| Key / mouse | Action |
|---|---|
| Left click | Open the file or directory clicked on. Hold down Ctrl to select things. Hold down Shift to: 1. look inside applications 2. treat files as text 3. follow symlinks or 4. mount devices. |
| Middle click | Open the file or directory clicked on. Click on a file: open the file and close rox. Click on a folder: open the directory in a new window. |
| Right click | Open the main menu. Hold down Ctrl while clicking to go directly to the Selection submenu. Hold down Shift to get the Send To menu . |
| Drag an item (left mouse button) | Copy file(s) to the destination (an application or another filer window). Hold down Shift to move the file Ctrl+Shift to create a symbolic link. |
| Drag an item (middle mouse button) | When you let go, display a menu of possible actions (copy, move, link, etc). There is an option to make this move the files rather than open the menu. |
| Drag (not over an item) | Select a group of items by dragging a box around them. Then "Ctrl + left click" to add items to the selection. Or, "Ctrl + middle click" to select and unselect. |
| Double-click background | Resize window to a sensible size. |
| Key |
|
| Backspace | Go to parent directory. |
| Arrow keys | Move the cursor around. |
| Page Up, Page Down |
Move the cursor up and down a page at a time. |
| Home, End | Move to the first/last entry in the directory. |
| Enter |
Acts like clicking on the file. Hold down Shift for other effects, as with clicking. |
| Spacebar | Toggles the item under the cursor between being selected and unselected,and moves to next item. |
| Tab, Shift+Tab | Moves the cursor to the next/previous selected item. |
| Hold mouse over an item | Shows a tooltip with brief description of the application (if available), the target of symlink, and the full name of file, if it's too long to show in the main window. |