Problem with Info Tips Preferences

[MegMac]

I am using version 13.15.2 (beta)
I am providing a lot of details so that you (hopefully) don't need to ask me follow-up questions.
The folders and files are on a very fast external SSD.
I am using Details view.
Display of Thumbnails for folders is off, so the Info Tips for folders do not include Thumbnails.

Part 1:
I only want Info Tips displays when a Key is held down, and the screenshot below seems to indicate that the Ctrl key is the only option, except that 2 other key options are available, so that appears to be an error.

Part 2
I selected Shift in Preferences, and when I hover my mouse over a folder name and hold down Shift, it only works some of the time. It worked a couple of times, then I hovered, I waited, but no Info Tip:

Later I re-tested and made sure that lister was Active /Source, but that made no difference.

Part 3
I wondered whether it would work better if I had selected Ctrl instead of shift, so I changed the preference, then re-started opus in case that matters:

The result is the same. It only works some of the time.
Later I re-tested and made sure that lister was Active /Source, but that made no difference.

Part 4
I kept CTRL as the chosen Key, and tried again. This time, I hovered my mouse over the folder 'Albums' in the left lister (highlighted in blue), but the Tooltip that appeared was for the folder in the right-hand lister (01 Sources Filtered) that is outlined!
Later, I though perhaps because the outlined file was in the active (Source) lister, and it was, but I tried again, and that does not always happen.

I decided to check the manual page: Info Tips [Directory Opus Manual]
I find the wording confusing. What does in focus mean? I searched the manual for the word 'focus' and looked at about 15 results. None explained the meaning, but included terms like 'input focus', 'in focus', 'has focus', and 'with focus'.

Part 5
Still with Ctrl selected in Preferences, Info Tips were displayed for the folder that's outlined in the left lister, AND for the file I'm hovering over in the right lister!

Part 6
I realized that in Preferences, it says FILE info tips, not File & Folder info Tips. I wondered if that was why things were not working well. So I tested again with files only. Info Tips are still not displayed consistently.
If this preference applies equally to files and folders, please revise the text in preferences.

Please fix. I just want to have Info Tips displayed dependably, and only for the folder or file I'm hovering over when I'm holding down a keyboard button!

[Leo]

@MegMac

Part 1:
I only want Info Tips displays when a Key is held down, and the screenshot below seems to indicate that the Ctrl key is the only option, except that 2 other key options are available, so that appears to be an error.

Ctrl will make the infotip appear for the item with focus, without the mouse being involved at all.

The drop-down option is about when the infotips appear when hovering with the mouse.

We can probably clarify the wording a bit there.

@MegMac

Part 2
Part 3

Try holding the key and then moving the mouse over the items, without releasing the key. The key has to be down before, during and after the mouse movement.

@MegMac

Part 4
Part 5

That's probably what I described in Part 1. Holding Ctrl will show the infotip for the item with focus.

@MegMac

What does in focus mean?

Focus (computing)

@MegMac

Part 6

Many places that say "file" mean "file or folder". Spelling it out in exact detail makes things harder to read (and fit on screen) and it's usually implicit, since most things work on both files and folders. I don't know of a better word (we use "item" in places, but I think that's too vague most of the time).

[jinsight]

In the screen shot below, "Directory Opus 13" is selected but "Orders" has the focus as indicated by the faint lines around it. The focus can be moved off a selected item by using the Ctrl and arrow keys.

[MegMac]

Thank you Leo,
I tried what you said and held down the key before hovering over the item, and that does work - but it seems unnatural. If I'm scrolling and see a file I want to see details about, I've already stopped scrolling and my mouse is already hovering over the item.

I am creating a DOpus course for professional photo organizers and am working on selecting the preferences that will best suit that group's needs to start with.
They will definitely not want Info Tips to get in the way of what they're trying to look at when they are scrolling though lists of files.
But if I need to include instructions for how to see an Info Tip with more detail than just "Hold the Shift Key", this preference won't be suitable. Most people don't read carefully, anyhow.

I should have asked how one can tell if something is in focus / has focus, because I suspected what the meaning was.
If I file or folder is selected, is it in focus? (I assume yes)
The outline around this filename seems to indicate it has focus, because when I held down Ctrl (with my mouse not over it) an the Info Tip appeared (Info Tip not shown in screenshot):

The manual says something (somewhere - I didn't copy the URL) like, "the Folder Tree has input focus", but how can one tell if the folder tree has input focus. How can one tell if other things have focus?

[MegMac]

thank you.

[abr]

If I file or folder is selected, is it in focus? (I assume yes)

Not necessarily, see jinsight's example, where one file is actually selected, and the next one is in focus. That is needed for multi selecting files, where you can use Ctrl-Space (at least i have it like that on my system) to select/deselect the items that have focus. And as far as i can tell, that's the main and maybe only reason to have the focus in the first place.

Because mouse pointing items always selects/deselects them, which makes the focus state obsolete in this case. Or, in other words, i can't set the focus using the mouse the same way i'm able using the keyboard. So, unless i got it completely wrong, the focus is a "keyboard feature" only, so to speak.

@MegMac

The manual says something (somewhere - I didn't copy the URL) like, "the Folder Tree has input focus", but how can one tell if the folder tree has input focus. How can one tell if other things have focus?

I don't use the tree, but you're right. It is somewhat hard to see, if the tree has focus. You can only tell it by the color of the selected item, which is by default some shade of blue, getting only a tad more greyish, if you change the focus to the file display (the lister). Maybe it would be helpful to have a change in the title color that says "Folder Structure".

[MegMac]

Please consider enabling Info Tips 'simply' by hovering with a Key held down--whichever is selected in preferences.

[MegMac]

@Leo

We can probably clarify the wording a bit there.

Please do clarify the wording there.
I find it only works reliably if I select the file, and then hold down a key (whichever is selected in Preferences) while hovering over the file.