Xfce Forum

advice1010

Member

Registered: 2023-02-19

Posts: 121

Way to make panel be above even when window always on top activated

I have seen a couple posts similar but don't think the same as what I am about to ask.

In each windows context menu (upper left corner header icon) you can select the option "Always On Top" or you can go into window manager and set hotkey called "Toggle Above" to make windows well, always be on top.
When you use this however because the panel is also a program, the window will also be on top of the panel.
I was wondering if it was possible to be able to have the panel always be on top when this setting is activated for a specific window.  I just want windows to be always not top of desktop / other windows, not the panel itself if that makes sense.
I noticed in "Panel Preferences" there is a check box option to "Keep panel above windows" but not sure if this is something else, or if it has a bug but when you activate this check box setting and say you snap / tile a window, now the bottom part of the window ends up below the panel so you cannot see it.
For example if you snap/tile Thunar to your windows left / right screen edge, you can no longer see Thunars status bar at the bottom I think this is because now the tiling is using the whole screen height, not taking height of panel into account anymore.

Thank You

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 746

Re: Way to make panel be above even when window always on top activated

Settings manager>>Workspaces>>Margins tab

Margins are areas on the edges of the screen where no window will be placed

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Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

advice1010

Member

Registered: 2023-02-19

Posts: 121

Re: Way to make panel be above even when window always on top activated

XFCE 4.20.x

I was never able to figure this out.
I tried Workspaces - Margins
My panel is on bottom of screen.
I used the Panel height "Row size (pixels)" value found in "Panel Preferences"
and entered it in the bottom margin value.
This does not seem to override the "Always On Top" setting, it still occurs.

Thank You

To me it seems like this should be a setting somewhere?
Does anyone know if there is one?
I am going to mention this just in case it does not exist

ManceJoan

Member

Registered: 2025-05-22

Posts: 1

Re: Way to make panel be above even when window always on top activated

I’ve run into the same thing, and it does seem like the "Keep panel above windows" setting isn’t respected when a window is explicitly set to "Always on top." From what I understand, the XFCE panel doesn’t force itself above such windows because it's respecting the stacking order.

One workaround I’ve used is to set the panel to "Always on top" using a window rule in the window manager (xfwm4) or using a third-party tool like devilspie or wmctrl, which can help enforce stacking behavior a bit more strictly. Not perfect, but might help until XFCE improves the native handling.

Also worth testing if turning off "automatically tile windows when moving toward screen edges" changes the snap behavior a bit.