Seemingly random sorting of items in file daemon

[doobs]

So,

I've been using Zorin for a couple of months now on a fairly old Dell XPS 13 laptop.

It's done "fairly" well, but the thing I can't seem to get a handle on is the lack of sorting in file windows, and the inconsistency of the display when accessing file windows in various apps.

I've played with the sorting settings in the base file app, and it "seems" to adhere to the settings, weird as they are. I want folders first, in alphabetical order (natch) followed by files sorted by type and then sorted by name. Other OS's (both Linux and Windows) don't seem to have the issue with that which Zorin exhibits.

Now, if I open a file window in an application, all bets are off on anything. As often as not the folders/files are completely random. Sometimes the folders are first, again in a random order, sometimes it's a complete mish mash.

Is their any way of getting this consistent across the spectrum?

[Ponce-De-Leon]

If You aren't already done, you could ty the Following:

1. Folders first
   Open Nautilus and click on the Hamburger Menu (the three Lines beneath the min/max/close Buttons). There click on Settings. Then You get the Settings Overview and at the first Position you have the Option to show Folders first. But You have to activate the Toggle:
   

   

2. sort Files
   Open Nautilus again and click on the little Arrow. then you get Options to sort Files:
   

   

[doobs]

As said, the native file app, I've got fairly well.

This is the file browser actuated from Brave:

This is random display.....

How do I slay this demon?

[zabadabadoo]

I assume your Brave browser source is Flatpak. Flatpak apps are somewhat self-contained and divorced from system. I would guess this may not aid integration and consistency.

[Ponce-De-Leon]

Do you have installed Brave from the Gnome Software Store as a Flatpak?

[zenzen]

The file picker that appears is different from the actual file manager that you interact with. Unfortunately, I don't know how to change its settings for things like sorting file.

Although, it seems to remember whatever sorting you choose with the column headers. After a reboot, it's still in the same order:

You can also just start typing for something while focused on this file picker and it'll search for that file by name. Even if there's no search box visible.

[doobs]

Incorrect assumption.

Brave was installed via apt-get.

[doobs]

Doing a little playing around, it seems as though every app uses a different file access. Some inbuilt, some part of the app.

And different Linux distro's use different file access. This machine with Zorin is different than my desktop box with Elementary. Brave is installed the same way on both boxes.

I know I'm gonna get pounded for saying this, but Windows is pretty consistent in this regard, except for apps which started life as Linux apps (like GIMP).

[Aravisian]

The file picker in Gnome is managed by the Desktop and Shell.

On Lite, even using Nemo FM as I did, i never experienced this jumbling. I suspect you wouldn't either.

Some apps can have their own access, if they are stand-alone apps like appimage or Electron-built apps. I know Brave Browser is one app that likes to manage itself, rather than allow the system to, since Browsers in general really want to retain a lot of control...
Some apps that are installed using Flatpak or Snap will have different permissions as @zabadabadoo pointed out.
For me, personally, my first action on a fresh install is to remove both entirely and save myself the headache:

sudo apt remove --purge flatpak snapd

You are right, Windows OS is more consistent in many regards since Windows is standardized. GnuLinux has much variety which is a definite boon, but can also be confusing or even off-putting to users accustomed to a standardized unified system.

Looking in my copy of Nautilus 42.6, I do not see a setting that I used to see in
Nautilus but do not see, now: View > type> Sort by "last Modified", "size", "A-Z", "Z-A"... So looking deeper into the source and developer comments; I see that the Gnome Developers opted to remove much of this and set glib so that files are sorted "naturally" based on a hard code. Figures.
I also saw a lot of user complaints/bug reports/feature requests listed as well as many similar issues. Since Gnome devs are firm believers in this being governed by glib/locale, I doubt they will change it anytime soon.

Nemo FM does still include these settings (at least easily seen and accessed)... But since the Gnome Shell manages many such desktop functions, I find it likely that your problem would persist even using Nemo FM on Core. It might be worth a tedious trial on your part by opening the directory that appears disordered in your Brave opened file-picker, then launching Nemo Preferences and setting the view preference as you want it.
No promises that would work... A reboot after may be needed.

You can also check locale with your terminal:

locale

And check that LANG and LC_COLLATE settings are correctly set to your language that you chose at point of install.

[doobs]

More demonstration of broken sorting in the files:

This is the native file browser. I've chosen to sort by type.

Obviously it's sorting by Name

Bug or feature?

2nd question:

How do I turn of the "recent" listing when saving some thing from scratch. I want to just start at /home, or if I've saved multiple items from the same app, how about going back to the last folder saved to?