Flutter lib folder - Missing Menu option Create New Folder

[Sun3]

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create New Flutter Project in Android Studio
2. Right Click the lib folder to open Menu
3. New Folder (Directory) is missing from option

Note, the only way to create Folders is to create a New Dart File with a new Folder name before it. This is very inconvenient when trying to create multiple folders without content.

Version info

flutter doctor -v
[✓] Flutter (Channel beta, v0.5.1, on Mac OS X 10.13.6 17G65, locale en-US)
• Flutter version 0.5.1 at /Users/doe/Development/flutter
• Framework revision c7ea3ca377 (2 months ago), 2018-05-29 21:07:33 +0200
• Engine revision 1ed25ca7b7
• Dart version 2.0.0-dev.58.0.flutter-f981f09760

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK 28.0.1)
• Android SDK at /Users/doe/Library/Android/sdk
• Android NDK location not configured (optional; useful for native profiling support)
• Platform android-28, build-tools 28.0.1
• Java binary at: /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/jre/jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_152-release-1024-b01)
• All Android licenses accepted.

[✓] iOS toolchain - develop for iOS devices (Xcode 9.4.1)
• Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• Xcode 9.4.1, Build version 9F2000
• ios-deploy 1.9.2
• CocoaPods version 1.5.2

[✓] Android Studio (version 3.1)
• Android Studio at /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents
• Flutter plugin version 27.1.1
• Dart plugin version 173.4700
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_152-release-1024-b01)

[✓] Connected devices (1 available)
• iPhone X • 705E75D9-7E01-4AB5-948A-226B8AFD9F8A • ios • iOS 11.4 (simulator)

• No issues found!

Thank you.

[stevemessick]

Apparently, IntelliJ (and, therefore, Android Studio) interprets source folders in Java terms. Instead of creating new folders it wants you to create new packages. I'm not sure what we can do about that, since it isn't something we control.

We need to mark the lib folder as a source folder to ensure indexing and other behind-the-scenes operations are enabled.

[Sun3]

In my test the IntelliJ IDEA editor for the lib folder, it has the Create Directory in the menu option. Just the Android Studio does not. :)

[stevemessick]

Looks like it depends on the version of IntelliJ. This isn't something we'll be changing.

[biancashouse]

Just to confirm. While I agree there is no New Folder menu option, the New Package does the job: I found that doing a mkdir is equivalent to using the New Package meu option.

[feinstein]

Curious thing, I added the folders from Windows Explorer and they appear as a java package on IntelliJ IDEA.... but a project I cloned from git, such as flutter_architecture_samples have all the folders showing as regular folders.

[stevemessick]

flutter_architecture_samples (by @brianegan) is a collection of Flutter projects. IIRC the project directories do not have IntelliJ meta-data so they may not look right in IntelliJ. But they also don't have extraneous clutter, so people can focus on the architecture being illustrated.

[ph55]

Happened to me when created app via command line - flutter create myapp.
Doesn't happen though when creating app via IntelliJ.

[yvonmanzi]

@ph55 yeah, same! it only happens when you create a project using flutter create in the terminal. It is honestly quite awful.

[dominikseger]

Under File-> Project Structure-> Module-> Source-Tab you can unmark the /lib folder. This worked for me as a workaround.

Credits: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51491363/how-to-create-directory-folder-in-android-studio

[yvonmanzi]

@Phpadawan Thanks for your suggestion. It ended up working for me as well. Now all is great:) thanks and all the best.!

[Rakibahsaf]

I am also having the same problem on my new project. But on my last project"Directory" option was visible

[yvonmanzi]

@Rakibahsaf I don't know how or why it happens, but yes sometimes you have that option and other times you don't. Have you tried doing what @Phpadawan suggested?