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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 393

Workspace Designation On Login

Is it possible to change to a specific workspace when logging into the desktop?

Last edited by KitchM (2025-09-07 12:44:10)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,380

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

You can use wmctrl to change workspaces:

wmctrl -s WORKSPACE#

...where WORKSPACE# is the number of the workspace to change to (starting at 0).

You can add this to your application startup. You might need to add a delay in case the window manager doesn't start up quickly enough, so something like:

sh -c "sleep 1 && wmctrl -s 2"

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 393

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

So, something like this in a terminal situation:
firefox -P wmctrl -s WORKSPACE3 sh -c "sleep 1 && wmctrl -s 2"

Is that the idea?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,380

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

No, it was to change the workspace only. If you want to start an application in a different workspace, refer to your other thread about devilspie2. It would be something like:

if (get_window_name()=="firefox") then
   set_window_workspace(2);
end

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 393

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

Does devilspie2 just watch in the background for windows to be created?  If so, does it just match a window's program with any directions it has for that program in its scripts?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,380

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

Yes and yes. You need to be running the devilspie2 executable so it does the listening.

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KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 393

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

Now that is so cool!  Why don't they just say that in the various places it is described? I have read at least a dozen places on that topic, as well as the programmer's own page, and I didn't get that.

And starting it is as simple as adding it to the Settings>Settings Manager>Session and Startup>Application Autostart?  How do I add it early enough to do some good for apps loading after that point?

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 393

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

Devilspie2 has some interesting features.  One is to put a program on a particular workspace and then follow it there.  That would likely solve the problem.  I'll keep you all posted on my results in testing this all out.

KitchM

Member

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 393

Re: Workspace Designation On Login

This subject ties in well with my post at https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=18802.