Feature: Enable drag and drop reordering for Pinned Sidebar items by kalmix · Pull Request #18320 · files-community/Files

kalmix · 2026-03-29T21:38:35Z

Resolved / Related Issues

Closes Feature: Replace content dialog with sidebar drag and drop for rearranging pinned items #15430

Code Changes

Implemented Inline Drag-and-Drop Reordering: Removed the standalone ReorderSidebarItemsDialog entirely and replaced it with native inline drag-and-drop directly within the sidebar.
Added Visual Drop Indicators: Updated SidebarItem UI and logic to calculate insertion positions (top, bottom, or center) and display the appropriate visual feedback when hovering during a drag operation.
Resolved OS-Level Race Conditions: Implemented a robust FileSystemWatcher in WindowsQuickAccessService to monitor the hidden automaticDestinations-ms file. This guarantees that the Windows Shell has finished asynchronously saving the new pin order before the app triggers a UI refresh, preventing snapping and stuttering.
Optimized Widget Rendering: Updated QuickAccessWidgetViewModel to use Items.Move() when diffing and updating reordered items, rather than destroying and rebuilding the UI collection. This eliminates screen flickering during reorders.
Refined Exception Handling: Added safe interception for stale OLE payload crashes locally in the sidebar drag-and-drop event handlers. This uses the native SafetyExtensions.IgnoreExceptions helper, strictly targeting COMExceptions to ensure the app doesn't crash during drag race conditions.

Before:

before.mp4

After:

after.mp4

Steps used to test these changes

Opened Files
Pinned multiple folders to the sidebar
Dragged a pinned folder to a different position in the sidebar
Verified the folder drops and stays in the new position naturally
Checked the Home Page Quick Access widget to confirm it matches the new order without flickering or reloading
Opened Windows File Explorer in the background
Started dragging a pinned folder in the sidebar to reorder it, and then quickly grabbed another sidebar item while the first drag was resolving
Confirmed the app securely handles the underlying COMException and no longer crashes
Restarted the app to verify the new pinned folder order persists

yair100 · 2026-04-12T15:59:05Z

@kalmix I haven't reviewed the code yet, but I tested the changes. It works pretty well but I noticed that I can't drag Recycle Bin to a different position. I'm not sure if this is specific to Recycle Bin or if it's because it's the last item in the list.

As a side note, can you remove the old content dialog since it's no longer needed?

kalmix · 2026-04-12T19:00:28Z

@yair100 Sorry, I missed Shell: paths like Recycle Bin. I fixed it now; I also removed the old dialog.

…ar pinned items

kalmix · 2026-04-13T04:07:43Z

I've also updated the "drop on center" behavior to better align with the Explorer. For pinned items, dropping on the center now performs a Create Link action instead of a move operation, while non-pinned items continue to be moved as before. In addition, I added support for drag-and-drop pinning.

Josh65-2201 · 2026-04-16T15:48:04Z

Seems to be no way to drag an item to the first position. I have to drag the item to the second from top and then the first one down.

Also has issues keeping Gallery pined when the list is updated

\SHELL\OgAfAOTpNjks2e5OqFq8FtXqCBkmAAEAJgDvvhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUAAAA\_AAAAPYAycAeDOsAAQAAVgAAADFTUFOmamMoPZXSEbXWAMBP2RjQKQAAACAAAAAAERAAABYAAAAUAB9B6mWI6BwOIE6apu3NAhLIfAAAAAARAAAAGQAAAAATAAAAAAAAIAAAAABgAAAAMVNQU_TuyDAyqOJBqzLjw8oo_SkRAAAAEwAAAAATAAAAAAAAABEAAAAEAAAAAAsAAAD__wAAEQAAAAMAAAAAEwAAAAUAAAARAAAAFAAAAAALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAxAAAAMVNQU35WhU_w__VNsdmYsxT_BykVAAAACAAAAAAfAAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=

…ss sync - Fix sidebar drag-to-top missing item UI virtualization bug by replacing .Move() with a data reset Manager_DataChanged, which allows drag reordering to the very first position. - Resolve Gallery unpinning failures by explicitly normalizing Windows Virtual Folder PIDL paths (stripping \\SHELL\) and implementing a fallback remove COM verb for virtual shell folders that ignore the standard unpinfromhome verb. - Eliminate race conditions over Quick Access pinning by introducing a FileSystemWatcher in WaitUntilAsync on the OS automaticDestinations-ms registry. - Update LocationItem to correctly display friendly hover tooltips for virtual folders instead of exposing their raw path.

kalmix · 2026-04-18T09:41:15Z

@Josh65-2201 Yes, sorry I blocked users from draging to the top because I was running into a UI virtualization bug that left a blank space and also because the file explorer doesn't allow you to do that either but now i've fixed it using Manager_DataChanged() instead of Move(), and since we're already "reseting" the pinned section we can get around that.

Regarding the Gallery issue, thanks for pointing that out, in this case Gallery is an outlier that also causes problem with the current state of Files (try it on the prod app), I gave my best shot at fixing this by normalizing the PIDL paths and also adding a fallback remove COM verb and then to keep everything in sync I added a FileSystemWatcher that tracks the Quick Access registry.

Josh65-2201 · 2026-04-18T14:53:24Z

Working perfectly now.

marcelwgn

As a general thought, why are we now introducing a bunch of try catches for functions that should REALLY not throw and why not leverage the SafetyExtensions for this?

marcelwgn

I think we should only try/catch what we expect to fail, a lot of the try catches catch a more than is necessary/expected to throw, e.g. SideBarItem.cs:440 or SideBarItem.cs:499.

Also regarding all of these try catches, what is the need for the try catches based on? I couldnt find any documentation saying that those are expected to throw and the fact that you introduced them now in a lot of places that we didnt have them before is a bit suspicious to me.

Adding to that, what do you mean by this part in the PR description:

Replaced the previous app-level COM exception workaround [...]

yair100 · 2026-05-31T15:24:48Z

@kalmix

…tionHelper

kalmix · 2026-06-02T02:03:28Z

I think we should only try/catch what we expect to fail, a lot of the try catches catch a more than is necessary/expected to throw, e.g. SideBarItem.cs:440 or SideBarItem.cs:499.

Also regarding all of these try catches, what is the need for the try catches based on? I couldnt find any documentation saying that those are expected to throw and the fact that you introduced them now in a lot of places that we didnt have them before is a bit suspicious to me.

Adding to that, what do you mean by this part in the PR description:

Replaced the previous app-level COM exception workaround [...]

@marcelwgn You make a very fair point. I just pushed a new commit that completely cleans up all of those broad try-catches.

To answer your question on why those exceptions were happening at all, during drag-and-drop operations (especially when reordering pinned items while the background Quick Access syncs are running) Windows occasionally invalidates the OLE drag payload mid-flight. If the UI tries to read a property like e.GetDeferral() from that stale payload, WinUI throws a hard COMException that crashes the app. Since WinUI doesn't provide a way to check if an external drag object is still valid, catching that specific COMException when reading the payload is the only way to avoid a crash when that race condition triggers. I've added comments in the code to document this so it's clear for anyone reading it in the future.

You were totally right that catching broad Exceptions or wrapping huge blocks of code was the wrong approach. I've switched everything over to use the existing SafetyExtensions.IgnoreExceptions. Now, it only wraps the exact single-line property read that fails, and it strictly targets typeof(COMException) so we aren't swallowing actual bugs anymore. I also removed the broad try-catches that were hiding in the background sync logic.

Let me know what you think of the latest commit.

marcelwgn

Sorry for the delay, changes look good to me. Thank you for your help with this!

yair100 · 2026-06-21T14:48:44Z

I noticed the dragging a file to the pinned section shows the reorder visual. This should probably be hidden when dragging files.

kalmix · 2026-06-21T18:46:11Z

Noted. Working on it.

yair100 · 2026-06-24T15:32:54Z

Thanks! I noticed another issue where reordering items sometimes shifts existing sidebar items to the right.

Josh65-2201 · 2026-06-24T23:05:30Z

Not sure if there intended but dragging a pin over another pin will make a shortcut in the hovered folder or open it

yair100 · 2026-06-24T23:34:04Z

@Josh65-2201 that isn't intended.

kalmix · 2026-06-25T00:30:12Z

Thanks! I noticed another issue where reordering items sometimes shifts existing sidebar items to the right.

@yair100 Could I get steps to reproduce this issue?

kalmix · 2026-06-25T00:39:30Z

Not sure if there intended but dragging a pin over another pin will make a shortcut in the hovered folder or open it

@yair100 @Josh65-2201 I intentionally set it to create a shortcut because it's the safest UX. Before this PR, accidentally dropping a pin onto another pin triggered a Move operation, which can trigger a lot of accidental move operations for example of a drive to another... and it's a much less common use case.

yair100 · 2026-06-25T02:04:05Z

accidentally dropping a pin onto another pin triggered a Move operation, which can trigger a lot of accidental move operations for example of a drive to another...

We can have a discussion about this behavior in general but it's out of scope for this PR.

kalmix · 2026-06-25T03:14:05Z

accidentally dropping a pin onto another pin triggered a Move operation, which can trigger a lot of accidental move operations for example of a drive to another...

We can have a discussion about this behavior in general but it's out of scope for this PR.

Noted. Will revert those changes.

yair100 · 2026-06-28T16:37:21Z

Thanks!

0x5bfa

Drag and drop stuff should be similar implementation as the WinUI one. We dont want to handle drop validation inside a control. Have to keep in mind that these controls have to be standalone and any of functionalitis of them have to be able to be used in any scenario.

When you try to drag an item but drag back to the original position, it shows a dialog saying this. This can be a bad UX.

0x5bfa · 2026-07-01T15:26:21Z

+		/// <summary>
+		/// Indicates whether the item supports reorder dropping.
+		/// </summary>
+		bool IsReorderDropItem => false;


CanBeReordered?

@yair100 This is the kind of behavior I was trying to avoid with Center Drop => Create Shortcut.

0x5bfa · 2026-07-01T15:27:23Z

 		}

+		private static bool IsValidDropPath(string? path)
+			=> path is not null && (System.IO.Path.IsPathRooted(path) || path.StartsWith("Shell:", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));


Please do not put system specific code inside Files.App.Controls. It should be done within Files.App. Sidebar reordering should work in any other scenario.

@0x5bfa Thanks for the review, I will work on it this week.

kalmix force-pushed the feature/sidebar-drag-reorder branch 3 times, most recently from abd09bc to 7456ba8 Compare March 30, 2026 03:12

yair100 requested a review from marcelwgn April 12, 2026 15:59

yair100 added the ready for review Pull requests that are ready for review label Apr 12, 2026

Feature: Enable drag and drop reordering for Pinned Sidebar items

fff0cd5

kalmix force-pushed the feature/sidebar-drag-reorder branch from 176a3c0 to fff0cd5 Compare April 12, 2026 19:29

Feature: Support drag pin, reorder, and link drop behaviors for sideb…

d96746e

…ar pinned items

Refactor: Refine pinned sidebar drag-and-drop reorder handling

8bb1de2

marcelwgn reviewed Apr 26, 2026

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Comment thread src/Files.App/ViewModels/UserControls/SidebarViewModel.cs Outdated

marcelwgn suggested changes Apr 26, 2026

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Refactor: Clean up sidebar drag-and-drop and fix sync issues...

189b662

kalmix requested a review from marcelwgn April 27, 2026 00:44

Fix: exception handling and QuickAccessManager leak

254b52e

marcelwgn suggested changes May 17, 2026

View reviewed changes

Refactor: Clean up drag-and-drop try-catches and remove DragDropExcep…

c9908d1

…tionHelper

Merge main

3b1d37e

yair100 requested a review from marcelwgn June 15, 2026 02:25

marcelwgn approved these changes Jun 20, 2026

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kalmix added 2 commits June 21, 2026 04:19

Merge main

89fc12a

Trigger CI

512e81c

yair100 reviewed Jun 21, 2026

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Comment thread src/Files.App/Views/MainPage.xaml.cs

yair100 requested a review from 0x5bfa June 21, 2026 14:51

kalmix added 2 commits June 21, 2026 17:52

Fix: Sidebar drag-and-drop edge cases & settings merge fix

5c5e1f1

Merge Main

1cc3475

kalmix requested a review from yair100 June 22, 2026 19:05

kalmix force-pushed the feature/sidebar-drag-reorder branch from b917b6f to 1a5d615 Compare June 23, 2026 21:55

Refactor: Clean up sidebar data sync and improve Quick Access stability

1a16f57

kalmix force-pushed the feature/sidebar-drag-reorder branch from 1a5d615 to 1a16f57 Compare June 23, 2026 22:26

yair100 requested a review from Josh65-2201 June 24, 2026 22:30

Josh65-2201 previously approved these changes Jun 24, 2026

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Fix: Restore original center drop behavior and fix drag visual jitter

6284a1a

kalmix dismissed Josh65-2201’s stale review via 6284a1a June 29, 2026 18:26

0x5bfa suggested changes Jul 1, 2026

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