Changing a File Name

In a previous post on this subject a response was "highlight a file in Finder, wait a second and click on it and it will change from dark blue to light blue and you can then enter a new name." That's how I've been doing it forever (I'm a long time Mac user). However in my new Catalina Mac this isn't working. It worked somewhat for a while, now it doesn't work at all. I can change the name in Get Info or by right clicking and bringing up this:

And selecting the Rename option. But why can't I do it any more by highlighting? Why did that suddenly stop working?