Deleting an object from the Desktop

taylorkh · 02-03-2011, 07:55 AM

In a previous post I had raised the issue

Quote:

Ubuntu 10.04 Normal Gnome desktop - single click to open items

I have a couple of files on my desktop which I wish to delete. I Ctrl-and click on each file to select. They are now highlighted. Shift-Del to delete.

Works fine UNLESS I have another app open and it has focus. In this case I must first click on the Desktop and then select the items. It appears that selecting an item on the Desktop cannot take focus away from an application window. Does this make sense?

Well now it gets even stranger.

I have set Visual Effects to "Normal". If I Ctrl-left click on an object on the Desktop it highlights. If I then press Shift-Del to delete it nothing happens if I have any application open on either of my two monitors - even if the applications are minimized. WTF?

If I close all applications then Shift-Del will delete the highlighted object. If I set Effects to "None" I can again delete the object subject to the limitations described in my previous post.

So I guess the question is... How do I delete an object from the Desktop without having to close all applications first or sending it to Trash and then emptying Trash? Yes I could open a terminal, navigate to the Desktop and delete them. And yes I could use Nautilus or Gnome-commander to navigate to the Desktop and delete them. But give me a break - I see no reason why I should not be able to Ctrl-left-click to select several objects and Shift-Del to delete them. What am I missing?

TIA,

Ken

m_yates · 02-03-2011, 12:16 PM

Maybe I'm confused, but I think all you need to do is right click on an item and select "Move to Trash". If you have other windows open, you can hide them all by clicking on the button on the lower left corner of the screen.

taylorkh · 02-03-2011, 12:56 PM

Yes m_yates, I can move them to trash. This of course does not delete the files or whatever. I have to take the second step of emptying the trash and the third step of dealing with the resulting dialog. Hiding the windows does NOT enable Shift-Del to work unless Visual Effects are set to None.

Ken

darkduck · 02-03-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taylorkh

Yes m_yates, I can move them to trash. This of course does not delete the files or whatever. I have to take the second step of emptying the trash and the third step of dealing with the resulting dialog. Hiding the windows does NOT enable Shift-Del to work unless Visual Effects are set to None.

Ken

http://nikopsk.wordpress.com/2008/03...y-in-nautilus/
is this what you want?

taylorkh · 02-03-2011, 04:59 PM

Thanks darkduck. I guess that is a work around. However, as per my original thread I have an issue with why I cannot get focus to items on the Desktop. They are highlighted but do not have focus.

Here is my latest "discovery." When I Ctrl-left-click highlight some objects on the desktop and have an application open and Visual Effects to Normal or Extra I cannot delete the objects with Shift-Del. If I select a different workspace I see the same Desktop (why I have never reconciled but that is a different question) with the objects highlighted. I can delete them with Shift-Del as there are no applications open in that workspace.

Ken