Show the directory path with text rather than buttons

By default, the Location Bar of the file browser uses buttons to show you which folder you are viewing. In some cases, though, you may not want to not use the buttons, and you may want to type the directory path with text instead. Files allows you to do this, either temporarily or permanently.

To temporarily set the Location Bar to allow text entry:

  1. Press Ctrl+L, or click on the current path or the empty space to the side in the Location Bar.

  2. The Location Bar will display the path to the current directory as text.

  3. Type the path to your desired directory, and press Enter.

When you press Enter, the file browser will show you the location that you entered, and the Location Bar will change back to using buttons.

If you want to show the buttons in the Location Bar without pressing Enter, press Esc. The Location Bar will revert to showing buttons without changing the current directory.

Permanently set the directory path to allow text entry

You can set Files to permanently show the directory path as text by entering the following command into a terminal window:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences always-use-location-entry true

To reset the Location Bar to use buttons, enter this command into a terminal window:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences always-use-location-entry false