~~NOTOC~~
{{ :xfce:thunar.png?nolink|}}
====== Thunar - Custom Actions ======

Thunar allows users to add custom actions to the file and folder context menus (by the use of the ''thunar-uca'' plugin, part of the Thunar distribution, in the ''plugins/'' subdirectory). You can set up new actions in the {gui>Custom Actions} dialog, available via the {gui>Configure custom actions...} item in the {gui>Edit} menu.

This page serves as an introduction to the **Custom Actions** plugin, and includes a list of useful examples.

  * **[[#Adding a Custom Action|Adding a Custom Action]]**
  * **[[#Using mnemonics to open Custom Actions|Using mnemonics to open Custom Actions]]**
  * **Examples**
    * **[[#Search files with catfish|Search files with catfish]]**
    * **[[#Work with archives (tar, gzip, etc)|Work with archives (tar, gzip, etc)]]**
    * **[[#Play/Enqueue music files|Play/Enqueue music files]]**
    * **[[#Convert PNGs to JPEGs|Convert PNGs to JPEGs]]**
    * **[[#Rotate JPEGs|Rotate JPEGs]]**
    * **[[#Open terminal here|Open terminal here]]**
    * **[[#Open root terminal here|Open root terminal here]]**
    * **[[#Open thunar as root here|Open thunar as root here]]**
    * **[[#Edit file as root|Edit file as root]]**
    * **[[#Create a symbolic link|Create a symbolic link]]**
    * **[[#Create a hardlink|Create a hardlink]]**
    * **[[#View disk usage of the current directory|View disk usage of the current directory]]**
    * **[[#Open file in terminal text editor|Open file in terminal text editor]]**
    * **[[#Compare selected files/directories|Compare selected files/directories]]**
    * **[[#Change OpenDocument-supported formats|Change OpenDocument-supported formats]]**
    * **[[#Download video subtitles|Download video subtitles]]**
    * **[[#Rename subtitles easily|Rename subtitles easily]]**
    * **[[#Move files into a new folder|Move files into a new folder]]**
    * **[[#Create Shared Thumbnails|Create Shared Thumbnails]]**
    * **[[#Use 'bulk rename' on a single file|Use 'bulk rename' on a single file]]**
    * **[[#Trust multiple desktop files at once|Trust multiple desktop files at once]]**
  * **[[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ThunarCustomActions|List of assorted custom actions]]** (from Ubuntu documentation)

----

===== Adding a Custom Action =====

This section provides a step-by-step introduction to the **Custom Actions** plugin, demonstrating how to add a simple action. We start by opening the **Custom Actions** dialog as explained above. In the dialog, click on the first button in the list of buttons (the one labeled with the ''+''). The **Create Action** dialog will appear, as shown in the screenshot below.

<figure "Edit Custom Action Dialog">
{{:xfce:thunar:4.18:uca-create.png|Edit Custom Action Dialog Window}}
</figure>

On the first page, enter ''Create symlink'' in {gui>Name:} Enter ''ln -Ts %f %n" (link)"'' for the {gui>Command:} (the ''%f'' will be replaced with the path to the selected file, as explained in the dialog), and select an icon by clicking {gui>Icon:} (in the screenshot ''emblem-symbolic-link'' was used).

Optionally, you can specify a {gui>Submenu:}, in order to group multiple custom actions into the same menu.

<note>Never quote field codes, unless you know why [particularly true if their expansion contains quotes, but not only]

Always quote shell variable expansions, unless you know why [classical shell programming advice, but it might be useful to recall here]

When a field code appears in quotes, you can generally extract it and concatenate:
    cmd "foo %f bar" (wrong) ->; cmd "foo "%f" bar" (correct)

Or you can put its content in a shell variable and use this variable instead:
    cmd "foo %f bar" (wrong) ->; f=%f; cmd "foo $f bar" (correct)

In case of multiple arguments, you can safely use a for loop in that way:
    for f in %F; do cmd "foo $f bar"; done
</note>

Now, continue with the second page (the {gui>Appearance Conditions} page).

We want to create an action that is only applicable to folders, so select the **Folders** options and unselect the options for the other file types. Next you can specify a **File Pattern** to display the action only for text files that match a certain pattern. In the example, we set the file pattern to ''*'' (which matches all filenames) to indicate that the action should be displayed for all folders.

That's all. Click **OK** to close the **Create Action** dialog. The new action, labeled **Search with Catfish** will appear in the **Custom Actions** list.

Now close the **Custom Actions** dialog, select a folder in Thunar and open the context menu (right-click on the file icon). The newly created **Search with Catfish** action will appear in the context menu, as shown in the screenshot below.

<figure "List of Custom Actions Dialog">
{{:xfce:thunar:4.18:uca-list.png|List of Custom Actions Dialog Window}}
</figure>

[[|Back to Top]]
----

===== Using mnemonics to open Custom Actions =====

When you create a Thunar Custom Action you can set the name with an underscore "_" before a letter to use it as mnemonic.  When you right click in a Thunar view, you can type the letter to access your custom action.
----

===== Examples =====

Here are a few useful examples of custom actions. Feel free to extend this list.


==== Search files with catfish ====
    * Name: **Search files in folder**
    * Command: ''catfish %f''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories

**Note:** For this action, you'll need to have ''catfish'' installed, which is part of the ''catfish'' package.

----

==== Work with archives  (tar, gzip, etc) ====
    * Name: **Extract here (bzip2)**
    * Command: ''tar xjf %n''
    * File pattern: *.tar.bz2;*.tbz2
    * Appears if selection contains: Other Files

    * Name: **Extract here (zip)**
    * Command: ''unzip %f''
    * File pattern: *.zip
    * Appears if selection contains: Other Files

    * Name: **Create tar.gz from folder**
    * Command: ''tar czvf %n.tar.gz %n''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories

**Hint:** You may prefer the [[https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/thunar/4.18/archive|Thunar Archive Plugin]], which does pretty much the same thing with less manual setup required on your part. It's either included with your distribution (in the case of [[https://xubuntu.org/|Xubuntu]]), or available as a separate package (''thunar-archive-plugin'' in Debian Etch). You might also need the ''xarchiver'' or "squeeze" package for things to work quite right.

----

==== Play/Enqueue music files ====
    * Name: **Play with XMMS**
    * Command: ''xmms %F''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories, Audio Files
    * Name: **Enqueue in XMMS**
    * Command: ''xmms -e %F''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories, Audio Files

**Hint:** Works exactly the same with Audacious.

----


==== Convert PNGs to JPEGs ====
    * Name: **Convert to JPEG**
    * Command: ''convert %f -quality 75 %f.jpg''
    * File pattern: *.png
    * Appears if selection contains: Image Files

**Hint:** ''<nowiki>"$(basename %f .png).jpg"</nowiki>'' will strip the old .png extension off of the original filename.

----

==== Rotate JPEGs ====
    * Name: **Rotate Clockwise**
    * 
    * Command: ''<nowiki>for file in %F; do exiftran -i9 "$file"; done</nowiki>''
    * Command(counterclockwise): ''<nowiki>for file in %F; do exiftran -i2 "$file"; done</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *.jpg;*.JPG;*.jpeg;*.JPEG
    * Appears if selection contains: JPEG Image Files
**Note:** exiftran is available for most distributions.

----

==== Open terminal here ====

    * Name: **Open terminal here**
    * Command 1: ''<nowiki>for f in %F; do exo-open --working-directory "$f" --launch TerminalEmulator;  done</nowiki>''
    * Command 2: ''<nowiki>for f in %F; do if [ -d "$f" ]; then exo-open --working-directory "$f" --launch TerminalEmulator; elif [ -z "$default" ]; then default=1; exo-open --launch TerminalEmulator; fi done</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: any

''Command 1'' will open a terminal on all selected folder.

''Command 2'' in addition will open a terminal on the current directory, when executed on a non-folder files (or multiple)
----

==== Open root terminal here ====
    * Name: **Open root terminal here**
    * Command(1): ''<nowiki>pkexec env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY dbus-launch xfce4-terminal --default-working-directory=%f</nowiki>''
    * Command(2): ''<nowiki>gksu xfce4-terminal --default-working-directory=%f</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories

**Note:** Use either pkexec or gksu, depending on what is available for your distro.

**Note:** You should rewrite the command with normal straight quotes.

----
==== Open thunar as root here ====
    * Name: **Open thunar as root here**
    * Command(1): ''pkexec env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY dbus-launch thunar %f''
    * Command(2): ''thunar admin:/''''/''''/%f''
    * Command(3): ''gksu thunar %f''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories

**Note:** Some distributions no longer include ''gksu''. Use ''pkexec'' or the ''admin'' interface instead.

----
==== Edit file as root ====
    * Name: **Edit as root**
    * Command(1): ''pkexec env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY dbus-launch put-your-favourite-text-editor-here %f''
    * Command(2): ''gksu put-your-favourite-text-editor-here %f''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Text files

**Note:** You'll need to replace put-your-favourite-text-editor-here with your favourite text editor (e.g. mousepad or geany). Also, see previous note about ''gksu''.
----

==== Create a symbolic link ====
    * Name: **Create symlink**
    * Command: ''<nowiki>ln -Ts %f %n" (symlink)"</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories, other files

----

==== Create a hardlink ====
    * Name: **Create hardlink**
    * Command: ''<nowiki>ln %f %n" (hardlink)"</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories, other files

----
==== View disk usage of the current directory ====
    * Name: **Disk Usage**
    * Command: ''baobab %d''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Tick all the boxes

**Note:** The idea is to get a visual picture of the current directory and any subdirectories. You could also use fsview or filelight, but the visuals are crisper in baobab.

----
==== Open file in terminal text editor ====
    * Name: **Open in Terminal**
    * Command: xfce4-terminal -x editor %f
    *  File pattern: *
    * Appearance Conditions: Text files

----

==== Compare selected files/directories ====
    * Name: **Compare**
    * Command: ''meld %F''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Directories and Text files

**Note:** You will need the ''meld'' package.

----

==== Change OpenDocument-supported formats ====
**Note:** You will need ''unoconv'' package for all following actions.

    * Name: **Convert to ODT**
    * Command: ''unoconv -f odt %F''
    * File pattern: *.doc;*.docx
    * Appears if selection contains: Other files

    * Name: **Export to PDF**
    * Command: ''unoconv -f pdf %F''
    * File pattern: *.doc;*.docx;*.odt;*.odp;*.pps;*.ppt;*.xls;*.xlsx;*.ods;*.pptx
    * Appears if selection contains: Other files

You can go on, try ''man unoconv'' for details.

----

==== Download video subtitles ====
    * Name: **Download subtitles**
    * Command: ''<nowiki>~/.local/bin/OpenSubtitlesDownload.py --gui=gnome %F</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Video Files

**Note:** You will need to follow the instructions on [[https://github.com/emericg/OpenSubtitlesDownload|OpenSubtitlesDownload]] which requires ''python'' and ''zenity'' (check the link for a complete list of requirements). You can tweak the behavior of the python script simply by editing with a text editor, the code is all commented, so it is very easy to understand.

----

==== Rename subtitles easily ====
    * Name: **Rename subtitles**
    * Description: Select video and subtitles file. Subtiles will be reanmed based on the video name.
    * Command: ''subrnm %F''
    * File pattern: *.avi;*.mp4;*.crdownload;*.srt;*.sub
    * Appears if selection contains: Video Files, Text Files, Other Files

**Note:** You will need ''subrnm'' script. Get it [[http://pastebin.com/DA8jwHz3|here]]. You'll also need ''zenity'' package.

----

==== Move files into a new folder ====
    * Name: **Move into new folder**
    * Description: Select any number of file/folders. A dialog will popup in which you can write the name of a new folder to create. Selected Files will be moved there.
    * Command: ''<nowiki>NEW_FOLDER=$(/usr/bin/zenity --entry --title 'Move into new folder' --text 'Please enter a name for the new folder') && mkdir "$NEW_FOLDER" && mv %F "$NEW_FOLDER"</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: All

**Note:** You'll will need the ''zenity'' package.

----

==== Create Shared Thumbnails ====
    * Name: **Create shared thumbnails**
    * Description: Creates [[https://specifications.freedesktop.org/thumbnail-spec/thumbnail-spec-latest.html#SHARED|shared thumbnails]] for the selected folder and all subfolders via DBus Thumbnailing service.
    * Command: ''<nowiki>/path/to/script/sharedx.sh %f</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: Folders

**Note:** Required to download [[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SKefalidis/DBusSharedThumbnailRepositoryCreator/main/sharedx.sh|this script]] and store it locally. Requires ''python3'' and ''realpath''.
----
==== Use 'bulk rename' on a single file ====
    * Name: **Open in bulk renamer**
    * Description: Opens the bulk renamer for a single file
    * Command: ''<nowiki>thunar --bulk-rename %f</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *
    * Appears if selection contains: any
    * Range: 1-1

----

==== Trust multiple desktop files at once ====
    * Name: **Trust Desktop Files**
    * Description: Sets gvfs checksum and +x flag for all selected *.desktop files
    * Command: ''<nowiki>for f in %F; do sha256sum "$f" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs gio set "$f" metadata::xfce-exe-checksum && chmod +x "$f"; done</nowiki>''
    * File pattern: *.desktop
    * Appears if selection contains: other files
    * Range: 1-1

[[|Back To Top]]
----
[[:xfce:thunar:4.18:start:|Return to Thunar 4.18 Main Documentation Page]]