Refreshing almost never happens automatically

[Gabriel-p]

What Happened?

Lately I've found that Files has become almost unusable unless I am constantly manually refreshing after any change made. File deletion, creation, renaming, anything. Unless I manually refresh, the changes are not shown properly in Files. With images I usually have to manually refresh up to ten times before the thumbnails are shown.

This is just a minor example. This PDF file was just created by compiling with Latex. As seen, the icon is not that of a PDF file. This is a minor issue if not for the fact that attempting to open that file loads up the text editor, not the PDF viewer.

Only after refreshing does the proper thumbnail show and I can open the file with a double click

Steps to Reproduce

Use Files

Expected Behavior

This should not happen

OS Version

7.x (Horus)

Software Version

Latest release (I have run all updates)

Log Output

No response

Hardware Info

No response

[jeremypw]

Version 6.5.0 contains a fix for a regression in refreshing the view when a file is added. Which version are you running?

[jeremypw]

The next version will contain a fix for regressions after a file is renamed.

[Gabriel-p]

Version 6.5.0 contains a fix for a regression in refreshing the view when a file is added. Which version are you running?

I'd like to tell you but apparently there's no way to see the version in the menu (why?) and I don't know the name of the app to use a terminal command. Applications says I'm using version 6.4.1, not sure if that's the right one

[jeremypw]

You should be able to get the version with the command io.elementary.files --version but the AppCenter should be accurate provided you have rebooted or logged out since updating to make sure the running processes are updated. We do not put things in the app interface that are not directly needed for controlling the app.

[Gabriel-p]

The refreshing issue is still there for images. These are png files created by a Python script, before refreshing they are identified as text files:

Only after manually refreshing are they recognized as images:

Thumbnails do not appear unless I manually refresh multiple times. Running version 6.5.0

[jeremypw]

@Gabriel-p Thanks for the update but thumbnailing is controlled by different code so this needs to be raised as a separate issue (if not already done).

[Gabriel-p]

It's not just the thumbnailing, that's a minor issue, the problem is that the files are not recognized as what they are (images in this case) until I manually refresh. Until I do, the system attempts to open them as text files. Unless this issue is part of the no thumbnailing issue...

[jeremypw]

It may be related - certain information (like thumbnails) is not loaded until the file is actually displayed in order to improve performance. I'll open a new issue.

[zappan]

@jeremypw without rushing to open a new issue, as it seems to be related with the refresh:

Creating a new folder by using a keyboard shortcut, naming it (name change is properly reflected under the folder icon), and then entering it with the Enter key, ends up in the 'untitled folder' in the location bar (example: /home/<username>/tmp/untitled folder), and of course, pasting a previously copied or cut content fails due to that. Getting 'up' a folder via keyboard, and then selecting it and entering via Enter works correctly, ending up in a folder as it was named (example: /home/<username>/tmp/thisfolder). I'd assume a refresh happened when going in and out/up again.

If I were to hit a CTRL+R after renaming the folder, it would work properly.

Do let me know if I need to provide formal reproduction steps

$ io.elementary.files --version
io.elementary.files 6.5.0

[jeremypw]

@zappan I could not reproduce this using Files compiled from source. Could you provide exact steps and I'll retry with the released version.

The pathbar can only show the path that was requested which should be the path of the selected fileitem when Enter is pressed. If that path gets renamed on disk after the request (due to some timing issue) then you should get the "This Folder Does Not Exist" warning.

[jeremypw]

Update: I have confirmed the issue in released v 6.5.0 but it is fixed in main by d9cef82

I'll get another release out soon as there is another important fix that needs releasing.

[peteruithoven]

@Gabriel-p any change you can share an easy way to reproduce these issues? Something we can easily try without using Latex, or a Python script that generates images for example. Or maybe share the script you use to create the images?

With the current version of files I have a test.png file in a folder.
When I run cp test.png test2.png using the Terminal the new file appears as an image file. When I double click it, it opens in an image viewer.
It only doesn't get a thumbnail unless I refresh.

Which makes me think @Gabriel-p's issue is solved.

With the latest version I can't reproduce @zappan's issue.

[Gabriel-p]

The issue is still there. Here's a way I can reproduce it. Generate a new .py file with the content:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.scatter(0.5, 0.5)
plt.savefig('test.png')

Run the script to generate the test.png file. This is what I get:

Notice neither file has the proper thumbnail. If I attempt to open the .png file this is what I get:

I.e., it tries to open it as a text file. After manually refreshing the folder, I see:

and now I can open the .png file properly.

[jeremypw]

@Gabriel-p This looks like a duplicate of #2312? I am inclined to close this issue because it encompasses several different (but related) issues that should be opened separately where not already fixed.

[Gabriel-p]

I think that issue initially was about the thumbnails not being loaded, but now it does look like a duplicate of this one. My comment above might need to be copied to that thread

[zappan]

@jeremypw @peteruithoven

$ io.elementary.files --version
io.elementary.files 6.5.2

Confirming the issue I had does not occurre any more.
Thanks

[redgpu]

$ io.elementary.files --version
io.elementary.files 6.5.2

I do have this issue still, though.

[redgpu]

I have to refresh each time anything is changed: a folder deleted, or an archive extracted, etc.

[jeremypw]

@redgu I could not reproduce the issues with deleting folders or extracting archives using version 6.5.2. However there are a couple of refreshing issues whose fixes are waiting to be merged and released - #2340 and #2265. If you do still have an issues that has not already been raised please raise a new report for each specific one as they may not have the same cause. Please give details steps to reproduce.

[jeremypw]

Converted to discussion as it covers a number of related issues.

[redgpu]

Please give details steps to reproduce.

I installed elementary os 7.1, I started deleting some folders and extracting some archives on disk and noticed the Files never refreshed on these changes, I started googling who else has this problem, and the #2304 issue popped up.

[jeremypw]

Files relies on GLib.FileMonitors to signal when directories that are being viewed are changed by external events (in particular when files are added or removed from them). This only works on local directories - are the directories that are not refreshing local? As far as I know Nautilus works the same way so I am not sure why you are getting this problem. Does the problem occur when adding/removing regular files as well as folders? Does it occur in all view modes?

Hidden files will not appear when added if "Show hidden files" is OFF. "Hidden files" includes those have "~" as a prefix or suffix as well as those with "." as prefix.

[redgpu]

Meanwhile, I will switch Applications -> Default Apps -> File Browser from Files to Nautilus to make it work for now.

sudo apt install nautilus nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal
nautilus -q
sudo apt remove pantheon-files

[Ppamungkas]

The issue is also happen when creating a screen cast using OBS. The file created need to be refreshed before recognized as a video file.