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Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,581  

Thunar folder and file ordering

Hello:

One thing I do not like about Thunar (Thunar 1.6.11 in ascii) is how it orders folders and files, placing the last opened file or folder at the top of the list.
Find it quite annoying having to reset it every time.

Anyone know where this specific behaviour is set?

Thanks in advance,

A.

mknoop

Member

Registered: 2017-05-18

Posts: 69  

Re: Thunar folder and file ordering

My experience is that the files and directories for a folder will be listed as they were the last time I opened that particular folder.  The default for a folder I have not previously opened is folders first by name ascending followed by files by name ascending.  Are you not seeing this?

GlennW

Member

From: Brisbane, Australia

Registered: 2019-07-18

Posts: 644  

Re: Thunar folder and file ordering

I have had a similar problem, iirc it was the permissions for the settings file would not allow change. ymmv

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Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,581  

Re: Thunar folder and file ordering

Hello:

... files and directories for a folder will be listed as they were the last time I opened that particular folder.
Are you not seeing this?

Yes, I am.

The problem arises when you sort files or folders (whichever way) and then exit Thunar.
When you open Thunar again, you get the files sorted the way you did it previously.
ie: it survives a restart.

eg: if you sort files by date in a folder and then exit Thunar, on opening Thunar again, you get the files sorted by date again.
Not according to the default alphabetical sorting.
Yes, you get folders first if you set it that way in File Manager Preferences but the view is not reset to what you can expect to be the default (alphabetical sorting)

I really do not need Thunar to remind me how I sorted my files to be seen the last time I used it.
Why?

Because I will have purposely (or not) forgotten that very unneccesary tidbit of information.
Why?

Because alphabetical is the common sense way to sort anything with a name made up of letters in an alphabet.
Hence the concept of alphabetical.

And it has always been that way, probably from when the dictionary was invented.

Seeing that there is no option to set this type of sorting permanently in File Manager Preferences, it stands to reason that a sort by date action (or any other) is a temporary one.
ie: to specifically find a recently edited/modified file.

Yet the sorting you last used actually survives a Thunar exit/restart, which is quite annoying.
Very Poetteringesque™, if I may say so.

My question would then be: why the flying fuck is this so? is there a way to keep Thunar from doing this?

Cheers,

A.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2019-03-24

Posts: 3,125  

Website

Re: Thunar folder and file ordering

Yet the sorting you last used actually survives a Thunar exit/restart, which is quite annoying.

I totally disagree — not saving my preferred setting would irritate me immensely.

why the flying fuck is this so?

Because it's a sensible setting

is there a way to keep Thunar from doing this?

Create an executable wrapper script at /usr/local/bin/thunar to reset the property every time the file manager is launched:

#!/bin/sh
xfconf-query --channel thunar --property /last-sort-column --set THUNAR_COLUMN_NAME
/usr/bin/thunar "$@"

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Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,581  

Re: Thunar folder and file ordering

Hello HoaS:

... not saving my preferred setting would irritate me immensely.

Indeed ...
It does irritate me.
Immensely.

But you grasped that already.  8^*
I digress ...

Preferred settings are usually set in a way that they can be recognised as such and are usually referred to as Default settings.
In Thunar: Edit -> Preferences -> File Manager Preferences -> Display -> Default View

The Default View being the one that is there always, no matter what.
ie: the preferred setting

When I click on Name, Size, Type, Date Modified, Permissions or Owner, I am overriding the default setting.

Whoever had this idea at Thunar HQ is (with all due respect) a dick.

Create an executable wrapper script at /usr/local/bin/thunar to reset the property every time the file manager is launched:

#!/bin/sh
xfconf-query --channel thunar --property /last-sort-column --set THUNAR_COLUMN_NAME
/usr/bin/thunar "$@"

Thank you very much for taking the time to write this up for me.
And for improving my foul mood this morning.  8^7

Edit:
While further researching on your lead, I found that property under the thunar Channel using the Settings Editor and saw that it had a check box in the Locked column.

While this would imply that this setting could be locked (?) ie: Thunar would behave as if using the wrapper you wrote up and still be able to sort in a different manner if I wanted to, I am unable to check that box.

Is there a way to lock the setting?

Edit_2:
I don't think this is possible.
The Value for this Property is changed on-the-fly as I use the different sorting options in Thunar.

I expect that locking it would not let me use any other sorting option and that what I need would require a Property called something like default-sort-column with a THUNAR_COLUMN_NAME Value.

Cheers,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2020-11-15 22:32:46)