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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

(SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

I was looking for a program I recently installed and could not find it alphabetically under Accessories.  It took me a while to realize that it appeared out of order at the bottom of the list.

I also noticed the that whole section had lost aphabetization.

How can the user reorder the list correctly?

Thanks.

Last edited by KitchM (2025-09-18 22:12:07)

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

@Toz, are you available to help with this?

Thanks.

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Which version of the whiskermenu are you using?

Assuming a newer version, can you post back:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep $(xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep whiskermenu | awk '{print $1}')

Maybe also create a test account and see if the same issue exists there.

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Sorry, my mistake.  Debian 12 with Xfce 4.18.  (Don't want to go to SID.)

$ xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep $(xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep whiskermenu | awk '{print $1}')
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERNS [FILE]...
Try 'grep --help' for more information.

Last edited by KitchM (2025-04-04 23:58:51)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Then you should have a whiskermenu-X.rc file somewhere in ~/.config/xfce4/panel. Can you post back the contents of that file?

Also, the whiskermenu version can be obtained by running:

apt-cache policy xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

Have you tried a test user account?

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eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 957

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

It doesn't appear your using whiskermenu but the applications menu. Are you using a custom menu file?

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin:
  Installed: 2.7.2-1
  Candidate: 2.7.2-1
  Version table:
*** 2.7.2-1 500
        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Added later 22 h 20 min 33 s:

It doesn't appear your using whiskermenu but the applications menu. Are you using a custom menu file?

Please explain the difference.

Thank you.

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Anyone?

vm_x

Member

Registered: 2024-02-12

Posts: 60

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Whisker Menu is the one that has a search bar and the favorites. This one allows you to drag&drop items to your liking.

https://docs.xfce.org/panel-plugins/xfc … ugin/start

Applications Menu is the one where you browse by navigating the sub-menus.

https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-panel/applicationsmenu

Here's how you customize this menu:
https://wiki.xfce.org/howto/customize-menu

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Thanks for that.  So yes, I was referring correctly to the Whisker menu.

In that case, the output of apt-cache policy xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin is
xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin:
  Installed: 2.7.2-1
  Candidate: 2.7.2-1
  Version table:
*** 2.7.2-1 500
        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Added later 58 min 30 s:
I was trying to figure out how to do a test user account and how it would work to make any difference.

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Anyone have the answer?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Does the problem persist in a secondary test account? If not, have a look at the contents of ~/.config/menus to see if something is forcing the separation of items.

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

I'm still confused as to creating a secondary test account.  And I don't know what to look for under ~/.config/menus/.

Last edited by KitchM (2025-06-04 17:56:09)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Try renaming ~/.config/menus to ~/.config/menus.bak. Does this fix the problem?

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Do you want me to log out and back in, or what?

Added later 07 min 35 s:
I went ahead and logged out and then in again.  All menus are in correct order now.  However, there is no ~/.config/menus directory.  Shouldn't it be recreated?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

I went ahead and logged out and then in again.  All menus are in correct order now.  However, there is no ~/.config/menus directory.  Shouldn't it be recreated?

It will be created when needed. There was something in your ~/.config/menus.bak directory that was causing the mis-ordering. You must be using a menu tool like menulibre that caused this.

Make sure all of the menu items are there and none are missing.

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Okay.  Yes, I had used menulibre at one time.

To check for missing items, I assume I must compare the various listings found in the files under the directory structure of ~/.config/menus.bak.  Is that correct?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Okay.  Yes, I had used menulibre at one time.

To check for missing items, I assume I must compare the various listings found in the files under the directory structure of ~/.config/menus.bak.  Is that correct?

No - they won't be listed there. I'm not sure exactly what menulibre does - just look through your menus to see if you notice something missing. If so, you may need to re-create the desktop file. It should be okay, but double-check to be sure.

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Thanks, but your comment that one might need to "re-create the desktop file" needs instructions.

I only know of one way:

• Make a list of missing items
  Uninstall missing items
  Reinstall missing items

Does that about cover it?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,566

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Yes, that should do it.

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

Okay, I'll give it a try.

Thanks.

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 397

Re: (SOLVED) How To Reorder Items In Whisker Menu Sections

I wanted to update this post.  It turns out that at some point in time, probably after various automated updates to the system environment, the problem was solved on its own.  I have no idea when, but all menu items are now properly alphabetized and in order.