XnView Software

Current: Use left mouse button, hold down in free space drag the rectangle over the files to select
Bad: Need to find free area first
Solution: Remove requirement of free area. Ideally click anywhere even onto a file, keep mouse button pressed and drag the rectangle around the files you want. As left mouse button might be occupied for moving/copying, right mouse button would be perfect for this.

I second this.

Problem is when you click on a file, drag&drop starts

I'd rather keep drag'n'drop as default operation.

How about some "rectangle mode hotkey" + mouse drag to draw a rectangle?

xnview wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:03 pm Problem is when you click on a file, drag&drop starts

Have you changed something? Because of this: viewtopic.php?f=62&t=40065

When I press CTRL in my Xnviemp then I have the selection rectangle even if the mouse is over a file.
However as stated in the bug report, copy does not work any more and it whould be better to have CTRL for copy and SHIFT for the rectangle.