Question

I was using Emacs on another terminal today and I noticed that when I hit C-x C-f to open a file that Emacs showed “Loading Tramp…” and then listed the files. I could either type my desired directory/file or I could use the left/right arrow key and Return to shift through directories and open a file. I was totally awesome. I am familiar with Tramp mode and started fiddling with it but I could not figure out how to get it to work, or if the two are even related, on my machine.

How do I get a file tree that I can use arrow keys with in Emacs?

This is how it appears on the other terminal:

Find file: .../dir1/dir1/{css/ | try.org | misc.txt | .emacs}

Answer 1

That likely was ido-mode, which is bundled with Emacs. Put this in the init file:

(ido-mode)

While it’s on, it will rebind some common commands to its own versions that use this visual interface.

Tramp mode is not related. It just gets loaded if ido-use-virtual-buffers is t and you visited some remote files recently.