Hi all,

I use Debian Testing with the xfce desktop environment. I recently discovered that Thunar file manager, when in icon view mode, shows a .desktop file's "Name" value and NOT the actual filename itself.
So Thunar shows information from the .desktop's file metadata and this was done by default.

I find this very practical and handy for my needs.

The thing is that, after my system's last dist-upgrade, Thunar (version 4.16.0) stopped behaving like previously, and instead shows the actual filename of .desktop files, just like the other file managers
I use (Dolphin and rarely Nautilus).

To be honest, I don't know if Thunar was upgraded during the last dist-upgrade. But its behavior
changed after that. Anyway, is there something I can do to bring back the previous behavior?

Thank you.

Yeah, it shouldn't do that; and to my knowledge none of the big DE filemanagers do it.
So you have Thunar, Dolphin and Nautilus installed concurrently on a Debian Testing system? I can see how that could cause some hiccups.
Have you researched this at all, both on your machine and on the web?
Have you asked on the debian-testing mailinglist?

Why it shouldn't do that? I find it very original from Thunar!

I haven't ask on the debian-testing mailinglist. I am not sure if this change of behavior
can be called a "problem". To many users, this is the right Thunar behavior concerning
.desktop files.

Anyway, it is not a critical thing. I just liked the way Thunar presented .desktop files
inside a random folder (not .local/share/applications folder). It was like the xfce menu
materialized inside a file manager. I found it very practical to have all these executables
with their big icons and their clear names under those icons, lined up on my screen inside a folder.
And as I discovered it, it disappeared!

Yes, I can see now that thunar behaves exactly as you describe it. I think this is new behaviour and it seems intentional.
Thinking about it, it makes sense - the metadata inside these files is intended for desktop icons or menu entries, not file managers. Well, it's debatable. pcmanfm still shows the metadata.

To ondoho:

Thank you for your suggestion! I installed pcmanfm and my issue was immediately solved. I wonder for how long...

PCMan File Manager is aesthetically and operationally very close to Thunar, and it utilizes .desktop files metadata,
as Thunar did. There is no reason for all the file managers to be identical. Dolphin does some things (many things),
Thunar does some other things. One can always combine them. No reason for the one to be clone of the other.

And yes, I made the same thought as you, that Thunar's change of behavior was intentional.

Thank you again.

Actually thunar still uses the Icon= metadata from the .desktop files, but not the Name= anymore.

Spam link in quote. Reported.

Right click any folder in documents
Click on Permissions.
You'll see "open with"
Thunar
They'all open with thunar from there forward.
Anything INSIDE documents. Individual music, pictures.. right click, hit permissions/select from the list. There ya go !

Just skip Kroger, if it's an option ;-)