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| xfce:thunar:faq [2012/02/16 22:18] – created nick | xfce:thunar:faq [2024/01/06 10:06] (current) – [Thunar - Frequently Asked Questions] alexxcons |
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| ====== Frequently Asked Questions ====== | ~~NOTOC~~ |
| | {{ :xfce:xfce.thunar.png?no link|}} |
| | ====== 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|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]]. |
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| ? Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable? | * [[#Why thunar forgets it's settings when run as root?|Why thunar forgets it's settings when run as root?]] |
| ! For security reasons Thunar only executes files of type application/x-desktop, application/x-executable and application/x-shellscript. For desktop files the execution feature will only be enabled if the desktop file is of type Application and a valid Exec line is given or of type Link and a valid URL is given. For the other types the feature is available if the file is marked executable for the current user. | * [[#Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?|Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?]] |
| ! Also note that for application/x-executable and application/x-shellscript, the types of the file don't really need to match these types exactly, but it is suffice if the detected type has a parent that matches one of the two types listed above, or if the MIME-type is an alias for one of the above. | * [[#Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?|Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?]] |
| | * [[#Where does Thunar store its preferences?|Where does Thunar store its preferences?]] |
| | * [[#How to use mouse gestures in Thunar?|How to use mouse gestures in Thunar?]] |
| | * [[#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?]] |
| |
| ? Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files? | ---- |
| ! Thunar associates various settings with files/folders, which we call metadata. This metadata for all files is stored in tdb database file, which is called the metafile. The database file is stored in ''$XDG_CACHE_HOME/Thunar/metafile.tdb'' and can be examined using the **tdbtool**, which is part of the Thunar distribution (located in the ''tdb/'' subdirectory). | |
| |
| ? Where does Thunar store its preferences? | ===== Why thunar forgets it's settings when run as root? ===== |
| ! Thunar stores the user configurable preferences (and hidden settings) in an .ini file, which is located at ''$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Thunar/thunarrc'' and can be examined using a text editor. See [[http://git.xfce.org/xfce/thunar/plain/docs/README.thunarrc|README.thunarrc]] for an overview of the various preferences. | 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. |
| |
| ? How to use mouse gestures in Thunar? | You can start thunar as root with dbus-session like this: |
| ! Thunar currently features basic support for so called //mouse gestures// in its icon view. You can use these mouse gestures by holding down the middle mouse button (usually the mouse wheel) while the mouse pointer is on the background area of the icon view component (any area that is not covered by an icon or a text). Now you can move the cursor into four directions to perform certain actions, which are described below. | |
| | ''$ sudo dbus-run-session thunar'' |
| | |
| | or |
| | |
| | ''$ gksu dbus-run-session thunar'' |
| | |
| | ---- |
| | ===== Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable? ===== |
| | For security reasons, by default Thunar only executes files of type application/x-desktop, application/x-executable and application/x-shellscript. For desktop files the execution will only be possible if the desktop file is of type Application, the execute flag is set and the file is trusted. (desktop files inside ''XDG_DATA_DIR'' are executable by default). |
| | |
| | Also note that for application/x-executable and application/x-shellscript, the types of the file don't really need to match these types exactly, but it is sufficient if the detected type has a parent that matches one of the two types listed above, or if the MIME-type is an alias for one of the above. |
| | |
| | Execution of binary files explicitly needs to be enabled in the [[xfce:thunar:preferences#advanced_preferences|advanced preferences]]. |
| | |
| | ---- |
| | |
| | ===== 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''. |
| | |
| | [[|Back to Top]] |
| | ---- |
| | |
| | ===== Where does Thunar store its preferences? ===== |
| | |
| | Thunar stores the user configurable preferences (and hidden settings) in an [[:xfce:xfconf:|Xfconf]] channel. You can view the contents of this settings channel with the [[:xfce:xfce4-settings:editor|Settings Editor]]. |
| | |
| | For an overview of the //hidden// settings, you can find an overview [[hidden-settings|here]]. |
| | |
| | ---- |
| | |
| | ===== How to use mouse gestures in Thunar? ===== |
| | Thunar currently features basic support for so called //mouse gestures// in its icon view. You can use these mouse gestures by holding down the middle mouse button (usually the mouse wheel) while the mouse pointer is on the background area of the icon view component (any area that is not covered by an icon or a text). Now you can move the cursor into four directions to perform certain actions, which are described below. |
| |
| * {key>Left} -- opens the previous visited folder | * {key>Left} -- opens the previous visited folder |
| * {key>Down }-- reloads the current folder | * {key>Down }-- reloads the current folder |
| |
| ? How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts? | ---- |
| ! If you want to rebind a shortcut, Thunar supports the standard GTK+ way of changing shortcuts: simply hover over the menu option with the mouse pointer and press the keyboard shortcut you want to rebind it to. | |
| ! To delete a keyboard assignment, press the {key>Backspace} key while you are on the menu entry. | ===== How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts? ===== |
| ! If the shortcut doesn't change, then you need to enable the feature in GTK+. This can be achieved in 3 ways: | |
| | Starting with thunar 4.18 you can make use of the [[xfce:thunar:4.16: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]]. |
| | |
| | Note that for some keys the ''<Shift>'' modifier seems to be ignored. (E.g. ''<Primary><Shift>1'' fails, where ''<Primary>exclam'' works fine.) Most likely a gtk bug. |
| | |
| | Check the [[https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/master/gdk/keynames.txt|keynames.txt]] for a list of available keys. |
| | |
| | If you are a packager, or a system administrator, and want to provide a system wide default for the keyboard shortcuts, that is different from the default shortcuts in Thunar, you can create a file ''Thunar/accels.scm'' in one of the ''$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS''. For example, if ''/etc/xdg'' is part of ''$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS'' (the default for most Linux distributions), you can install system wide defaults to ''/etc/xdg/Thunar/accels.scm''. Thunar will then load shortcuts from this file on first startup. |
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| | [[|Back To Top]] |
| | ---- |
| | |
| | ===== Why does Thunar display the fall-back icon for all files and folders? ===== |
| | |
| | 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 }} |
| | |
| | - You don't have an [[http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fxsettings_2dspec|XSETTINGS]] manager running, |
| | - or the selected icon theme does not follow the GNOME naming scheme for MIME icons or it does not contain any MIME icons at all. |
| | |
| | The first problem can be fixed by running an XSETTINGS manager in your desktop session, for example xfce-mcs-manager or gnome-settings-daemon. Modern desktop environments automatically spawn a settings manager on startup, so you shouldn't experience this problem in Xfce or GNOME. If you don't want to run an XSETTINGS manager, you can also specify an icon theme in your ''~/.gtkrc-2.0''. For example to use the [[http://www.tango-project.org/|Tango icon theme]] add a line |
| | |
| | <file> |
| | gtk-icon-theme-name = "Tango" |
| | </file> |
| | |
| | to ''~/.gtkrc-2.0'' (just create the file if it does not exist). |
| | |
| | The second problem can be fixed by selecting another icon theme, which contains MIME icons (for example the //Rodent// icon theme, or the //GNOME// icon theme). In Xfce, you can do this by opening the **User Interface** preferences from the **Settings Manager**, and choosing a different theme in the **Icon Theme** page. |
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| | Thunar will be updated to comply with the [[http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2ficon_2dnaming_2dspec|Icon Naming Specification]] once the spec enters an usable state and the majority of icon themes follows the spec. |
| | |
| | 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. |
| | |
| | ---- |
| |
| * You can enable {gui>Editable menu accelerators} in the {gui>User Interface Preferences} dialog. | |
| * If you are running GNOME then you can enable {gui>Editable menu accelerators} in the {gui>Menu and Toolbars} control center dialog. | |
| * Otherwise put the following in your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file (create the file if it doesn't exist):\\ ''gtk-can-change-accels=1'' | |
| |
| ? Where does Thunar store the keyboard shortcuts? | [[|Back To Top]] |
| ! The custom keyboard shortcuts are stored in the standard GTK+ accel map format in a file located at ''$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Thunar/accels.scm''. Lines starting with ; are comments. See the GTK+ documentation for details about the file format. | ---- |
| ! If you are a packager or a system administrator and want to provide a system wide default for the keyboard shortcuts, that is different from the default shortcuts in Thunar, you can create a file ''Thunar/accels.scm'' in one of the ''$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS''. For example, if ''/etc/xdg'' is part of ''$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS'' (the default for most Linux distributions), you can install system wide defaults to ''/etc/xdg/Thunar/accels.scm''. Thunar will then load shortcuts from this file on first startup. | [[:xfce:thunar:|Back to Thunar documentation page]] |