On Thunar 1.6, Xubuntu 16.0.5:
I don't know if it's possible, but why when I select a folder in Thunar on left side pane (tree view) and hit for example g, nothing happens. I would expect that the selection jumps to the first match of a folder or file beginning with a letter "g". This behavior works on right side pane (shortcuts view) as expected.
Another issue: selected folder on left side pane, then hit Enter, also nothing happens, I have to hover the cursor over the expander, then left click to open it. Can I change these settings?
When you are on the left side pane, you may search for a folder via Ctrl+f. A small field appears and you can type a search string. Thunar dynamically selects the first entry among all items shown in the pane that starts with the string (see image). The same works on the right pane, but there you don't need to hit Ctrl+f but can type right away (unless you want to search for a file starting with a space, since that key opens the selected file).
In the left pane, you can hit → or + to unfold, and ← or - to fold. Also, if you'd like to avoid having to use the mouse, you can cycle through the left side pane, the main area, and the address bar using ⇆ or shift+⇆.