up again all the keyboard shortcuts. Also, QTTabBar stopped working. So you have to uninstall it, and reinstall again. Fortunately I've recently discovered how to save and restore its settings, which saves a lot of time.

In short, if everything goes well, it takes at least four restarts and some superfluous work just to update video driver and its bloated suite.

[lanux128]

reviving an old thread.. but Skrommel had posted a solution here.


• Vista style filename editing in XP