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Can't Change Folder Names

C

chasinreveries

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 28, 2006
8
0
I have a Macbook Pro.
For some reason when I make a new folder now, I can't change the name. It just stays at Untitled Folder. I right clicked and did "Ownership and permissions" and made sure that the i was able to "read AND write". I am and so are all my groups and other. I didn't click "apply to enclosed items" cus i didn't know what it meant and it said "you can't undo this action"..
I can't even change the names to any folders i currently have. Or files I have as well. Delete doesn't even work...it just stays at whatever name it currently has.
thanks
 
How are you trying to re-name them? All you have to do is highlight the file, then click once on the name, and it will let you change the name etc... The name will change to a field that you can edit.
 
lol
of course i've tried doing that...that's how it worked two days ago.

now, I click it, "untitled folder" gets highlighted and then i try to type a new name or click delete and nothing happens...it just stays highlighted
 
it says "Read and Write" for all of them.
there is that option to for "apply to all enclosed items" but like i said, i don't know if that is relevant and i don't know what it means.

I tried renaming it under get info and that doesn't work either. It just does the same thing as when i try to rename the folder normally.
 
chasinreveries said:
it says "Read and Write" for all of them.
there is that option to for "apply to all enclosed items" but like i said, i don't know if that is relevant and i don't know what it means.

I tried renaming it under get info and that doesn't work either. It just does the same thing as when i try to rename the folder normally.
Click to expand...

Thats strange, FWIW "Apply to all enclosed items" will apply the selected permissions to every file in that particular folder. Shouldn't matter for renaming it though.

It's a long shot... but you wouldn't happen to be trying to re-name a folder on an NTFS partiton would ya?
 
it's just a folder on my desktop
it also happens to occur with every other folder on my computer.
I don't have an external hd.
 
of course my keyboard was working
i was typing these msgs wasn't i?

anyway, I just did "repair disk permissions" and then restarted my computer and it's working fine now...

i don't know why, but my HD on my desktop moves to the bottom right of my screen everytime i restart now...
I usually keep it at the top right

oh well, not really a problem
 
I'm experiencing the exact same problem and have checked all the same things.

I tried to repair disc permissions and re-start and this seemed to do the trick for a moment. I only got to change two folder names though before the problem came back.

I'm on Mac OS X

Any other suggestions?
 
I got the same problem to

I have exactly the same problem. Can't change folder or file names or extensions in finder or get info. Only solved by restarting the computer, this is only a temporary fix as two or three file name changes later it all freezes again.
Any more ideas as to what may be causing this?
 
Right click the finder icon on the Dock while holding down the option key, use the context menu item ' Relaunch'
You may have to do it a couple of times till finder get's it's act together ;)
 
todd2000 said:
Try trashing com.apple.finder.plist in your /users/you/Library/Preferences, and restart.
Click to expand...

and/or com.apple.desktop.plist

Or you might just want to move it to the Desktop so that you can put it back if its replacement doesn't fix your problem, but just causes you to lose other settings.
 
Hey thanks! I was having that same problem after an Apple software update and restart and did what you said to do and that fixed it!

Steve


Ashka said:
Right click the finder icon on the Dock while holding down the option key, use the context menu item ' Relaunch'
You may have to do it a couple of times till finder get's it's act together ;)
Click to expand...
 
Figured it out

What you have to do is put the folders on the desktop, then click it once and press enter, or return. Then you can name it. If you want to do it the same for pictures, you can. Again, click it once, press enter or return, and there you are!
 
BrookeNicole said:
What you have to do is put the folders on the desktop, then click it once and press enter, or return. Then you can name it. If you want to do it the same for pictures, you can. Again, click it once, press enter or return, and there you are!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure who you are responding to. The original post is more than six years old. But, I'm intrigued by the suggestion that it's necessary to move folders to the Desktop in order to rename them. That's certainly not true of every folder, but perhaps for some I suppose.
 
2014 and this problem is still around

BrookeNicole said:
What you have to do is put the folders on the desktop, then click it once and press enter, or return. Then you can name it. If you want to do it the same for pictures, you can. Again, click it once, press enter or return, and there you are!
Click to expand...

Well it's 2015 and I guess people are still having problems renaming untitled folders. I tried all the options but BrookeNicole's worked. However, I know this extra option of return was never necessary, and I've been using a Mac since 1995.
 
So it 2019 and I just had this problem occur on Mac OS Mojave. Obviously hasn't been fixed since 2006 lol.

The below answer from Ashka worked like a charm though.

Ashka said:
Right click the finder icon on the Dock while holding down the option key, use the context menu item ' Relaunch'
You may have to do it a couple of times till finder get's it's act together ;)
Click to expand...
 
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