Xfce Forum

kazam0180

Member

From: Pakistan

Registered: 2025-09-07

Posts: 5

Website

Importing/Exporting Panel or other configuration

Is there any way to import xfce settings so we don't have to reconfigure everything again? I tried copying the .xml files from

~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/

but it didn't work and reverted back to default.

It would be nice to have an option for this in settings editor like cinnamon.

Last edited by kazam0180 (2025-10-15 11:31:30)

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ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,284

Re: Importing/Exporting Panel or other configuration

If you are going to copy and paste those files, you need to do it while not logged into Xfce and when the xfconfd process is not running on both the original and new systems. The reason is that Xfce stores configuration settings in memory and writes them out to those files as it exits (potentially overwriting you overwritten files).

You will also need to back up other directories including the whole of ~/.config/xfce4 (which contains those xml files plus all of the other supporting files that ties it together). In addition, other tools like thunar and mousepad have their own configuration directories. This post is still mostly relevant as background on what you need to consider. I recall someone creating a script here to export and import settings but I can't find it right now - will keep digging.

In addition, xfce4-panel-profiles exists for the purposes of backing up and restoring only xfce4-panel configurations.

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