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Idea #25741: Renaming a folder in Nautilus should prompt to merge in cases of conflict

Written by mdebusk the 31 Aug 10 at 18:29. Related project: Nautilus. Status: New
Rationale
When I try to move a folder from one parent folder to another parent folder "and there's already a folder of the same name in the target folder, Nautilus prompts me: Cancel or Merge?

When re-naming a folder, though, if there's already a folder in that parent folder with the same name, the only option is "No."

I recently re-structured my Music folder, and merging saved me a ton of time. However, I had to move "Foo & Bar" to the desktop, rename it "Foo and Bar" there, and them move it back to ~/Music to merge it with the existing "Foo and Bar" folder. If renaming would prompt "Cancel or Merge?" the way moving does, things would have gone much more smoothly.
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284
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Solution #1: Cause renaming to promt to merge or cancel in case of conflict
Written by mdebusk the 31 Aug 10 at 18:29.
Give the user the opportunity to merge two folders in a given parent folder by attempting to rename one of them to the name of the other, just as it works now with copying and moving.
-55
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Solution #2: Alt+Drag first folder to the second folder
Written by Malokon the 31 Aug 10 at 23:05.
When dragging a folder with the Alt-Button pressed and dropping it over another folder, there should also be an option to merge the two folders.
-78
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Solution #3: Select folders and press (for example) Ctrl+J
Written by Malokon the 31 Aug 10 at 23:24.
You should be able to select two or more folders and press some key combination like Ctrl+J. A dialog should appear where you can select the name of one of those folder or define a new one.
52
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Solution #4: #1 +add option to rename original folder without mergin
Written by Goury the 4 Sep 10 at 22:41.
as subj
26
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Solution #5: Add intelligent preview/comparison box to the Nautilus file replacement dialogue
Written by cajhne the 11 Sep 10 at 22:43.
It would be handy to show other relevant information based on the file type in a small preview/comparison area on the side of the replace notification dialogue. It would also be nice to have an in-dialogue "rename" function, where you could change the name of the file being copied rather than just the standard replace/don't replace option. Leave the defaults the way they are, but offer a drop-down of other solutions, as well as a preview box for the file. Text files could show the first few lines of the file (if permissions allow), the photo can show thumbnails, music can have the same (nifty) mouse-over preview in the file browser, etc.

The "intelligent" bit changes the options for replacement/renaming/etc based on the kind of file, and the kind of preview shown. Some handy alternate options might be "append" for videos/music/text files, which combines/concatenates two files into one, or "version" which simply appends an ordering number to the end of the filename (my_cat.jpg -> mycat_b.jpg)

I have worked up a visual on what I think this might look like if there's enough interest. :)

http://whitecatgraphics.com/ubuntu/nautilus_replace_comparison_dialogue.jpg

This example shows the standard file replace dialogue with my additions. The files under scrutiny are an old and new version of the same image. The desaturated, darker one is meant to represent an unedited photo, and the saturated one an edited version, which highlights the advantage/importance of being able to see samples of each to make the judgement.

Things to note in this sample:
1.The "replace all" option now has a drop-down menu below it, in which you can specify in what manner you want to "replace all".
2.The arrow between the two thumbnails indicates which is source and which is the destination (since some people in the world read from right to left. :))
3.The thumbnails act like thumbnails in the regular browser. Right-clicking on them could bring up options like "preview", "open with", "info", or "show in folder".
4.Selecting "Keep" under either sample will automatically set the other to "Erase", for ease of use. The "Save As..." option could bring up a box for the new file name, or alternatively, a standard "save as" dialogue as seen in GIMP, Open Office, etc, when you choose "Save As".
5.The green check-mark and the red "X" icon indicate which is being kept, and which is not. These change when "Keep" or "Erase" is selected.
6.After selection is complete, the user would then click the "Replace" button to perform the action, and continue the file copy/move operations.

I'm not married to any of the above components. If anyone thinks of a different/better way to do it, please post it in the comments section, and I'll revise this solution based on the suggestions. :)

I'm not proposing changing any of the defaults, just adding a box for more information, and a few more options to streamline the current replacement procedure.
-18
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Solution #6: #1 + add option to automatically rename moving folder, add suffix " (Moved)"
Written by andreaplanet the 16 Sep 10 at 00:38.
When you want to have two different folders instead of merge. With solution #1 you have to
1. Move Folder
2. Press Cancel because you don't want to Merge
3. Rename source or dest folder
4. Move again.

We could show three buttons:
- Merge
- Rename
- Cancel

When pressing button rename the folder that is moved will have automatically a new name with suffix " (Moved)". So then the user can choose to rename one or both folders without the need to move it again. The 4 steps above will become:
1. Move Folder
2. Press Rename because I want two separate folders
3. Rename moved folder with suffix " (Moved)". Or rename both if I want two different names for both.

We could add also two Rename buttons, something like "Rename Existing Folder" and "Rename Moving folder" but this sound too complicated for my taste.

Propose your solution

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dino wrote on the 1 Sep 10 at 10:24
#2 pressing alt while dragging is associtated with "copy" (as opposed to move) currently. If #2 would be implemented how would you copy a folder into another one?

Malokon wrote on the 1 Sep 10 at 20:55
@dino: when alt dragging a popup menu appears with the options to copy or move the dragged item. If both the drag item and the drop item(in case you didn't drop it on empty space) are folders, there should also be an option to merge the folder in my opinion.


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