Xfce Forum

rolek

Member

Registered: 2016-06-16

Posts: 3

Window list, order of items

Hi everyone,

In Xfce, the order of items in the Window List is linked to the order in which the windows are stacked on the desktop. That means that the order in the Window list changes while cycling through your windows. Is there an option so the order of items in the Window List is static, based on when the window was first created?

I've been a long time user of a very old version of Blackbox, which has this, and for me it means I can never find anything in the Xfce Window List because the list always changes.

I've looked through xfwm4-settings, xfwm4-tweaks-settings and xfwm4-workspace-settings, but I could not find an option for it.

Thanks in advance for any hints,

Roel

MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: Window list, order of items

In Xfce, the order of items in the Window List is linked to the order in which the windows are stacked on the desktop. That means that the order in the Window list changes while cycling through your windows. Is there an option so the order of items in the Window List is static, based on when the window was first created?

I do not seem to have a "Window List" panel list. Did you mean to type "Window Buttons," by chance? If so, the sorting options for that panel applet are:
Timestamp
Group title and timestamp
Group title and window title
None, allow drag and drop

I've looked through xfwm4-settings, xfwm4-tweaks-settings and xfwm4-workspace-settings, but I could not find an option for it.

Like all Xfce panel applets (that have configurable options/settings) AFAIK, the procedure is to right-click on one of your panels where there is blank space (IOW, do not click on a panel applet), select Panel Preferences, make sure you have the correct panel selected at the top (if you have more than one panel, of course), select the Items tab on the right, then select the Window Buttons applet, and finally select the "Edit the currently selected item" icon (it looks vaguely like a little tiny shopping list - if that doesn't make any sense, just hover your mouse cursor over each one and wait for the description to pop up).

With many panel applets, you can also right-click directly on them and edit their preferences that way. The Window Buttons panel applet, however, is a special case as there is no Window Buttons icon, per se, instead there are representations of the actual apps that are running in the GUI and, therefore, when one right-clicks on them, one is presented with the usual Minimize/Maximize/Move/Resize/etc. options for each application window.

Regards,
MDM

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rolek

Member

Registered: 2016-06-16

Posts: 3

Re: Window list, order of items

Hi MDM,

with Window List I mean the thing you get with a middle mouse click. Is it called differently?

Thanks for the detailed answer, though!

Regards,
Roel

Jerry3904

Member

Registered: 2013-11-09

Posts: 853

Re: Window list, order of items

I never used the middle button, so had no idea what you meant. On the Windows Buttons, see this thread:

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=9928

We have that packaged for Debian Stable in our repos if it can help.

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ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,000

Re: Window list, order of items

I believe that ordering for all three;  window buttons - the xfce4-panel task list, windowlist - the middle-click window menu, and windowmenu - the xfce4-panel window list is stacked order. Unfortunately, there is no option to change this as it is hard-coded.

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rolek

Member

Registered: 2016-06-16

Posts: 3

Re: Window list, order of items

Thanks ToZ!

For reference: I switched to openbox to see if it was configurable there (it wasn't) but it was really easy to change it in the code there, so I'm quite happy.

danger89

Member

From: The Netherlands

Registered: 2019-03-23

Posts: 2

Website

Re: Window list, order of items

Actually it is possible in XFCE!
Go to your Settings -> Panel -> 'Item' tab > Window Buttons > Edit the currently selected item (5th icon from the top, on the right) > Sorting Order, select: "None, Allow drag-and-drop".