Xfce Forum

buhtz

Member

Registered: 2018-11-01

Posts: 24

Website

Window tiling on screen edges not working in Debian 13 vs 12

In Debian 12 with Xfce, I was able to arrange windows by dragging them to the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the screen. They would automatically arranged in one of the four quadrants of the screen.

After upgrading to Debian 13, this feature no longer works.

I have checked the existing settings. I am puzzeled if I miss something or if the feature was removed?

Settings → Window Manager Tweaks → Accessibility → Automatically tile windows when moving toward the screen edge — it is enabled.

Debian 12 have XFCE 4.18.
Debian 13 have XFCE 4.20.

Thanks

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,336

Re: Window tiling on screen edges not working in Debian 13 vs 12

Do you have "Wrap workspaces when reaching the screen edge" > "With a dragged window" enabled? If so, disable it. (Settings Manager > Window Manager > Advanced).

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buhtz

Member

Registered: 2018-11-01

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Window tiling on screen edges not working in Debian 13 vs 12

Sorry, I don't know how to setup that window manager dialog in English. It is German.

I checked several variants of the settings there but found no change of the behavior.

kwizzz

Member

Registered: 2024-11-10

Posts: 36

Re: Window tiling on screen edges not working in Debian 13 vs 12

I have the following:
* Window Manager Settings > Advanced: Arbeitsfläche wechseln, wenn die Bildschirmecke erreicht wird: both options unchecked
* Window Manager Tweaks > Accessibility: Automatically tile windows when moving toward the screen edge is checked

Note that both settings are necessary for automatic tiling.

buhtz

Member

Registered: 2018-11-01

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Window tiling on screen edges not working in Debian 13 vs 12

Thanks for checking. But it is not working.

I have the following:
* Window Manager Settings > Advanced: Arbeitsfläche wechseln, wenn die Bildschirmecke erreicht wird: both options unchecked
* Window Manager Tweaks > Accessibility: Automatically tile windows when moving toward the screen edge is checked

I do found that settings in my German UI. But it does not work. And by the way, in Debian 12 it was the case that I was able to switch between virtual desktops via draging one window to the edge of the screen and also the tilling was possible.

Something else might be missing. I don't know. A package or something.
This is what is installed on my system.

$ apt list --installed | grep xfce

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

libxfce4panel-2.0-4/stable,now 4.20.4-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4ui-2-0/stable,now 4.20.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4ui-common/stable,now 4.20.1-1 all  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4ui-utils/stable,now 4.20.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4util-bin/stable,now 4.20.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4util-common/stable,now 4.20.1-1 all  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4util7/stable,now 4.20.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4windowing-0-0/stable,now 4.20.2-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
libxfce4windowing-common/stable,now 4.20.2-1 all  [Installiert,automatisch]
task-xfce-desktop/stable,now 3.81 all  [installiert]
xfce4-appfinder/stable,now 4.20.0-2 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-battery-plugin/stable,now 1.1.5-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-clipman-plugin/stable,now 2:1.6.6-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-clipman/stable,now 2:1.6.6-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-cpufreq-plugin/stable,now 1.2.8-2+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-cpugraph-plugin/stable,now 1.2.10-1+b2 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-dict/stable,now 0.8.8-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-diskperf-plugin/stable,now 2.7.0-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-fsguard-plugin/stable,now 1.1.3-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-genmon-plugin/stable,now 4.1.1-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-goodies/stable,now 4.20.0 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-helpers/stable,now 4.20.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-mailwatch-plugin/stable,now 1.3.1-1+b2 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-netload-plugin/stable,now 1.4.1-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-notes-plugin/stable,now 1.11.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-notes/stable,now 1.11.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-notifyd/stable,now 0.9.7-2 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-panel/stable,now 4.20.4-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-places-plugin/stable,now 1.8.3-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-power-manager-data/stable,now 4.20.0-1 all  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-power-manager-plugins/stable,now 4.20.0-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-power-manager/stable,now 4.20.0-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin/stable,now 0.4.9-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-screenshooter/stable,now 1.11.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-sensors-plugin/stable,now 1.4.4-1+b1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-session/stable,now 4.20.2-2 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-settings/stable,now 4.20.1-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin/stable,now 0.5.2-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-systemload-plugin/stable,now 1.3.2-2+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-taskmanager/stable,now 1.5.8-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-terminal/stable,now 1.1.4-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-timer-plugin/stable,now 1.7.3-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-verve-plugin/stable,now 2.0.3-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-wavelan-plugin/stable,now 0.6.3-1+b3 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-weather-plugin/stable,now 0.11.3-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin/stable,now 2.9.2-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4-xkb-plugin/stable,now 1:0.8.5-1 amd64  [Installiert,automatisch]
xfce4/stable,now 4.20.1 all  [Installiert,automatisch]

EDIT1:
I played around a bit more and found it.
It was Window Manager -> Advanced -> Windows snapping -> "To other windows" need to be disabled. It was enabled in my case.

The UI (both windows) need to be reworked. Open both at the same time and play around. You see that enabled/disable one setting, will enable/disable another setting in the other window without noticing the user.

Compared between 4.18 (Debian 12) and 4.20 (Debian 13) is not possible anymore to switch the virtual desktop via dragging a window and also tilling the window by dragging it to the screen edge at the same time. I would name this a bug by design. But I am assuming this was implemented on purpose because other users might have been confused.

Quit sad. My workaround now is that I switch the desktops just via mouse cursors. But it makes not much sense, but in most cases I switch the desktop because I want to move one window to the other desktop. So I have to drag it.

I don't know. I am also an upstream maintainer so based on my experience I am assuming the devs have a strong reason why they have done it that way. So it would be waste of time to open a ticket for it. It is not only about modified behavior but also about the confusing UI.

For this forum thread I think we can treat my issue as solved.

EDIT2: I think my memory played bad with me. I was not able to reproduce on a Debian 12 VM that tilling and desktop switching worked at the same time. I am not 100% sure, because it might be an issue with the VM, but I think I am wrong about it.

Just for documentation, this is how the two dialogs behave in Debian 13.

Last edited by buhtz (2025-11-09 15:14:05)