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On my G5, 10.4.8, when I am trying to select multiple items in the Finder in column view, it just doesn't work the way it should.
The way it should work- I select one folder by clicking on it. Then I shift click on the last item that I want and everything in between also gets selected. Easy. This works for me if the first and last items are visible in the same window without having to scroll down.
The way it doesn't work- Same as above except the last item I want is about 1,000 folder down and when I shift-click on the last item I want, nothing in between is selected, in fact ONLY the last item I click is selected. It acts as if I didn't shift-click at all. It's annoying as heck because then I have to scroll all the way back to find the original item, then shift-click some intermediary item, then go to the end and shift-click that one. I just always remember this working fine in the past.
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It continues to work like that ... in List and Pane view.
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I think it's either a bug in the Finder (or an undocumented feature).
If you click on a folder in list view, the files in that folder show on the right. The 1st time you click on the top icon it is selected. Then scroll down and shift-click on another icon. All the items are selected - just like we would expect!
But if you click on the top icon AGAIN, the top icon is selected. Then if scroll down and shift-click on an icon, the top icon is deselected and only the bottom icon is selected.
It's like it has a counter and every 3rd click is odd. If you click on another folder on the left, then back on the folder you are working on, the counter is reset.
I have had this problem for the last 2 or 3 system updates. It didn't used to work this way.
If this is a undocumented feature, I can't figure out what it would be good for.
Fred Also
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Well, I guess I feel better knowing I am not the only person who has this problem, but I would feel better if there were a fix.
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Hmmm. I might not be reading your post correct. In os 9 (os 8 and os 7 as well) you could select multiple items w/ shift/click combination. However, in os X, the shift key selects the items between your first selection and second selection... YUCK...
Apple Key / Click combo works in os X like Shift / Click key combo used to in os 7, 8 & 9.
Bill
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[quote spacescape]... in os X, the shift key selects the items between your first selection and second selection... YUCK... Bill
Right, that is what I am trying to do. I don't remember it being different in OS 9/8, but my point was that on my computer for some reason, it is not behaving consistently as we have come to expect. I shift click a second item (expecting it to also select everything in between) and sometimes it just doesn't do it. It will only select the last item. Sometimes it will get everything, doesn't make sense.
I Would Have Guessed It Was A Bad Shift Key, But They Both Seem To Be Working Fine Right Now... 
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In OS X (and 9 and earlier, I thought) Cmd-Click allowed on to select multiple items of your choosing.
In OS X, Shft-Click selects all items between the first and last Shft-Click, inclusive. I don't know if this applied to earlier OSs, I didn't learn that trick until going to X.
Assuming you were able to do it before with over 1000 items, it may be time for Repair Disk, Repair Permissions, boot with Cmd-S, DiskWarrior, or some combination of the aforementioned.
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There is a HUGE ongoing discussion about all the bugs, inconsistencies and annoyances in the OS X Finder at MacInTouch.com under their Apple special report.
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My only other gripes with the Finder is that with multiple drives, it is not always clear which drive you are navigating when you have an open Finder window. Say I have a window open and I am in a folder called "cheese". On the left side of the window I can see the list of all my drives, but I don't know which drive I am in. If it would consistently highlight the drive that I had open in the window, I think that would be an improvement.
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