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xfce:thunar:faq [2024/08/01 16:49] – [Why does Thunar display the fall-back icon for all files and folders?] alexxconsxfce:thunar:faq [2025/05/07 07:57] (current) – [How to give unique identifiers to specific Thunar windows?] alexxcons
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 ~~NOTOC~~ ~~NOTOC~~
-{{ :xfce:xfce.thunar.png?no link|}}+{{ :xfce:thunar.png?nolink|}}
 ====== Thunar - Frequently Asked Questions ====== ====== Thunar - Frequently Asked Questions ======
  
 The intent of this section is to collect the quite numerous frequently asked questions that relate to working with Thunar. If you know of a question that is missing from this page, please [[https://bugzilla.xfce.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunar&component=Documentation&resolution=---|file a request]]. The intent of this section is to collect the quite numerous frequently asked questions that relate to working with Thunar. If you know of a question that is missing from this page, please [[https://bugzilla.xfce.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunar&component=Documentation&resolution=---|file a request]].
  
-    * [[#Why thunar forgets it's settings when run as root?|Why thunar forgets it's settings when run as root?]]+    * [[#Why does Thunar forget its settings when run as root?|Why does Thunar forget its settings when run as root?]]
     * [[#Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?|Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?]]     * [[#Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?|Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?]]
     * [[#Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?|Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?]]     * [[#Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?|Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?]]
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     * [[#How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts?|How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts?]]     * [[#How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts?|How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts?]]
     * [[#Why does Thunar display the fall-back icon for all files and folders?|Why does Thunar display the fall-back icon for all files and folders?]]     * [[#Why does Thunar display the fall-back icon for all files and folders?|Why does Thunar display the fall-back icon for all files and folders?]]
 +    * [[#How to disable recently used files?|How to disable recently used files?]]
 +    * [[#How to use trash functionality on BTRFS volumes?|How to use trash functionality on BTRFS volumes?]]
 +    * [[#How to give unique identifiers to specific Thunar windows?|How to give unique identifiers to specific Thunar windows?]]
  
 ---- ----
  
-===== Why thunar forgets it's settings when run as root? ===== +===== Why does Thunar forget its settings when run as root? =====
-Thunar relies on xfconf to load/store its settings, the communication to xfconf is done via DBUS. Though for root per default no dbus-session is running.+
  
-You can start thunar as root with dbus-session like this:+Thunar relies on ''xfconf'' to load/store its settings, The communication to ''xfconf'' is done via DBUS. When run as root, per default, no dbus-session is running. 
 + 
 +You can start Thunar as root with dbus-session with the following command:
  
 ''$ sudo dbus-run-session thunar'' ''$ sudo dbus-run-session thunar''
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 ===== Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files? ===== ===== Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files? =====
-Thunar associates various settings with files/folders, which we call metadata. Since version 1.6 this data is stored using the ''gvfs-metadata'' daemon. The save location of the daemon data is in ''$XDG_DATA_HOME/gvfs-metadata/''. Unfortunately the content of these files is rater awful, so you can query the metadata of a location with the command ''gvfs-info -a metadata:: /some/location''. 
  
 +Thunar has its file and folder metadata storage implemented as a set of key/value pairs. Since 1.6, this data is stored using the ''gvfs-metadata'' daemon. The location of the metadata is kept in ''$XDG_DATA_HOME/gvfs-metadata'' (generally ''$HOME/.local/gvfs-metadata''. The format the data is stored in is binary; but, it can be queried and viewed  using the ''gio'' command.
 +
 +For example:
 +The command ''gio info -a metadata:: /some/location'' will return an abbreviated list of key/value pairs including the file's URI, local path, and unix mount.
 +
 +For a more detailed list of file information, omit the ''-a metadata::'' flag. This will return details such as icon type, access permissions, time created, etc. 
 +
 +
 +See [[https://docs.gtk.org/gio/file-attributes.html|GIO File Attributes]] page for additional types of data stored.
 ---- ----
  
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 ===== How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts? ===== ===== How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts? =====
  
-Starting with thunar 4.18 you can make use of the [[xfce:thunar:4.16:preferences#shortcuts|shortcuts editor]] to assign keyboard shortcuts.+Starting with thunar 4.18 you can make use of the [[xfce:thunar:preferences#shortcuts|shortcuts editor]] to assign keyboard shortcuts.
  
 For Thunar 4.16 and before, please refer to the [[xfce:thunar:4.16:faq#how_do_i_assign_different_keyboard_shortcuts|previous Wiki pages]]. For Thunar 4.16 and before, please refer to the [[xfce:thunar:4.16:faq#how_do_i_assign_different_keyboard_shortcuts|previous Wiki pages]].
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 If Thunar displays the fallback icon for all files and folders, as shown in the screenshot below, it is usually caused by one of the following problems: If Thunar displays the fallback icon for all files and folders, as shown in the screenshot below, it is usually caused by one of the following problems:
  
-{{ documentation:thunar-faq-broken-icons.png }}+<figure "Fallback Icon"> 
 +{{:xfce:thunar:thunar-fallback-icon.png|Fallback Icon}} 
 +</figure>
  
   - You don't have an [[http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fxsettings_2dspec|XSETTINGS]] manager running,    - You don't have an [[http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fxsettings_2dspec|XSETTINGS]] manager running, 
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 Depending on your system you might need to install the default GNOME icon theme in addition to your preferred icon theme (the Debian/Ubuntu package name is **gnome-icon-theme**). In either case the [[http://icon-theme.freedesktop.org/wiki/HicolorTheme|hicolor-icon-theme]] must be installed. Depending on your system you might need to install the default GNOME icon theme in addition to your preferred icon theme (the Debian/Ubuntu package name is **gnome-icon-theme**). In either case the [[http://icon-theme.freedesktop.org/wiki/HicolorTheme|hicolor-icon-theme]] must be installed.
 +
 +----
 +
 +===== How to disable recently used files? =====
 +
 +If you want to prevent the store of all files opened via thunar (or other gtk based applications), you can create <code>~/. config/gtk-3.0/setting.ini</code> and write the following inside:
 +
 +<code>
 +[Settings]
 +gtk-recent-files-enabled=0
 +</code>
 +----
 +
 +===== How to use trash functionality on BTRFS volumes? =====
 +
 +Some users may encounter issues with trash functionality on BTRFS volumes in Gtk based file managers like Thunar, even when the x-gvfs-trash option is specified in the /etc/fstab entry. This issue results in files being permanently deleted instead of being moved to Trash when deleted.
 +
 +**Workaround**: To enable Trash functionality on BTRFS volumes, add a specific subvolume mount option (subvol). This workaround was identified due to limitations in GVFS support for trashing on system-internal mounts, as detailed in the GLib bug report https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/-/issues/1885.
 +----
 +
 +===== How to give unique identifiers to specific Thunar windows? =====
 +
 +If, for example, you want to open a Thunar window on a specific screen or workspace, it might make sense to start separate Thunar processes and force a specific application-name for them. This will allow moving these instances, based on the chosen name. In order to use separate processes, the command ''dbus-launch'' has to be used to accomplish this:
 +
 +  * XOrg: '' $dbus-launch thunar --class My-Custom-Name''
 +  * Wayland: '' $dbus-launch thunar --name My-Custom-Name''
 +
 +Note that each Thunar instance will create an isolated D-Bus session environment. Additionally, several other Thunar internal mechanics will be multiplied, leading to a much bigger total memory footprint.
  
 ---- ----
  
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 +----
 +[[:xfce:thunar:|Return to Thunar Main Documentation Page]]