There are two ways to rename a file in the Finder which is already selected – press return, or click on it again, then wait a second. I find that the second option leads to a lot of unintentionally renamed files. The problem is, I might click the file when it is already selected to get focus on that window, then hit spacebar to bring it up in quickview. Unbeknownst to me (since it is behind the quickview popup dialog), the Finder has switched to rename mode. When I hit the spacebar again (to close the quickview), nothing happens, because in the background the file is in the process of being renamed to " ". Any action I take from here to get rid of the quickview dialog will commit the rename. I probably will not know for some time until I wonder either what happened to that file or why I have a file with named " .pdf".
So, is there a way to turn off this troublesome "feature" and stick with just the return key to rename?
Best Answer
I don't know how to turn this off, but one way to deal with this is by tweaking the speed (i.e., duration) for double click and making it slower (i.e., longer duration) than what you currently have so that a single click does not quickly result in a rename action. The faster the double click setting, the more the likelihood of the rename action being triggered quickly.
You would have to experiment a bit to find the optimal double click duration while trying to not make it too slow for your use. You can set the double click duration by going to System Preferences > Mouse and adjusting the Double-Click slider.
On 10.9 the Double-Click options for Mouse and a trackpad have moved to the System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad.