Changing a File Name

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Changing a File Name

In a previous post on this subject a response was "highlight a file in Finder, wait a second and click on it and it will change from dark blue to light blue and you can then enter a new name." That's how I've been doing it forever (I'm a long time Mac user). However in my new Catalina Mac this isn't working. It worked somewhat for a while, now it doesn't work at all. I can change the name in Get Info or by right clicking and bringing up this:

And selecting the Rename option. But why can't I do it any more by highlighting? Why did that suddenly stop working?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 27, 2020 2:06 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 28, 2020 2:31 PM in response to vm118

Because with nearly every recent release of a new operating system, Apple has been changing the Finder code, and that has cost us the venerable, single-click to select, and present a highlighted name for direct name change.

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2020 2:10 PM in response to vm118

Click once on the filename icon in the Finder, and then press return. The filename will be highlighted, and you can change it, then press return to set it, and you are done with the rename.

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Answer 3

vm118 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 28, 2020 2:06 PM in response to VikingOSX

This works and is easier than the other options. But I still don't understand why clicking to highlight stopped working. I guess that's just another of Catalina's problems.

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Changing a File Name

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