Windows 10: File Explorer jump list doesn't consistently show location popups

Anyone else have this issue?

When right-clicking File Explorer in the taskbar, a jump list appears, showing pinned and recent folders or locations. Mousing over these items should cause a small text popup to appear above the item that shows the full system path of the location:





The problem is the popups do not appear consistently. In some instances, they'll appear, in others they simply won't. They either appear immediately or not at all. Repeatedly right clicking the File Explorer icon and checking, the popups may work several times consecutively before they don't. It seems completely random and unpredictable.

The reason the feature is important to me is I often work with different subfolders with the same name that are located in different parent folders. When I see multiple instances of these subfolders with the same name, there is no way to know which parent directory they're from unless the popups with the full path appears on mouse-over. Without the popups, it becomes a guessing game.

This behavior occurs on multiple computers running Windows 10. Some are upgrades from Windows 7. Others are brand new OEMs with Windows 10 pre-installed.

Any ideas?

:)

 

File Explorer jump list doesn't consistently display folders' path on mouse over

Couldn't find anything on this issue.

When right-clicking File Explorer in the taskbar, a jump list appears, showing pinned and recent folders or locations. Mousing over these items
should cause a small text popup to appear above the item that shows the full system path of the location.

The problem is the popups do not appear consistently. In some instances, they'll appear, in others they simply won't. They either appear immediately or not at all. Even when they do appear, exiting the jump list and immediately reopening it often finds
them not appearing. It seems completely random and unpredictable.

The reason the feature is important to me is I often work with different subfolders with the same name that are located in different parent folders. When I see multiple instances of these subfolders with the same name, there is no way to know which parent
directory they're from unless the popup with the full path appears on mouse-over. It becomes a guessing game.

This behavior occurs on multiple computers running Windows 10. I suspect a bug.

Any help is appreciated.

 

File Explorer jump list doesn't consistently display folders' path on mouse over

Hi,

In the light of the information given by you, please try to do a clean boot and check if it helps.

Putting your system inClean Boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue. You need to follow the steps from the article mentioned below to perform
a Clean Boot.



https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135



DISCLAIMER: After troubleshooting, refer to this section "How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting".

Please let us know if the issue is resolved or you need any further assistance,

Thank you,

Have a good day!

 

That is not File Explorer that you are looking at. That is just recent items that you have been to in Windows Explorer, which is tied into IE and Edge. If you are talking about the balloon pop-ups, that is controlled in the preferences when you right click on the Taskbar, also in Files in Control Panel and in the desktop settings when you right click on the computer on the desktop or choose System in Control Panel.

 

Thanks for your reply.

Whatever "it" is exactly, all I know is, it does not behave consistently. This is so across multiple systems. Also, it isn't just recent items, but pinned items that fail to produce the popup on mouse over (when they should).

If the File Explorer setting you're referring to is "Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items," I already have that turned on.

Based on my tests, I tend to think this is a bug. Did you try reproducing it?

• Right click File Explorer in taskbar to open the jump list.
• Mouse over any of the pinned or recent folders and see if the popup with the location path appears (as shown in the screenshot with the original post).
• If it does appear, close out of the jump list by left clicking anywhere outside of it.
• Repeat steps 1-3 until you find the popups not appearing. In my experience, it always occurs, even if not right away. And all too often when I need them most.

 

You are correct. There have been some really odd issues with the latest updates being pushed for 1607 AU. Some are thinking about rolling back to 1511, since they did not have these issues with that edition.

 

I've observed this issue in both 1511 and 1607.

The only semblance of a trend is that the rate of occurrence is highest on a system where Windows and user data (and thus the locations in File Explorer) are on separate drives. There, the occurrence is probably around 70%. On systems where both Windows and data are on the same drive, the occurrence seems far less, perhaps anywhere from 10-40%.

I don't recall having this issue in Windows 7.

Anyone else able to confirm this issue in Windows 10? I've already confirmed it on five PCs (3 upgrades to Win 10, 2 brand new OEM pre-installs; 4 desktops, one laptop).

 

The reason that the problem did not exist in Windows 7, is because they had not yet gone in and made the interface into a Tablet GUI. With 8 and 10 using GUI's that are written specifically for use on the Surface and other Windows capable tablets, you will see issues. That is why everyone that does not have a tablet uses Classic Shell or Start10.

 

Tooltip info not appearing has occurred on every Windows OS (XP, W7 & W10) I've installed during the last 12 years.
I can't remember if it happened when I ran W98SE.

Even Linux Distros aren't immune (Ubuntu & Linux Mint).

 

Ubuntu's garbage gui and Cinnamon are really bad, next to the Mate Gui. The tooltips and balloons can be hidden via registry or third party utilities.

 

I meant intermittently.
Most of the time the tooltips appear.

When I couldn't get my ATI graphics card to work properly in Ubuntu 10.04, I swapped to Linux Mint MATE (because of Unity). *Smile

 

I went with Mint on the laptop that I was using up until I replaced it with this one. After their version 18 was released, it caused nothing but headaches. That was when I got the Macbook. I tried Mate on the Raspberry Pi 3 that I have to toy around with. The GUI is just too much of a heavy weight for it, vs. the Raspbian.

I do so much on the CLI side with Linux for servers, I do not even both loading up a GUI, unless it is for a workstation that I am trying to do cross testing of software.

 

All I know is I never encountered this issue in Windows 7, which I used for the better part of 6 years. And because of the needs described in the original post, I definitely would have noticed if it was there.

For good measure, I tested a Win 7 system I had access to today and could not reproduce the issue.

I'm pretty sure this is a Win 10 bug. Possible it was present in 8 as well, but I skipped 8.

What's the best way to send a bug report?

 

It only occurs randomly (but often enough that I remember it).

A variation is that when you select an item in a folder, you see tooltips for all items, except for the selected one.
This happened again on my W7 install yesterday.

Have you tried the Feedback Hub App?

 

I have noticed tooltips not showing up when hovering over files themselves throughout Windows Explorer as well as the Start Menu folder hierarchy in past versions of Windows. It was always a minor annoyance.

The behavior that's the subject of this thread does seem similar in a way. Yet I never encountered it prior to Win 10.

I submitted a report via the Feedback Hub. Here's hoping.