Ubuntu – How to set-up Xubuntu to show Applications menu on desktop right-click

xfcexubuntu

As far as I know, in older versions of XFCE this was a default behaviour – "Applications" menu was popped-up immediately on desktop mouse right-click. But now "Applications" menu appears as a sub-menu in a folder-class context menu which pops up instead.

I never store any files on the Desktop, so "Create folder", "Open terminal here" menu items are useless for me to have on the Desktop, instead I'd like "Applications" menu to open when I right-click on the Desktop.

From using ArchLinux I can remember that there was a special package to install to address this issue. Is there such a package (or another solution) available for Xubuntu?

Best Answer

You have to disable all desktop icons in the Desktop configuration dialog in the Icons section. This will make the Application menu your right-click menu.

Unfortunately you can't have both.

versions 11.04 - 13.10

enter image description here

As the picture shows - "test" is a root menu which has been added.

To do this will require a couple of folders to be created:

mkdir -p ~/.config/menus
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications

Next copy the standard menu template file into the local menus folder

cp /etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/menus/* ~/.config/menus

Note - the stock XFCE menu could also be used - I prefer this menu so I've used it in my example:

cp /etc/xdg/menus/* ~/.config/menus

Now create our test menu - its in .desktop file-format

leafpad ~/.local/share/applications/test.desktop

copy and paste the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=test
Comment=
Icon=acroread
Exec=acroread
Path=
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false
Categories=X-Xfce-Toplevel;

The important bit is the last line - it must have X-Xfce-Toplevel as a category

Edit our custom menu:

leafpad ~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu

Add a new entry as shown:

enter image description here

Finally - lets use the custom menu file:

Right click Start and choose properties:

enter image description here

Choose the custom menu option and navigate and select the custom menu file ~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu

enter image description here

Best Answer

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versions 11.04 - 13.10

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