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How do I type in a file path in Ubuntu's default file explorer? By the looks of it, I can only drill down into folders by clicking on folder icons.

burnt1ce
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2 Answers2

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You can use this shortcut: Ctrl+L.

Or, go to Files and select Enter Location:

Enter Location in Nautilus

See also: Where to configure shortcut keys of Nautilus?

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Radu Rădeanu
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  • As of 14.04 it is moved to **'Go'** menu and then **'Enter Location'**. – IronMan007 Feb 04 '16 at 16:20
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    Would it reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally be too much to make this the default? – user997112 Apr 20 '18 at 12:57
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    As of Ubuntu 17.10 there is no Files menu called "Enter Location" any more. But `Ctrl` + `L` is working very fine! (...and in the Files menu there is an option to display all keyboard shortcuts) Thx!! – Hartmut Pfarr May 01 '18 at 20:04
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Another method that works is to just click on one of the tabs as if you were going to drill down and just start typing

The area immediately changes to a text box so you can enter a path.

As pointed out by Radu there is a short-cut key for this and you can also get there from the menu. There is a useful list of short-cut keystrokes here:

What are the new Nautilus (3.6) shortcuts in Ubuntu 13.04?

These work in both 13.04 and 13.10.

Edit: In response to comment. Click one of the tabs you don't see any change but if you start typing you see something like this:

enter image description here

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Warren Hill
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  • Can you clarify the first method or provide a screenshot? I can't get the area to change to a text box by just clicking. – Garrett Feb 13 '14 at 04:43
  • Why this answer is not the right one? Because it is much faster than typing Сtrl-L shortcut and then typing the path. – Boris Mitioglov Dec 22 '17 at 11:28
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    Not sure whether this is version dependent, but when I just start typing it performs a search. Moreover the default is full text search (though I found a setting to search filenames only). As a result the GUI becomes unresponsive. So if I know the exact path, Ctrl-L better serves my needs. – stewbasic Sep 19 '18 at 21:30