With Gnome Nautilus you can right click on a folder and "share" via Samba to a windows machine.

Thunar doesn't seem to have that.

What recommendations for a usercuddly xubuntu gui tool for doing this task? Or should I just tell my colleagues to apt-get install nautilus and have done?

Thanks,

They could just use system-administration-'shared folders.'

Folder sharing with Xubuntu is easy, but the Thunar file manager is not the way to do it. (I'm using Xubuntu 12.04, but I know this worked for 11.10 also.)

When you install Xubuntu, BOTH Thunar and Nautilus file managers are automatically installed. Thunar is the selected file manager by default. To share folders/files, go to the "Applications Menu" in the top-left corner of the screen and click on "Settings", then click on "Settings Manager". Click on the "Preferred Applications" icon. Select the "Utilities" tab, and under "File Manager", drop down the list and select "Nautilus".

Summary: Applications Menu/Settings/Settings Manager/Preferred Applications/Utilities/File Manager, then select Nautilus.

The next step is to go back to the Applications Menu and click on "System", then click on "Synaptic Package Manager". When Synaptic opens, search for the package named "nautilus-share". If it is not already installed, install it now. Close Synaptic when you are finished, then reboot the computer. When you open a new folder window, right-clicking on any folder will allow you to set the "Sharing Options".

Note: Any folder icons that you already placed on your desktop using Thunar will remain Thunar objects. Delete them and create new folder icons with Nautilus, if you want to.

Another note: If you want to see "Shared Folders" on your Applications Menu, go to Applications Menu/Settings/Main Menu, and in the left column, select "System". You will see "Shared Folders" in the right column. Select that, then close the Main Menu window, and "Shared Folders" will thereafter be visible under Applications Menu/Settings.