<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
    "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY date "November 2007"> 
  <!ENTITY version "@PACKAGE_VERSION@">
  <!ENTITY application "@PACKAGE_NAME@"> 
]>
<article id="index" lang="en">

  <!-- Header -->
  <articleinfo>
    <title>Thunar File Manager</title>

    <pubdate>&date;</pubdate>

    <copyright>
      <year>2004</year>
      <year>2005</year>
      <year>2006</year>
      <year>2007</year>
      <holder>Benedikt Meurer</holder>
    </copyright>

    <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
      <para>
        Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
        under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
        any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
        Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
        Texts. The complete license text is available from the <ulink
        type="http" url="http://www.gnu.org/">Free Software Foundation</ulink>.
      </para>
    </legalnotice>

    <authorgroup>
      <author>
        <firstname>Benedikt</firstname>
        <surname>Meurer</surname>
        <affiliation>
          <jobtitle>Software developer</jobtitle>
          <orgname>os-cillation</orgname>
          <orgdiv>System development</orgdiv>
          <address><email>benny@xfce.org</email></address>
        </affiliation>
      </author>
    </authorgroup>

    <releaseinfo>
      This manual describes version &version; of &application;.
    </releaseinfo>
  </articleinfo>

  <sect1 id="intro">
    <title>Introduction to &application;</title>

    <para>
      Thunar is a new modern file manager for the Xfce Desktop Environment. Thunar has been designed from the ground up to
      be fast and easy-to-use. Its user interface is clean and intuitive, and does not include any confusing or useless
      options by default. Thunar is fast and responsive with a good start up time and folder load time.
    </para>

    <para>
      The Thunar file manager thereby provides an integrated access point to your files and applications. You can use the
      file manager to do the following:
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem><para>Create folders and documents.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Display your files and folders.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Manage your files and folders.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Run and manage custom actions.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Access Removable Media.</para></listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="the-file-manager-window">
    <title>The File Manager Window</title>

    <para>
      By default the file manager window consists of a shortcut pane on the left side, the main area on the right
      and a pathbar above the main area.
    </para>

    <screenshot>
      <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="images/file-manager-window.png" format="PNG"/>
        </imageobject>

        <textobject>
          <phrase>File Manager Window</phrase>
        </textobject>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>

    <para>
      The <guilabel>Shortcut Pane</guilabel> provides shortcuts to different folders on your system. The first
      shortcut will lead to your <emphasis>Home Folder</emphasis>, the folder you store all your personal data,
      and will therefore have the name of the current user. The second shortcut will take you to the trash bin,
      which stores deleted files that can be recovered later. The third shortcut takes you to the <emphasis>Desktop
      Folder</emphasis>, which contains the files and folders that are displayed on the desktop. The fourth
      shortcut will take you to the root of your file system - you may want to explore it a bit, even though
      it may be confusing to you if you are new to Linux/Unix. Just click on the different folders and see what is
      inside.
    </para>

    <para>
      Below the <emphasis>File System</emphasis> shortcut, the removable drives and media will be displayed. In
      the screenshot above, you can see a <guilabel>Floppy Drive</guilabel> shortcut. Click on these shortcuts
      to access the data stored on the removable drives and media. See <xref linkend="using-removable-media" />
      for further details.
    </para>

    <para>
      The remaining shortcuts are user defined. Add your own shortcuts by simply dragging folders to the
      <guilabel>Shortcuts Pane</guilabel>. This will allow you to access important folders instantly. To
      remove a previously added shortcut, right-click on the shortcut and choose <guimenuitem>Remove Shortcut</guimenuitem>.
      To rename a previously added shortcut, right-click on the shortcut and choose <guimenuitem>Rename Shortcut</guimenuitem>.
      Note that these actions affect only the shortcut, not the folder referenced by the shortcuts.
    </para>

    <para>
      The <emphasis>main area</emphasis> will always display the contents of the current folder. Double click on
      folders to enter them, and right-click on files or folders to get a context-menu offering some choices of
      what to do with it. Select multiple files by dragging a rectangle over them with the mouse. Alternatively,
      select one file, hold down the <keycap>Shift</keycap> key, and increase or decrease the selection using
      the arrow keys.
    </para>

    <para>
      The <emphasis>pathbar</emphasis> will always show the path you took to get to the folder you are currently
      at. You can click on any pathbar button to change to the folder it represents. Right-click on a pathbar
      button to bring up a context-menu with some options.
    </para>


    <sect2 id="customizing-the-appearance">
      <title>Customizing the Appearance</title>

      <para>
        There are many ways to customize the appearance of the file manager windows. In case you do not like the
        way the icons are displayed, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>View as Detailed List</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
        from the main menu to have the contents of the current folder displayed as a list.
      </para>

      <para>
        You can have the file manager windows display a location bar instead of the pathbar by choosing
        <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>Location Selector</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Toolbar Style</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
        from the main menu.
      </para>

      <para>
        In case you prefer a treeview in the left pane, choose
        <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>Side Pane</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Tree</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
        from the main menu.
      </para>

      <sect3 id="visible-columns-in-the-detailed-list-view">
        <title>Visible Columns in the Detailed List View</title>

        <para>
          If you prefer to display the contents of the folder as a list, using the <guilabel>Detailed List View</guilabel>, you can
          customize the columns displayed in the list view. To customize the visible columns, choose
          <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>Configure Columns...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the main menu.
        </para>

        <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
            <imageobject>
              <imagedata fileref="images/visible-columns.png" format="PNG"/>
            </imageobject>

            <textobject>
              <phrase>Visible Columns</phrase>
            </textobject>
          </mediaobject>
        </screenshot>

        <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>Visible Columns</guilabel></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                Select the columns you want to be displayed from the list of available columns. Click <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton>
                or <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton> to change the order of the columns. Click <guibutton>Use Default</guibutton> to
                revert your changes.
              </para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>Column Sizing</guilabel></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>
                Select the option <guibutton>Automatically expand columns as needed</guibutton> if you want the list view columns
                to expand automatically if the needed to ensure the text is fully visible.
              </para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>
        </variablelist>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="working-with-files-and-folders">
    <title>Working with Files and Folders</title>


    <sect2 id="opening-files">
      <title>Opening Files</title>

      <para>
        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.
      </para>

      <para>
        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.
      </para>

      <sect3 id="executing-the-default-action">
        <title>Executing the Default Action</title>

        <para>
          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.
        </para>

        <para>
          You can set <application>Thunar</application> preferences so that you click once on a file to execute the default
          action. For information, see <xref linkend="preferences-behavior" />.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="executing-non-default-actions">
        <title>Executing Non-Default Actions</title>

        <para>
          To execute actions other than the default action for a file, select the file that you want to perform an action on.
          Choose the desired action from the <emphasis>Open With</emphasis> choices available in <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu
          or an <guimenu>Open With</guimenu> submenu.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="adding-actions">
        <title>Adding Actions</title>

        <para>
          To add actions associated with a file type, perform the following steps:
        </para>

        <orderedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              In the main area, select a file of the type to which you want to add an action.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Open With Other Application...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
              from the main menu.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Either choose an application in the <guilabel>Open With</guilabel> dialog or select <guibutton>Use a custom command</guibutton>
              and browse to the program with which you wish to open this type.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </orderedlist>

        <para>
          The action you have chosen is now added to the list of actions for that particular file type. If you enabled the
          <guibutton>Use as default for this kind of file</guibutton> option or there was no prior action associated with the
          type, the newly added action is the default.
        </para>

        <para>
          You may also add actions using the <guibutton>Open With</guibutton> button under
          <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="modifiying-actions">
        <title>Modifying Actions</title>

        <para>
          To modify the actions associated with a file or file type, perform the following steps:
        </para>

        <orderedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              In the main area, select a file of the type for which you want to modify the action.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the main menu.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select the new default action using the <guilabel>Open With</guilabel> button or add a new action by choosing
              <guimenuitem>Open With Other Application...</guimenuitem> from the drop down menu.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </orderedlist>

        <para>
          To remove a previously added action for a file type, bring up the <guilabel>Open With</guilabel> dialog as described
          above, right-click the action you want to remove and choose <guimenuitem>Remove Launcher</guimenuitem>.
        </para>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="file-properties">
      <title>File Properties</title>

      <para>
        The file properties window shows more information about any file or folder in the file manager. With this window, you can also
        do the following:
      </para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Change the icon for special files, such as application launchers and URL links.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Add or remove emblems for a file or folder.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Change the UNIX file permissions for a file or folder.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Choose which application is used to open a file and other files of the same type.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/file-properties.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>File Properties</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>
        To open the file properties window, perform the following steps:
      </para>

      <orderedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            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.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Do one of the following:
            <itemizedlist>
              <listitem>
                <para>Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the main menu.</para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>Right-click the selected item and choose <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> from the context menu.</para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>Press <keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>Return</keycap></keycombo>.</para>
              </listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="using-removable-media">
    <title>Using Removable Media</title>

    <sect2 id="accessing-removable-media">
      <title>Accessing Removable Media</title>

      <para>
        Thunar supports removable media if it was built with support for <ulink type="http" url="http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software_2fhal">HAL</ulink>,
        or if you are using <ulink type="http" url="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</ulink>. Note however that on FreeBSD 6.0 or newer, it is
        suggested to use HAL rather than the native support provided by Thunar.
      </para>

      <sect3 id="to-mount-media">
        <title>To Mount Media</title>

        <para>
          To <emphasis>mount</emphasis> media is to make the file system of the media available for access. When you mount media, the
          file system of the media is attached as a subdirectory to your file system.
        </para>

        <para>
          To access media, insert the media in the appropriate device, or connect the new device to your computer (i.e. connect an USB
          stick to one of your USB ports). An object that represents the media is added to the side pane of the file manager. If
          <application>xfdesktop</application> is running and configured to display <guilabel>File/launcher icons</guilabel> this
          object will also be added to your desktop.
        </para>

        <para>
          To actually mount the media, click on the object that represents the media. For example, to mount a floppy diskette,
          click on the <guilabel>Floppy Drive</guilabel> object in the side pane. The file manager will now add the file system
          of the media to your file system hierarchy and display the contents of the floppy diskette in the main area.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="to-eject-media">
        <title>To Eject Media</title>

        <para>
          If the drive for the media is a motorized drive (i.e. a CD-ROM drive), right-click on the media object in the side pane
          or on the desktop and choose <guilabel>Eject Volume</guilabel>. The media is ejected from the drive after a few seconds.
          If the drive for the media is not motorized (i.e. a floppy drive or an USB stick), right-click on the media object and
          choose <guilabel>Unmount Volume</guilabel>. After a short period of time, a notification will appear to inform you
          that it is now safe to remove the media or disconnect the drive from the computer.
        </para>

        <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
            <imageobject>
              <imagedata fileref="images/removable-media-unmount.png" format="PNG"/>
            </imageobject>

            <textobject>
              <phrase>Unmount notification</phrase>
            </textobject>
          </mediaobject>
        </screenshot>

        <para>
          However this notification will only be displayed if support for <application>libnotify</application> is enabled,
          and you have installed a notification daemon. A notification daemon for Xfce is available from the <ulink type="http"
          url="http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/notification-daemon-xfce">Xfce Goodies Project</ulink>.
          If notification support is not available, wait until the context menu disappears before you remove the media or disconnect
          the drive.
        </para>

        <para>
          Be aware that you cannot eject or unmount media that is still in use by one or more applications. Therefore if the file
          manager refuses to eject media, make sure you close all applications that were accessing the media, and be sure to also
          check command line applications running in <application>Terminal</application> windows.
        </para>

        <para>
          Make sure to unmount removable media before ejecting. Do not eject a diskette from the floppy drive before your unmount
          the diskette. Do not remove an USB stick before you unmount the flash drive. If you do not unmount the media first you
          might lose data or cause your system to crash.
        </para>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="management-of-removable-drives-and-media">
      <title>Management of Removable Drives and Media</title>

      <para>
        Thunar is also able to automatically manage removable drives and media if the <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.foo-projects.org/~benny/projects/thunar-volman/index.html">thunar-volman</ulink> package is installed on
        your system.  Note however that this feature requires HAL support.
      </para>

      <para>
        Now, if HAL support is available and <application>thunar-volman</application> is installed on your system, you
        can choose to enable the <guilabel>Volume Management</guilabel> feature of Thunar. Therefore, open the file
        manager preferences, go to the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> page and check the <guilabel>Enable Volume
        Management</guilabel> button.
      </para>

      <para>
        The next step is to customize the management of removable drives and media to your needs. Click on the
        <guilabel>Configure</guilabel> link in the <guilabel>Volume Management</guilabel> section, right below
        the button. The <guilabel>Removable Drives and Media</guilabel> configuration dialog will be displayed.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/removable-drives-and-media.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>Removable Drives and Media</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>
        If you have used the <application>gnome-volume-manager</application> previously, you should feel right at
        home, because it was designed to look and behave similar to <application>gnome-volume-manager</application>.
        The preferences are divided by device categories to make it easy to locate the option for you specific
        device.
      </para>

      <para>
        The <guilabel>Storage</guilabel> page contains the most important options. As the name suggests these
        options apply only to storage devices like external harddisk drives, USB sticks and CD-ROMs. The
        <guilabel>Removable Storage</guilabel> options are described in detail below.
      </para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Mount removable drives when hot-plugged</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Enable this option to automatically mount file systems on removable drives (i.e. external harddisk drives
              or USB sticks) when such drives are plugged into the computer.
            </para>
            <para>
              This option must be enabled for certain other features to work with removable drives. For example,
              if you disable this option, certain kinds of portable music players cannot be detected any more and
              so, even if you enabled the <guilabel>Play music files when connected</guilabel> option on the
              <guilabel>Multimedia</guilabel> page, the specified command will not be run when you hot-plug your
              portable music player.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Mount removable media when inserted</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Enable this option to automatically mount file systems on removable media (i.e. CD-ROMs or DVDs)
              when you insert the media into the drive.
            </para>
            <para>
              This option must be enabled for certain other features to work with removable media. For example,
              if you disable this option, it is impossible to detect whether the removable media has auto-run
              capabilities, and so the <guilabel>Auto-run programs on new drives and media</guilabel> option
              has no effect for removable media.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Browse removable media when inserted</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Enable this option to automatically display the content of newly inserted media in the file manager.
              Note however, that the contents will only be displayed if no other action was possible or you
              choose to ignore the other possible actions. For example, if you insert a CD-ROM with auto-run
              capabilities and the <guilabel>Auto-run programs on new drives and media</guilabel> option is
              enabled, you will be prompted whether you want to allow or ignore the auto-run. If you choose
              to ignore the auto-run the contents will be displayed in the file manager.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Auto-run programs on new drives and media</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Enable this option to make use of auto-run capabilities of certain removable drives and media. See
              the <ulink type="http" url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/autostart-spec/autostart-spec-0.5.html">Desktop
              Application Autostart Specification</ulink> for details about the auto-run mechanism. To enhance security,
              you will always be prompted to confirm the auto-run.
            </para>
            <para>
              If the Windows emulator <ulink type="http" url="http://www.winehq.org/">WINE</ulink> is installed on your
              system, the auto-run mechanism will also try to run <filename>autorun.exe</filename> files using WINE.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Auto-open files on new drives and media</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Enable this option to make of auto-open capabilities of certain removable drives and media. See
              the <ulink type="http" url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/autostart-spec/autostart-spec-0.5.html">Desktop
              Application Autostart Specification</ulink> for details about the auto-open mechanism. To enhance security,
              you will always be prompted to confirm the auto-open.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <para>
        The remaining options allow you to specify a command to run when a certain kind of media is inserted into a drive
        or a certain kind of external device is connected. The command can use three special variables, that will be
        substituted when the command is run:
      </para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><literal>%d</literal></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Each appearance of <literal>%d</literal> in the command will be substituted with the device file path of
              the newly added device. For example, if you have plugged in an USB stick, the device file path will be
              <filename>/dev/da0s1</filename> or <filename>/dev/sda1</filename>.
            </para>
            <para>
              If no device file is associated with the device or the device file could not be found for some reason,
              the variable <literal>%d</literal> will be substituted with the empty string.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><literal>%h</literal></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Each appearance of <literal>%h</literal> in the command will be substituted with the HAL UDI of the newly
              added device.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><literal>%m</literal></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Each appearance of <literal>%m</literal> in the command will be substituted with the mount point where
              the newly added device was mounted. If the device cannot be mounted (for example printers or keyboards)
              or if the automatic mounting was disabled, <literal>%m</literal> will be substituted with the empty
              string.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <sect3 id="troubleshooting-the-volume-manager">
        <title>Troubleshooting the Volume Manager</title>

        <para>
          Useful tips to trouble shoot the volume manager in case it does not work as expected.
        </para>

        <orderedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Make sure <application>Thunar</application> is running as daemon. The volume manager depends
              on this, as it is not a daemon by itself. By default, Xfce
              automatically spawns <application>Thunar</application> as daemon on startup. If it got killed
              for some reason, open the <guilabel>Run program</guilabel> (using the keyboard shortcut
              <keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> or right-click on the desktop
              and choose <guilabel>Run Program...</guilabel> from the desktop menu), enter <literal>Thunar
              --daemon</literal> and click <guibutton>Run</guibutton>.
            </para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>
              Try running <application>thunar-volman</application> from a <application>Terminal</application>
              window after hot-plugging the drive or inserting the media. First, you need to figure out the
              HAL UDI of the new device using <application>lshal</application> or <application>hal-device</application>.
              Once you know the UDI, run <literal>thunar-volman --device-added &lt;udi-of-your-device&gt;</literal> in
              a <application>Terminal</application> window and watch the output for errors or warnings.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </orderedlist>

        <para>
          If it still refuses to work, ask on the <ulink type="http" url="http://forum.xfce.org/">Xfce Forum</ulink> or
          the <ulink type="http" url="http://foo-projects.org/mailman/listinfo/thunar-dev">thunar-dev mailing list</ulink>
          for help.
        </para>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="preferences">
    <title>File Management Preferences</title>

    <para>
      Use the <guilabel>File Manager Preferences</guilabel> dialog to set your <application>Thunar</application> file manager
      preferences. To open the preferences dialog, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Preferences...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
      from the menu bar, or click on the <guibutton>File Manager</guibutton> button in the Xfce Settings Manager.
    </para>

    <para>
      The <guilabel>File Manager Preferences</guilabel> dialog is divided into four pages with different options, each described in
      a separate section below. Basically you can set preferences in the following categories:
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem><para>The default settings for the views.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>The default settings for the side pane.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>The behavior of the file manager windows.</para></listitem>
      <listitem><para>Advanced features of the file manager.</para></listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>
      Thunar also supports a bunch of so-called <emphasis>Hidden Options</emphasis>, which control several advanced features of the
      file manager, but are not included in the preferences in order to keep the preferences dialog simple. The <ulink type="http"
      url="http://svn.xfce.org/svn/xfce/thunar/trunk/docs/README.thunarrc"><filename>README.thunarrc</filename></ulink> file that
      is included with the Thunar distribution describes all available options in detail.
    </para>


    <sect2 id="preferences-views">
      <title>Views Preferences</title>

      <para>
        You can specify a default view, select sort options and display options. You can
        also specify whether thumbnails should be displayed for file types that support
        this.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/preferences-views.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>Views Preferences</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>View new folder using</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select the default view for folders. When you open a new window, the is displayed
              in the view that you select. This can be either the icon view, the compact list view
              or the detailed list view. You can also select <guilabel>Last Active View</guilabel>
              here to use the view you used for the last active window.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Sort folders before files</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select this option to list folders before files when you sort a folder.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Show thumbnails</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select this option to show thumbnails of image files and other supported files. The
              file manager stores the thumbnail files for each folder in the hidden <filename
              role="directory">.thumbnails</filename> directory in the user's Home Folder.
            </para>
            <para>
              See <xref linkend="thumbnailers" /> if you want to extend the basic
              thumbnail functionality provided by <application>Thunar</application> with support
              for additional file types.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Text beside icons</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select this options to place the icon captions for items in the icon view beside the
              icon rather than under the icon.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="preferences-side-pane">
      <title>Side Pane Preferences</title>

      <para>
        You can select display options for the shortcuts pane and the tree pane.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/preferences-side-pane.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>Side Pane Preferences</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>
        The side pane can either display a list of shortcuts for folders in your file system, which
        is the default, or a tree view of your file system. This page allows you to select the size
        of the icons for the shortcuts and the tree pane. You can also specify whether emblems should
        be displayed.
      </para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Icon Size</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              The size of the icons displayed in the side, ranging from <guilabel>Very Small</guilabel> (around
              16x16 pixels) to <guilabel>Very Large</guilabel> (around 128x128 pixels).
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Show Icon Emblems</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select this option to display emblems for folders in the side pane. You can assign emblems to
              folders in the <guilabel>Properties</guilabel> dialog. Select a folder in the main area and
              choose <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
              from the main menu, or right-click the folder and select <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
              from the context menu.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="preferences-behavior">
      <title>Behavior Preferences</title>

      <para>
        You can select the preferred behavior to interact with the file manager.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/preferences-behavior.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>Behavior Preferences</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Single click to active items</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select this option to perform the default action for an item when you
              click on the item. When this option is selected, and you point to an
              item, the title of the item is underlined and the item will be
              selected automatically after a short delay.
            </para>
            <para>
              This delay can be configured below the option. You can also disable the
              automatic selection of items by moving the selector to the left-most
              position.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Double click to activate items</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Select this option to perform the default action for an item when you
              double click on the item, and select the item with a single click.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="preferences-advanced">
      <title>Advanced Preferences</title>

      <para>
        You can control advanced features of the file manager.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/preferences-advanced.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>Advanced Preferences</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Folder Permissions</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Choose the action that should be performed when you change the permissions of a folder in
              the <guilabel>Properties</guilabel> dialog. You can choose to let <application>Thunar</application>
              ask everytime when you change folder permissions, tell it to default to applying the new permissions
              to the folder only or to apply them recursively to the folder contents as well.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><guilabel>Volume Management</guilabel></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              If <application>Thunar</application> was installed with support for HAL and the <application>thunar-volman</application>
              package is also installed, you can enable the integrated volume manager. See <xref linkend="management-of-removable-drives-and-media" />
              for details about this feature.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="customizing-thunar">
    <title>Customizing Thunar</title>

    <para>
      This chapter describes how to customize certain parts of the file manager to your own needs.
    </para>


    <sect2 id="sendto">
      <title>The "Send To" Menu</title>

      <para>
        Thunar includes a <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu, which provides possible targets where files and folders can
        be sent to. To access the <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu, choose
        <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Send To</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the main menu, or right-click
        on a file or folder and choose <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Send To</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/sendto-menu.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>"Send To" Menu</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>
        By default, the <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu includes an entry named <guilabel>Desktop (Create Link)</guilabel> for all
        files and folders, which simply creates a link on the desktop for each selected file. In addition, if the <guilabel>Shortcuts
        Pane</guilabel> is active, the menu also includes an entry called <guilabel>Side Pane (Create Shortcut)</guilabel> for folders,
        which allows users to add new shortcuts to the side pane. Following these entries, <application>Thunar</application> lists
        the removable drives currently plugged into the computer. In the screenshot above, the <guilabel>Floppy Drive</guilabel>
        represents a possible target where files can be sent to. Note that the device is mounted automatically once selected from
        the <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu, so you do not need to manually mount it.
      </para>

      <para>
        In addition <application>Thunar</application> also ships the <application>thunar-sendto-email</application> plugin, which adds
        the entry <guilabel>Mail Recipient</guilabel> to the menu, that opens the mail composer with the selected files attach to the
        new email. If the selection contains atleast one folder, the selected items are added to a ZIP archive before attaching them
        to the email. Otherwise, if the selection contains multiple files, or a single file, which is larger than 200Kib, the user will
        be prompted whether to pack the files into a ZIP archive, and send the ZIP archive.
      </para>

      <para>
        Like most other features of <application>Thunar</application>, the <guilabel>Send to</guilabel> menu can be easily extended
        by users and application developers with new targets, using standard <ulink type="http"
        url="http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fdesktop_2dentry_2dspec">desktop entry files</ulink>. These files must be
        installed into one of the <filename role="directory">$XDG_DATA_DIRS/Thunar/sendto/</filename> folders (see the <ulink type="http"
        url="http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fbasedir_2dspec">XDG Base Directory Specification</ulink> for details about the
        <literal>$XDG_DATA_DIRS</literal> variable).
      </para>

      <para>
        The <literal>MimeType</literal> of the target <filename>.desktop</filename> specifies the types of files for which this action
        should be available in the <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu. For example, say you want to add entry for a <ulink type="http"
        url="http://flickr.com/">Flickr</ulink> uploader tool, then this entry should only show up if the selection contains JPEG
        files (other file formats are not supported by Flickr) and so you should add a line <literal>MimeType=image/jpeg;</literal>.
        If you do not specify any <literal>MimeType</literal> your entry will show up for all file types.
      </para>

      <para>
        A complete example using the <application>postr</application> application is shown below:
      </para>

<programlisting>
# postr.desktop - Integrate postr into
#                 the "Send To" menu.
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
TryExec=postr
Exec=postr %F
Icon=postr
Name=Flickr
MimeType=image/jpeg;</programlisting>

      <para>
        If you install this file to <filename role="directory">~/.local/share/Thunar/sendto/</filename> (create the folder if
        it does not exist yet), the <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu for JPEG files will show the new entry <guilabel>Flickr</guilabel>,
        which can be used to upload JPEG images to Flickr.
      </para>

      <para>
        The <ulink type="http" url="http://thunar.xfce.org/pwiki/documentation/sendto_menu">Thunar Project Wiki</ulink> contains
        additional examples of useful targets for the <guilabel>Send To</guilabel> menu. Feel free to extend the Wiki page with
        new examples.
      </para>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="thumbnailers">
      <title>Thumbnailers</title>

      <para>
        Thunar uses small utilities to create thumbnails of certain file types and displays the thumbnails as preview of the
        file content. These small tools are called thumbnailers. Thunar ships with thumbnailers for image and font files, and
        makes use of the installed thumbnailers from GNOME automatically if it was installed with support for <literal>gconf</literal>.
        Users may however dynamically extend this basic functionality with thumbnailers for additional file types.
      </para>

      <para>
        If you plan to write a custom thumbnailers, you need to start with a program that accepts atleast two command line parameters,
        the input file, which is of the file type you plan to support and the output file, which is a PNG file that complies with the
        format specified by the <ulink type="http" url="http://jens.triq.net/thumbnail-spec/creation.html#AEN139">Thumbnail Management
        Standard</ulink>. Additionally your program may also accept the desired size of the thumbnail, which is optional but highly
        recommended. If you write the output file at an arbitrary image size, Thunar will afterwards scale it to the desired size,
        which might produce a less optimal result than generating the thumbnail with the requested dimensions.
      </para>

      <para>
        Once your utility to generate the thumbnails is done, you will need to register your thumbnailer, so Thunar is able to locate
        and use it. Therefore all you need to do is to install a description file for the thumbnailer (a <filename>.desktop</filename> file)
        in one of the <filename role="directory">$XDG_DATA_DIRS/thumbnailers/</filename> paths. For example, if you want to register the
        thumbnailer for your user account only, you can install the file into the folder <filename
        role="directory">~/.local/share/thumbnailers/</filename>. The <filename>.desktop</filename> for thumbnailers has the following format.
      </para>

      <sect3 id="thumbnailer-desktop-file-format">
        <title>Thumbnailer Description File Format</title>

        <para>
          Thumbnailer description files utilize the <ulink type="http" url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/">Desktop
          Entry Format</ulink> with a special <literal>Type</literal> of <literal>X-Thumbnailer</literal> and special field
          <literal>X-Thumbnailer-Exec</literal> with new field codes. Basically, a thumbnailer description file has the following format.
        </para>

        <programlisting>
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=X-Thumbnailer
Name=Your Thumbnailer
MimeType=your-supported/mime-type;
X-Thumbnailer-Exec=your-thumbnailer %i %o %s</programlisting>

        <para>
          The <literal>Version</literal> and <literal>Encoding</literal> are mandated by the Desktop Entry Specification, just use the values shown
          in the example above. The <literal>Type</literal> field must have the special value <literal>X-Thumbnailer</literal>, otherwise your
          thumbnailer will not be recognized. The <literal>Name</literal> value describes your thumbnailer.
        </para>

        <para>
          The <literal>X-Thumbnailer-Exec</literal> field contains the command to run your thumbnailer, and supports certain field codes that will
          be substituted when the thumbnailer is run. Recognized field codes are as follows:
        </para>

        <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
            <term><varname>%i</varname></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>The local path to the input file for which to create a thumbnail. May be either a path relative to the directory from which the
              thumbnailer was invoked or an absolute path.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><varname>%o</varname></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>The local path to the output file where to store the generated thumbnail. The output file must be written as valid PNG file according
              to the thumbnail standard (see above). Note that the path may not end with <literal>.png</literal>, which matters if you invoke certain
              third party tools.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><varname>%s</varname></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>The desired size of the generated thumbnail in pixels. This parameter is optional.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><varname>%u</varname></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Similar to <literal>%i</literal>, but substituted with the URI of the file, rather than the path. This was added for compatibility with
              GNOME.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><varname>%%</varname></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Will be substituted with a single <literal>%</literal>.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>
        </variablelist>

        <para>
          You need to include atleast <literal>%o</literal> and <literal>%i</literal> or <literal>%u</literal>, otherwise your thumbnailer will
          be useless.
        </para>

        <para>
          The <literal>MimeType</literal> lists the MIME types - separated by semicolon - for which your thumbnailer is able to create previews.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="eps-thumbnailer-example">
        <title>Example EPS Thumbnailer</title>

        <para>
          This example demonstrates how to write and install a new thumbnailer for <filename>.eps</filename> files, which uses the
          <command>convert</command> utility that ships as part of ImageMagick. First, we start with a simple script that invokes
          <command>convert</command> to generate a thumbnail at the requested size.
        </para>

        <programlisting>
#!/bin/sh
#
# eps-thumbnailer - Example thumbnailer script for EPS files.
#
# Usage: esp-thumbnailer eps-file png-file size
#

# command line parameters
ifile=$1
ofile=$2
size=$3

# invoke convert (ImageMagick)
exec convert "eps:$ifile" -scale "$sizex$size" "png:$ofile"</programlisting>

        <para>
          Save this script above to a file <filename>eps-thumbnailer</filename>, make sure the file is executable and install it
          to <filename role="directory">/usr/local/bin</filename>.
        </para>

        <screen>
$ chmod +x eps-thumbnailer
$ sudo install eps-thumbnailer /usr/local/bin/eps-thumbnailer</screen>

        <para>
          Next we need to create the thumbnail description file <filename>eps-thumbnailer.desktop</filename>, which looks like this:
        </para>

        <programlisting>
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=X-Thumbnailer
Name=EPS Thumbnailer
TryExec=convert
MimeType=image/x-eps;
X-Thumbnailer-Exec=/usr/local/bin/eps-thumbnailer %i %o %s</programlisting>

        <para>
          This file must be installed to <filename role="directory">/usr/local/share/thumbnailers</filename> (create the folder if
          it does not exists).
        </para>

        <screen>
$ sudo install -d /usr/local/share/thumbnailers
$ sudo install eps-thumbnailer.desktop /usr/local/share/thumbnailers/eps-thumbnailer.desktop</screen>

        <para>
          The <filename>eps-thumbnailer.desktop</filename> file uses the special key <literal>TryExec</literal>, which, if specified,
          names a command that must be present on the system for the thumbnailer to be useful. In this case, our script is useless if
          the <command>convert</command> utility is not present.
        </para>

        <para>
          The last step is to regenerate the thumbnailer cache, so Thunar will pick up our thumbnailer. The thumbnailer cache is located
          at <filename>$XDG_CACHE_HOME/Thunar/thumbnailers.cache</filename> (unless overridden by your or your system administrator, the
          <varname>$XDG_CACHE_HOME</varname> points to the folder <filename role="directory">~/.cache/</filename>). The thumbnailers
          cache is regenerated periodically by Thunar, but you can force to regenerate it by invoking the
          <filename>thunar-vfs-update-thumbnailers-cache-1</filename> utility, that ships as part of Thunar. This utility is usually installed
          in the <filename role="directory">libexec</filename> subfolder of your installation prefix (<filename role="directory">sbin</filename>
          on Debian/Ubuntu). So for example, if Thunar is installed in <filename role="directory">/usr</filename>, invoke the utility as
          follows:
        </para>

        <screen>$ /usr/libexec/thunar-vfs-update-thumbnailers-cache-1</screen>

        <para>
          But make sure you run the program from your user account, not the superuser account, since the thumbnailers cache is stored in
          your home folder, rather than a system wide location.
        </para>

        <para>
          Now, if Thunar is compiled with support for file alteration monitoring (using the FAM or Gamin services), it will automatically
          pick up the new thumbnailers cache within a few seconds and afterwards be able to generate thumbnails using your custom
          thumbnailers. Otherwise you might need to completely restart Thunar to apply the changes, using
        </para>

        <screen>$ Thunar -q</screen>

        <para>
          to terminate any running instance, and afterwards restart it from your launcher.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="cleaning-up-thumbnails">
        <title>Cleaning up Thumbnails</title>

        <para>
          The generated thumbnails are stored in the folder <filename role="directory">~/.thumbnails/</filename> complying with the <ulink
          type="http" url="http://jens.triq.net/thumbnail-spec/index.html">Thumbnail Management Standard</ulink>. While testing a new
          thumbnailer, it might help to clean up the thumbnail cache using
        </para>

        <screen>$ rm -rf ~/.thumbnails/</screen>

        <para>
          which will also give you some free space in your home folder. Since all the information stored within this folder was automatically
          generated from files in your file system, you will not loose any sensitive data.
        </para>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="advanced-topics">
    <title>Advanced Topics</title>


    <sect2 id="to-bulk-rename-files">
      <title>To Bulk Rename Files</title>

      <para>
        To <emphasis>bulk rename</emphasis> files means to rename multiple files at once using some criterion, that applies to atleast
        one of the files. <application>Thunar</application> includes a bulk renamer, which can be run separately using the command
        <command>Thunar -B</command> or from within <application>Thunar</application> by selecting two or more files in the main area
        and pressing <keycombo><keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> or choosing
        <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Rename...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the main menu.
      </para>

      <screenshot>
        <mediaobject>
          <imageobject>
            <imagedata fileref="images/bulk-rename.png" format="PNG"/>
          </imageobject>

          <textobject>
            <phrase>Bulk Rename Files</phrase>
          </textobject>
        </mediaobject>
      </screenshot>

      <para>
        The <emphasis>Bulk Renamers</emphasis> can be applied to the name of the files, the suffix of the files or both to the
        name and the suffix of the files. <application>Thunar</application> currently supports the following <emphasis>Bulk
        Renamers</emphasis>:
      </para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem><para>Remove characters.</para></listitem>
        <listitem><para>Numbering files.</para></listitem>
        <listitem><para>Insert Date or Time.</para></listitem>
        <listitem><para>Insert or overwrite characters.</para></listitem>
        <listitem><para>Search and replace characters.</para></listitem>
        <listitem><para>Convert to uppercase, lowercase or camlcase.</para></listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <para>
        Additional <emphasis>Bulk Renamers</emphasis> may be installed as plugins for <application>Thunar</application>. Check
        the <ulink type="http" url="http://thunar.xfce.org/plugins.html">Thunar Plugins</ulink> website for currently available
        extensions. The <ulink type="http" url="http://thunar.xfce.org/pwiki/documentation/bulk_renamer">Thunar Project Wiki</ulink>
        contains further details about this feature. Feel free to add more information to the Wiki.
      </para>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="the-unix-file-system">
      <title>The UNIX File System</title>

      <para>
        While the Thunar file manager does a good job at abstracting the details of the underlying file system, so the user
        does not need to care about them, it is sometimes useful to understand the basic concepts to get the whole picture.
        This section tries to give a brief introduction to the concepts of the UNIX file system, which is used today by all
        incarnations of UNIX, including Linux.
      </para>

      <sect3 id="folders-and-paths">
        <title>Folders and Paths</title>

        <para>
          In a UNIX file system all folders are arranged in a simple inverted tree structure descending and branching down
          from a single top level folder, which is called the <emphasis>root directory</emphasis> (the term
          <emphasis>directory</emphasis> is often used instead of <emphasis>folder</emphasis>) and displayed as
          <guilabel>File System</guilabel> in Thunar. This means that you can get from any folder to any other by going
          up the tree until you reach a common point, then down the tree through the appropriate subfolders until you reach
          your target.
        </para>

        <para>
          The position of any file or folder in the tree can be described by its <emphasis>path</emphasis>. The path is the
          list of folders you would have to descend through to get to the target folder or file, starting from the top level
          folder. For example <filename role="directory">/home/luke</filename> is the subfolder <filename
          role="directory">luke</filename> of the subfolder <filename role="directory">home</filename> of the top level folder,
          and <filename>/home/luke/myfile.txt</filename> is the file <filename>myfile.txt</filename> in that subfolder. The
          leading <filename role="directory">/</filename> in these paths represents the top level folder.
        </para>

        <para>
          Every user has their own folder to hold their personal files and settings. This folder is called the <emphasis>home
          directory</emphasis> and is displayed in Thunar as special icon with the users login name. The folder is similar to
          the <guilabel>My Files</guilabel> folder known from Windows. The <emphasis>home directories</emphasis> of the various
          users in a system are usually located below the <filename role="directory">/home</filename> folder. For example
          <filename role="directory">/home/luke</filename> would be the home directory of the user with the login name
          <filename role="directory">luke</filename>, while <filename role="directory">/home/jane</filename> would be
          the home directory for the user with the login name <filename role="directory">jane</filename>.
        </para>
      </sect3>

      <sect3 id="file-types">
        <title>File Types</title>

        <para>
          You may have already heard that everything is a file in UNIX. This is true for most objects present in UNIX systems
          today. In fact even devices are represented as a special files. While this may not make sense at first sight, it is
          one of the strengths of UNIX and its derivates, and has helped it to maintain a simple core over the years where other
          operating systems had to introduce new concepts for every new technology.
        </para>

        <para>
          These are the four most important types of files in the UNIX file system.
        </para>

        <sect4 id="file-types-ordinary-files">
          <title>Ordinary Files</title>

          <para>
            An ordinary file may contain text, a program or other data. This includes image files, audio files, office documents
            and video files. The term <emphasis>file</emphasis> is often used to refer to an ordinary file.
          </para>
        </sect4>

        <sect4 id="file-types-folder-files">
          <title>Folder Files</title>

          <para>
            Folders are also files in the UNIX file system. To be exact a folder is a special file, which contains a
            mapping of file names to file references for every file contained within this folder.
          </para>
        </sect4>

        <sect4 id="file-types-symbolic-link-files">
          <title>Symbolic Link Files</title>

          <para>
            A Symbolic link (often called a <emphasis>symlink</emphasis>) is a special file that contains a path to
            another file in the file system. Symbolic link files therefore do not contain any useful information
            themselves, but just refer to other files.
          </para>
        </sect4>

        <sect4 id="file-types-device-files">
          <title>Device Files</title>

          <para>
            As mentioned earlier (most) devices are also accessed through the file system. These special device files are
            usually located in the <filename role="directory">/dev</filename> folder. For example the special file
            <filename>/dev/hda</filename> represents the first IDE disk on Linux.
          </para>
        </sect4>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="faq">
    <title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>

    <para>
      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 <ulink type="http"
      url="http://bugzilla.xfce.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunar&amp;format=guided">file
      a request</ulink>.
    </para>

    <sect2 id="faq-executables">
      <title>Why doesn't Thunar execute files marked as executable?</title>

      <para>
        For security reasons Thunar only executes files of type <literal>application/x-desktop</literal>,
        <literal>application/x-executable</literal> and <literal>application/x-shellscript</literal>. For
        desktop files the execution feature will only be enabled if the desktop file is of type
        <literal>Application</literal> and a valid <literal>Exec</literal> line is given or of type
        <literal>Link</literal> and a valid <literal>URL</literal> is given. For the other types the feature
        is available if the file is marked executable for the current user.
      </para>

      <para>
        Also note that for <literal>application/x-executable</literal> and <literal>application/x-shellscript</literal>,
        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.
      </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="faq-metadata">
      <title>Where does Thunar store the metadata associated with files?</title>

      <para>
        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
        <filename>$XDG_CACHE_HOME/Thunar/metafile.tdb</filename> and can be examined
        using the <command>tdbtool</command>, which is part of the Thunar distribution
        (located in the <filename role="directory">tdb/</filename> subdirectory).
      </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="faq-thunarrc">
      <title>Where does Thunar store its preferences?</title>

      <para>
        Thunar stores the user configurable preferences (and hidden settings) in
        an <filename>.ini</filename> file, which is located at
        <filename>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Thunar/thunarrc</filename> and can be examined
        using a text editor. See <filename>docs/README.thunarrc</filename> for an
        overview of the various preferences.
      </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="faq-mouse-gestures">
      <title>How to use mouse gestures in Thunar?</title>

      <para>
        Thunar currently features basic support for so called <emphasis>mouse gestures</emphasis>
        in its icon view. You can use these <emphasis>mouse gestures</emphasis> 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.
      </para>

      <simplelist>
        <member><guilabel>Left</guilabel> - opens the previous visited folder</member>
        <member><guilabel>Up</guilabel> - opens the parent folder</member>
        <member><guilabel>Right</guilabel> - opens the next visited folder</member>
        <member><guilabel>Down</guilabel> - reloads the current folder</member>
      </simplelist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="faq-assign-keyboard-shortcuts">
      <title>How do I assign different keyboard shortcuts?</title>

      <para>
        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.
      </para>

      <para>
        To delete a keyboard assignment, press the <keycap>Backspace</keycap> key
        while you are on the menu entry.
      </para>

      <para>
        If the shortcut doesn't change, then you need to enable the feature in
        GTK+. This can be achieved in 3 ways:
      </para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            If you are running Xfce 4.3 or above then you can enable <guilabel>Editable
            menu accelerators</guilabel> in the <guilabel>User Interface Preferences</guilabel>
            dialog.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            If you are running GNOME then you can enable <guilabel>Editable menu
            accelerators</guilabel> in the <guilabel>Menu and Toolbars</guilabel> control
            center dialog.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            Otherwise put the following in your <filename>~/.gtkrc-2.0</filename> file
            (create the file if it doesn't exist):<screen>gtk-can-change-accels=1</screen>
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="faq-store-keyboard-shortcuts">
      <title>Where does Thunar store the keyboard shortcuts?</title>

      <para>
        The custom keyboard shortcuts are stored in the standard GTK+ accel map format in a
        file located at <filename>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Thunar/accels.scm</filename>. Lines starting
        with <literal>;</literal> are comments. See the GTK+ documentation for details about the
        file format.
      </para>

      <para>
        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 <filename>Thunar/accels.scm</filename> in one of the <envar>$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS</envar>.
        For example, if <filename role="directory">/etc/xdg</filename> is part of <envar>$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS</envar>
        (the default for most Linux distributions), you can install system wide defaults to
        <filename>/etc/xdg/Thunar/accels.scm</filename>. Thunar will then load shortcuts from this file on first startup.
      </para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="support">
    <title>Support</title>

    <para>
      To report a bug or to make a suggestion regarding this application or this manual, use the bug tracking system at <ulink
      url="http://bugzilla.xfce.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunar&amp;format=guided">http://bugzilla.xfce.org/</ulink>.
      Remember that useful bug reports are ones that get bugs fixed, so a useful bug report has two qualities:
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <emphasis role="bold">Reproducible.</emphasis> If the developer cannot see the bug himself
          to prove that it exists, he will most probably not be able to fix it at all. Every detail you
          can provide helps.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <emphasis role="bold">Specific.</emphasis> The quicker the developer can isolate the problem
          to a specific area, the more likely he will expediently fix it.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>
      In case you want to request a new feature, please make clear why you consider it a worth
      addition for the application. It is more likely that a new feature gets added if you provide
      good arguments for the feature. It will increase the chance of addition even more if you
      provide a patch that implements the requested feature, but make sure that you read the file
      <ulink type="http" url="http://svn.xfce.org/svn/xfce/terminal/trunk/HACKING">HACKING</ulink>
      - especially the section labeled <emphasis>Coding Style</emphasis> - before you start hacking
      up the source.
    </para>

    <para>
      Else, if you have questions about the use or installation of this software, please ask on the
      <ulink type="http" url="http://foo-projects.org/mailman/listinfo/thunar-dev">thunar-dev mailing
      list</ulink> or point your IRC client to <emphasis role="bold">irc.freenode.net</emphasis>,
      join the channel <emphasis role="bold">#thunar</emphasis> and ask for help.
    </para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="copyright">
    <title>About &application;</title>

    <para>
      &application; was written by Benedikt Meurer (<email>benny@xfce.org</email>). Visit the
      <ulink url="http://thunar.xfce.org/" type="http">Thunar website</ulink> for more information.
    </para>

    <para>
      This documentation was written by Benedikt Meurer (<email>benny@xfce.org</email>). The latest
      version of this document is always available from the <ulink type="http"
      url="http://thunar.xfce.org/">Thunar website</ulink>.
    </para>

    <para>
      This software is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License
      as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
      (at your option) any later version.
    </para>

    <para>
      You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 
      along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software 
      Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, 
      USA.
    </para>
  </sect1>

</article>
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