Are you working in the Xfce desktop environment, or thinking of switching to an Xfce-powered Linux distribution like Linux Mint? I’ve spent the past several weeks using Xfce on my main desktop, and I ended up making a few changes you might want to consider too.
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Xfce is one of the best desktop environments you can get that keeps resource usage low so you can run it on aging and underpowered devices. It favors utility over aesthetics, so while it’s not the prettiest to look at, Xfce gets the job done. Still, there were elements I missed from my KDE Plasma desktop configuration, but I found some great subsitutes and fixes.
Added web search to the command runner
I refuse to type in the address bar anymore
When I started using Xfce, one of the first things I missed was Krunner, a multi-purpose application launcher and task runner that I use countless times a day. I was relieved to learn Xfce has a built-in equivalent called Application Finder, but it turned out to be a little lacking compared to Krunner—at least by default.
Application Finder on Xfce lets you create custom actions, and I wanted the ability to do web searches from Application Finder. So I opened up its preferences, switched to the Custom Actions tab, and made an entry. I gave it the pattern dd: and put exo-open --launch WebBrowser http://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s in the Command field.
Once that custom action was in place, I was able to search DuckDuckGo in my default web browser just by launching Application Finder and typing the patten followed by a search term. For example, dd:how to geek would give me DuckDuckGo search results for How-To Geek.
Another change I made to Application Finder was to switch the keyboard shortcut to match that of Krunner’s on Plasma. Specifically, I needed it to open in “collapsed mode” which results in a smaller window, and it’s also the only mode where custom actions work. I did this by adding an entry to Xfce’s keyboard shortcut menu with xfce4-appfinder --collapsed as the command and Alt+Space as the shortcut.
Installed a clipboard manager
Copy-paste made easy
For me, a clipboard manager is an essential part of any desktop. Windows has its own clipboard history tool, and KDE has a clipboard manager I use all the time.
Unfortunately, Xfce does not have a built-in clipboard manager. You’re stuck with just one item at a time loaded in your Ctrl+V barrel.
You can imagine my relief when I found an app that works much like KDE’s clipboard manager: CopyQ. The app lives in Xfce’s status tray, and when you click it, you can review and manipulate your clipboard history to your heart’s content. You can even use tabs to manage multiple histories, and also pin commonly pasted items.
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I also changed CopyQ’s menu launch shortcut to work just like just like KDE’s default shortcut for the clipboard manager: Meta+V.
Added a drop-down terminal
I prefer to feel like I’m playing Quake
While you don’t have to touch the command line to be a Linux user, I make use of it daily. Speed and efficiency is the name of the game, so the faster I can open a terminal window to accomplish something the better. That’s where drop-down terminals come in.
On my Plasma desktop, I use Yakuake, which is drop-down terminal emulator built for the KDE environment. It’s nice because it lets you open a terminal window that’s just out of view with a tap of the F12 key, and you can tap it again to knock the window out of your way again when you’re done with it.
I tried installing Yakuake on Xfce, but I couldn’t get Yakuake to work properly. I tried both from Arch’s repositories and as a Flatpak, but neither version of Yakuake worked. I found a workaround by installing Guake Terminal, an alternative to Yakuake built for GNOME and other GTK-based environments (which includes Xfce).
The two apps have feature parity as far as my needs go, so I’m happy with Guake on my Xfce desktop and Yakuake on my Plasma PC.
Got a better screenshot app
Sorry, but I need my annotations
Xfce’s built-in screenshot tool is OK, but it doesn’t do much beyond letting you choose between capturing windows, sections of the screen, or the whole screen. To do my work, I need a lot more, like a built-in editor with annotation tools.
That’s why I installed Flameshot, a much more powerful screenshot app for Linux. It’s widely available across Linux repositories, so it’s easy to install. It has a flexible and intuitive interface with a ton of features and optimizations. Not only that, but it’s extremely customizable, with toggles in the settings menu for almost every aspect of Flameshot.
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By the way, to make sure that hitting the Print Screen key resulted in Flameshot’s capture interface appearing, I edited Xfce’s keyboard shortcut settings and replaced xfce4-screenshooter with the command flameshot gui.
Those are the major changes I made to my Xfce desktop, but I wanted to note I also made myself more comfortable by choosing choosing a theme for Xfce that fits me. This may be surprising, but I actually really like how Windows 95 and 98 looked. I went the distance by installing the Chicago95 theme pack. It turns into Xfce into a spitting image of 90s-era Windows while still letting you use Xfce’s modern desktop tools like Workspaces and Bluetooth management.
