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xfce:thunar:working-with-files-and-folders [2012/01/30 13:43] – [Opening Files] nickxfce:thunar:working-with-files-and-folders [2015/05/15 20:25] – [Opening Files] hjudt
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 <note warning>This page is work in progress!</note> <note warning>This page is work in progress!</note>
  
-When you open a file, the file manager performs the default action for that file type. For example, opening a text file will display it in the default text editor, while opening an image file will display the image in the default image viewer.+When you open a file, either via the menu, context menu, by double-clicking on it or by any other means, the file manager performs the default action for that file type. For example, opening a text file will display it in the default text editor, while opening an image file will display the image in the default image viewer.
  
-The file manager checks the extension of a file to determine the type of a file. If the file has no known extension, the file manager examines the contents of the file. +You can change the default application associated with the file type by simply clicking on the file with the right mouse button and choose "Open With". The application chooser dialog opens, which lets you choose another preferred application, search for alternative applications and even lets you enter a custom command to open the file with. If you want to set another application as default, do not forget to check the box "Use as default for this kind of file". If you do not check this box but continue to open the file with a new alternative application, then it will be remembered in the last used applications list which you can see in the "Open With" menu.
-Executing the Default Action +
- +
-To execute the default for a file, double-click on the file. For example, the default action for audio files is to play the it with the default music playing application. In this case, you can double-click on the file to open the file in the music player.+
  
 You can set //Thunar// preferences so that you click once on a file to execute the default action. For information, see the section called [[preferences|Behavior Preferences]]. You can set //Thunar// preferences so that you click once on a file to execute the default action. For information, see the section called [[preferences|Behavior Preferences]].
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 To open the file properties window, perform the following steps: To open the file properties window, perform the following steps:
  
-  * Select the file or folder whose properties you want to examine or change. You cannot select multiple items at once and display the properties that are in common to all items currently.+  * Select the file or folder which properties you want to examine or change. You can select multiple items at once and display the properties that are in common to all items currently.
   * Do one of the following:   * Do one of the following:
     - Choose {gui>File>Properties...} from the main menu.     - Choose {gui>File>Properties...} from the main menu.
     - Right-click the selected item and choose {gui>Properties...} from the context menu.     - Right-click the selected item and choose {gui>Properties...} from the context menu.
     - Press {key>Alt+Return}.     - Press {key>Alt+Return}.
 +
 +If there are no files or folders selected, right-clicking anywhere on the whitespace or performing any of the other actions listed above will present the context menu of the current folder that you are viewing.
 +
 +In the details view, accessing the context menu of the folder works similar, with a few exceptions. As in the other views, you can click somewhere on the whitespace if it is available, that is the view is not full of files. Alternatively, any column except the left-most one is treated similar to whitespace when right-clicking on it and the row you clicked on has not been selected. In any other case, the context menu of the clicked or selected file(s) will appear instead of the folder context menu.
 +
 +===== Selecting Files =====
 +
 +There are various ways to select files in thunar.
 +
 +To select a single file, you can simply click on it with the left mouse button. You can select multiple single files by holding down the control key and clicking on the files, or hold down the shift key to select a range of files. Also, with the mouse you can click somewhere in the whitespace and drag a selection box over the desired files.
 +
 +The details view is special in this regard because it does not support starting the selection from whitespace, only from existing rows. That's due to the way the GtkTreeView widget works that is used for the implementation of this view. To compensate for this, it allows dragging files only by clicking on the "Name" column, that is the one showing the filenames, while starting a selection can be performed by clicking and holding the mouse button in any of the rest of the columns.
 +To put it in a nutshell: If you want to drag or select single files with the mouse click on their names, and if you want to select multiple files with the mouse, start the selection by clicking on and dragging over any of the other columns.
 +
 +You can also select files by providing a pattern with the keyboard shortcut Control+s or from the main menu {gui>Edit>Select pattern...}. For example, to select all text files, hit Control+s and enter "*.txt" in the dialog.
 +
 +If you want to find a single file and know the start of the filename, simply start entering the filename in the view. A text box will appear in the bottom-right corner, and if the file exists the view will scroll to it, selecting the file.
 +
 +Other options are "Select all" (Control+a) and "Invert Selection", which can be found in the Edit menu.