diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/DataTable.tsx b/frontend/src/components/ui/DataTable.tsx
index bf179689..463243b4 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/DataTable.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/DataTable.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { alignClass } from "./tableAlign";
 import { columnHideClass, filterRows, type Column, type FilterMap } from "../../lib/tableColumns";
 import { navItemAttrs, useListNav } from "../../lib/listNav";
 import { useMediaQuery } from "../../lib/useMediaQuery";
+import { withRowOpen } from "./rowOpen";
 import { SURFACE } from "./surfaces";
 import { HiddenFilterCue } from "./HiddenFilterCue";
 import { useProgressiveRows } from "./progressiveRows";
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ interface TableRowProps<T> {
   index: number;
   columns: Column<T>[];
   rowProps?: (row: T) => Record<string, unknown>;
+  rowOpen?: (row: T) => (() => void) | null;
   rowClassName?: (row: T) => string;
   keyboardNav: boolean;
 }
@@ -69,14 +71,16 @@ function TableRow<T>({
   index,
   columns,
   rowProps,
+  rowOpen,
   rowClassName,
   keyboardNav,
 }: TableRowProps<T>) {
+  const open = rowOpen?.(row) ?? null;
   return (
     <tr
-      {...rowProps?.(row)}
+      {...withRowOpen(rowProps?.(row), open)}
       {...(keyboardNav && navItemAttrs(index))}
-      className={`border-b border-border/50 state-layer transition ${rowClassName?.(row) ?? ""}`}
+      className={`border-b border-border/50 state-layer transition ${open ? "cursor-pointer " : ""}${rowClassName?.(row) ?? ""}`}
     >
       {columns.map((col) => (
         <td
@@ -102,6 +106,7 @@ export default function DataTable<T>({
   emptyText,
   rowClassName,
   rowProps,
+  rowOpen,
   controlsPosition = "bottom",
   controlsLeading,
   controlsInBand = false,
@@ -137,6 +142,10 @@ export default function DataTable<T>({
   // answer the same gesture. Deliberately not a bag of named callbacks: the table stays domain-free
   // and never learns what a menu is.
   rowProps?: (row: T) => Record<string, unknown>;
+  // The row's default action (play, open), or null where a row has none: a press anywhere on the row
+  // or its card twin runs it, except on a control inside it or at the end of a text selection
+  // (`rowOpen.ts`). The keyboard's Enter keeps reaching it through the row's `data-nav-open` element.
+  rowOpen?: (row: T) => (() => void) | null;
   controlsPosition?: "top" | "bottom" | "both";
   controlsLeading?: ReactNode;
   // Render the controls row (controlsLeading + pager) into the shell's fixed toolbar band instead
@@ -414,6 +423,7 @@ export default function DataTable<T>({
                   index={i}
                   columns={columns}
                   rowProps={rowProps}
+                  rowOpen={rowOpen}
                   rowClassName={rowClassName}
                   keyboardNav={keyboardNav}
                 />
@@ -430,9 +440,9 @@ export default function DataTable<T>({
             {shown.map((row, i) => (
               <div
                 key={rowKey(row)}
-                {...rowProps?.(row)}
+                {...withRowOpen(rowProps?.(row), rowOpen?.(row) ?? null)}
                 {...(keyboardNav && navItemAttrs(i))}
-                className={`${SURFACE.card} p-3 ${rowClassName?.(row) ?? ""}`}
+                className={`${SURFACE.card} p-3 ${rowOpen?.(row) ? "cursor-pointer " : ""}${rowClassName?.(row) ?? ""}`}
               >
                 {columns
                   .filter((c) => c.cardPrimary)
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/README.md b/frontend/src/components/ui/README.md
index 8dd13ac4..adfdacc0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/README.md
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Counter-examples, deliberately NOT here: `PosterTile` (knows about Plex montage
 | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | overlays & anchoring   | `AnchoredPopover` + `anchoredPopoverHooks` (the popover engine: arrows, typeahead, Escape, anchor-flip), `ActionMenu`, `MembershipMenu` (the body of a "which sets is it in" menu: checkbox rows + a field naming a new set), `ContextMenu` + `useContextMenu` (the SAME menu, opened by right-click / long-press / Shift+F10 / a row's `MoreButton` "…" via `buttonProps`; `anchor` for a panel a row opens; `PageMenu` for a page's background menu), `Modal` (+ `ModalFooter`; `initialFocus` by purpose, C4), `Overlay`, `SidePanel`, `Tooltip`, `Toaster` (+ `toastLevels`, `overlayOrder`; `lib/toastDock` docks one control under the stack, in every host), `CommandPalette`, `KeyboardHelp`, `ConfirmProvider` + `confirmContext` (`useConfirm` / `useChoice`: the app's promise-based confirm, mounted once at the root; a decision with more than two outcomes is one `useChoice`, never two chained confirms), `dialogFocus` (the focus half of the dialog contract: `Modal`'s, and the wizard's own shell), `menuGroups` (one menu from its groups, a rule only between non-empty ones), `pageMenuSlot` + `pageMenuItems` (a page's background menu, mirroring its own toolbar)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
 | actions & inputs       | `Button`, `IconButton`, `Pressable` (`selectable` when its text is a title or a name), `Chip` + `chipStyles`, `DragHandle` + `OrderButtons` / `useOrderItems` (the non-drag reorder, WCAG 2.5.7) (one per button family, docs/DESIGN.md; a raw `<button>` or a bare `FocusSafeButton` outside the control primitives — eslint `BUTTON_PRIMITIVES` — is a lint error), `Input` + `fieldStyles`, `RenameField` (a name typed in place of the name: Enter or blur saves, Escape cancels; the caller hands the keyboard back), `DropZone` (the dashed place a file upload starts from: a drop, or a click that opens the file dialog), `Meter` (how full something is against a limit — one danger line for every place showing the same measure), `TimecodeField` + `useTimecodeField` / `TimecodeError` (a cut's time typed in: the draft, held by the caller, until Enter or blur takes it, then the value as it landed; unreadable stays once offered, marked invalid, and the caller places the line saying how to type one in its flow, outside a label; a draft goes when the value moves under it), `NativeControls`, `MenuCheck` (the drawn check of a menu row or a whole-row checkbox button; its tick is the `chosen` colour, which `media-marks` turns amber on the player chrome), `mediaChrome` (`MEDIA_CHOSEN`, a chosen tab or toggle on the chrome), `SelectTrigger` (the field family; a raw `<input>` is a lint error), `useReturnFocus`, `surfaces` (the B5 glass roles; a bare glass class is a lint error), `Badge` (a static label), `LinkButton` / `IconLink` (a link wearing the button face) over `buttonStyles`, `Skeleton` (B8 first loads, through `LoadingState shape`), `NavRail` (B7; `NavRailGroup` folds a set of rare pages into one row with a panel), `form`, `DraftSaveBar`, `Combobox`, `FilterSelect`, `SegmentedToggle`, `SortControl`, `ColumnSortControl`, `PriorityStepper`, `UndoToolbar`, `ViewSwitcher` (a list's display modes behind one toolbar icon), `copyItems` (`useCopyItems`: the "Copy title" / "Copy link" rows every object's menu ends with) + `useCopyFeedback` (a Copy button's "Copied" moment), `MatchToggle` (a multi-value filter's any/all switch), `LanguageSwitcher` (presentational: the caller decides what a change does), `sortableA11y` (what a screen reader hears during a keyboard reorder) |
-| data display           | `DataTable` (+ `progressiveRows`: a long page mounts in steps), `tableHeader` + `tableAlign`, `HiddenFilterCue` (names a filter whose column is off screen), `Pager` + `pagerContent`, `VirtualGrid` + `gridColumns` (the column/width maths, incl. the ultrawide `maxCols` cap), `readAhead`, `Carousel`, `MediaCard` + `mediaCardStyles` (the one media card, docs/DESIGN.md "Media card") + `MediaPreview` / `useMediaPreview` (its mouse-rest preview), `NavGrid` (a plain grid, list or table body the keyboard walks — `DataTable`, `VirtualGrid` and `Carousel` take `keyboardNav`), `RemoteImage` (every network picture: no Referer, retries past the negative cache, a fallback instead of the broken-image mark — a bare `<img>` is linted out), `Avatar`, `CountBadge`, `ItemCount`, `FilterChipGroup`, `RelativeTime` ("3d ago" with the exact minute on hover, docs/DESIGN.md "Copy"), `ClampedText` (a long text clamped to a few lines; More / Less only when it is cut), `StatTiles` + `StatTile` / `StatBars` (number tiles, a breakdown as horizontal bars), `RangeTrack` + `trackPosition` + `RulerTicks` (a time track over a window of a media item: regions, slider ends the arrows step, a playhead, a background slot — the editor's cuts, the players' clip panel), `CropFrame` (a crop frame over a picture, on the picture and not its bars: drag, edges, corners, the arrows; the editor's crop, the players' clip crop), `reveal` (a card's hover chrome: hover or keyboard focus on a mouse, never on touch)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
+| data display           | `DataTable` (+ `progressiveRows`: a long page mounts in steps; `rowOpen`: a press on the row runs its default action), `tableHeader` + `tableAlign`, `HiddenFilterCue` (names a filter whose column is off screen), `Pager` + `pagerContent`, `VirtualGrid` + `gridColumns` (the column/width maths, incl. the ultrawide `maxCols` cap), `readAhead`, `Carousel`, `MediaCard` + `mediaCardStyles` (the one media card, docs/DESIGN.md "Media card") + `MediaPreview` / `useMediaPreview` (its mouse-rest preview), `NavGrid` (a plain grid, list or table body the keyboard walks — `DataTable`, `VirtualGrid` and `Carousel` take `keyboardNav`), `RemoteImage` (every network picture: no Referer, retries past the negative cache, a fallback instead of the broken-image mark — a bare `<img>` is linted out), `Avatar`, `CountBadge`, `ItemCount`, `FilterChipGroup`, `RelativeTime` ("3d ago" with the exact minute on hover, docs/DESIGN.md "Copy"), `ClampedText` (a long text clamped to a few lines; More / Less only when it is cut), `StatTiles` + `StatTile` / `StatBars` (number tiles, a breakdown as horizontal bars), `RangeTrack` + `trackPosition` + `RulerTicks` (a time track over a window of a media item: regions, slider ends the arrows step, a playhead, a background slot — the editor's cuts, the players' clip panel), `CropFrame` (a crop frame over a picture, on the picture and not its bars: drag, edges, corners, the arrows; the editor's crop, the players' clip crop), `reveal` (a card's hover chrome: hover or keyboard focus on a mouse, never on touch)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
 | page & panel structure | `PageShell` + `pageToolbarSlot` + `pageHeaderSlot` (`PageHeader`: a page fills the floating header) + `pageHeading`, `PageScroller`, `Headings` (`PageHeading`, `SectionLabel`), `SkipLink` + `landmarks`, `FilterFold` (B4), `scrollFold` (`useScrollFold`: a fixed header that folds once its content scrolls), `PanelGroup`, `PanelGroups`, `Tabs` + `tabPanel`, `BackToTop` + `backToTopState` (PageScroller keeps the page's end clear of it), `FilterRail` (the filter-rail shell a rail fills with its groups: title bar, customize, reset), `stickyTop` (a sticky header at the scroller's top turns its top fade off)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
 | state & messaging      | `QueryState`, `Banner`, `InlineNotice`, `CrashBoundary`                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/rowOpen.ts b/frontend/src/components/ui/rowOpen.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d566d66f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/rowOpen.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import type { MouseEvent, PointerEvent } from "react";
+import { endsTextSelection, movedPastSlop } from "../../lib/textSelection";
+
+// A table row (or its narrow card twin) as the click and tap surface of its object's default action,
+// the way a card is: a press anywhere on the row opens it, not only on the title inside it.
+//
+// What the row does NOT claim:
+//  - a press on a control inside it (its quick icons, its "…", a link, a field): that is the control's;
+//  - a click that ends a text selection, or a press that travelled (a drag across the row's padding):
+//    DESIGN.md "Text stays selectable" — no play or open fires;
+//  - an event from a portal (a popover a cell opened): React bubbles it through the row, the DOM does
+//    not, so only a target the row really contains counts.
+// The long-press menu's trailing click is swallowed by its own trigger (`useContextMenu`), before it
+// reaches the row.
+
+// What counts as a control of its own. `[tabindex]` covers a focusable cell (a hover card's trigger);
+// the row's own roving tab stop is the row itself, which the containment check below leaves out.
+const CONTROL =
+  'a, button, input, select, textarea, label, summary, [role="button"], [role="menuitem"], [role="checkbox"], [role="switch"], [contenteditable="true"], [tabindex]';
+
+// Where each row's press began, for the drag slop. Per element: the table row and its card twin are
+// two elements, and a press on one must not be measured against the other.
+const pressedAt = new WeakMap<Element, { x: number; y: number }>();
+
+type Handlers = {
+  onPointerDown?: (e: PointerEvent<HTMLElement>) => void;
+  onClick?: (e: MouseEvent<HTMLElement>) => void;
+};
+
+/** The row's props with its default action added on top of the caller's own (a context menu's
+ *  trigger props, which keep their handlers). `open` null: the row has no default action. */
+export function withRowOpen(
+  props: Record<string, unknown> | undefined,
+  open: (() => void) | null,
+): Record<string, unknown> {
+  const base = props ?? {};
+  if (!open) return base;
+  const { onPointerDown, onClick } = base as Handlers;
+  return {
+    ...base,
+    onPointerDown: (e: PointerEvent<HTMLElement>) => {
+      pressedAt.set(e.currentTarget, { x: e.clientX, y: e.clientY });
+      onPointerDown?.(e);
+    },
+    onClick: (e: MouseEvent<HTMLElement>) => {
+      onClick?.(e);
+      if (e.defaultPrevented || !claims(e)) return;
+      open();
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+function claims(e: MouseEvent<HTMLElement>): boolean {
+  const row = e.currentTarget;
+  const target = e.target;
+  if (!(target instanceof Element) || !row.contains(target)) return false;
+  const control = target.closest(CONTROL);
+  if (control && control !== row && row.contains(control)) return false;
+  return !endsTextSelection(e) && !movedPastSlop(pressedAt.get(row) ?? null, e);
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
index 72ae6dea..97010358 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
@@ -1390,3 +1390,61 @@ describe("Files · a file watched part way", () => {
     expect(await screen.findByText("playing 3")).toBeTruthy();
   });
 });
+
+// The row is the click (and tap) surface for its file's default action, as the name always was: a
+// press anywhere on it plays. A press on one of its own controls is that control's, and a click that
+// ends a selection or a drag across the row opens nothing (DESIGN "Text stays selectable").
+describe("Files · a press on the row plays it", () => {
+  const sizeCellOf = (text: string) =>
+    [...rowOf(text).querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>("td")].find((td) => !td.querySelector("button"))!;
+
+  it("plays the file from a click on the row, not only on its name", async () => {
+    mocks.files = [file(1)];
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mount();
+    fireEvent.click(sizeCellOf("Clip 1"));
+    expect(await screen.findByText("playing 1")).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+
+  it("leaves a press on the row's own control to that control", async () => {
+    mocks.files = [file(1)];
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mount();
+    // Share opens its own dialog; the row must not start the player under it.
+    const share = rowOf("Clip 1").querySelector<HTMLElement>(
+      'button[aria-label="files.actions.share"]',
+    )!;
+    fireEvent.click(share);
+    expect(await screen.findByRole("dialog")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(screen.queryByText("playing 1")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("opens nothing for a press that travelled across the row", async () => {
+    mocks.files = [file(1)];
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mount();
+    const cell = sizeCellOf("Clip 1");
+    // jsdom has no PointerEvent: the press's coordinates are set on the event by hand.
+    const down = createEvent.pointerDown(cell);
+    Object.defineProperties(down, { clientX: { value: 10 }, clientY: { value: 10 } });
+    fireEvent(cell, down);
+    fireEvent.click(cell, { clientX: 60, clientY: 10, detail: 1 });
+    await act(async () => {});
+    expect(screen.queryByText("playing 1")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("opens nothing for the click that ends selecting the row's words", async () => {
+    mocks.files = [file(1)];
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mount();
+    const cell = sizeCellOf("Clip 1");
+    const range = document.createRange();
+    range.selectNodeContents(rowOf("Clip 1"));
+    window.getSelection()!.removeAllRanges();
+    window.getSelection()!.addRange(range);
+    fireEvent.click(cell, { detail: 1 });
+    await act(async () => {});
+    window.getSelection()!.removeAllRanges();
+    expect(screen.queryByText("playing 1")).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx
index 4fd1310e..5c09474d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/modules/files/Files.tsx
@@ -690,6 +690,8 @@ export default function Files() {
         narrowedBy={q}
         pageScope={pageScope}
         rowProps={(f) => ({ ...rowMenu.triggerProps(f), "data-file-id": f.id })}
+        // A press anywhere on the row does what its name does: plays, or opens the viewer.
+        rowOpen={openOf}
         // `group`: the row's quick icons show while it is hovered or holds the focus.
         rowClassName={(f) =>
           ringed === f.id ? "group bg-accent/8 ring-2 ring-inset ring-accent/60" : "group"