Wednesday 4 May 2011

Modifying Xubuntu application menu

One of the most disturbing features of my Xubuntu desktop is the apparent inability to modify the application menu. In particular, I had a huge settings submenu with duplicated entries: many already appeared in the system submenu.

So I edited the file /etc/xdg/menus/xfce-applications.menu and changed the section

<Menu>
<Name>Settings</Name>
<Directory>xfce-settings.directory</Directory>
<Include>
<Category>Settings</Category>
</Include>

<Layout>
<Filename>xfce-settings-manager.desktop</Filename>
<Separator/>
<Merge type="all"/>
</Layout>

<Menu>
<Name>Screensavers</Name>
<Directory>xfce-screensavers.directory</Directory>
<Include>
<Category>Screensaver</Category>
</Include>
</Menu>
</Menu>

into

<Menu>
<Name>Settings</Name>
<Directory>xfce-settings.directory</Directory>
<Include>
<Category>Settings</Category>
</Include>
<Exclude>
<Or>
<Category>System</Category>
</Or>
</Exclude>

<Layout>
<Filename>xfce-settings-manager.desktop</Filename>
<Separator/>
<Merge type="all"/>
</Layout>

<Menu>
<Name>Screensavers</Name>
<Directory>xfce-screensavers.directory</Directory>
<Include>
<Category>Screensaver</Category>
</Include>
</Menu>
</Menu>

This is a simple example of what can be achieved if you (very carefully) edit the file.

1 comment:

  1. What would I need to do in order to remove the Web Browser and Mail Reader listings in the menu?

    ReplyDelete