{"id":143759,"date":"2022-11-30T08:38:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T08:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/xfce-4-18-looks-exciting-check-out-its-best-new-features\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T08:38:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T08:38:58","slug":"xfce-4-18-looks-exciting-check-out-its-best-new-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/xfce-4-18-looks-exciting-check-out-its-best-new-features\/","title":{"rendered":"Xfce 4.18 Looks Exciting \u2013 Check Out Its Best New Features"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I can lie: my excitement levels are rising because an all-new version of the Xfce desktop environment is edging towards release.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly two years of development has gone in to shaping Xfce 4.18, which is due for release on December 15, 2022. The release will be the stable series follow-up to Xfce 4.16 which debuted back in Christmas of 2020 (and brought some cool new features like fractional scaling support).<\/p>\n

Keen to discover what’s new and improved in the latest version of this lightweight desktop I’ve dug through code commits, developer tweets, and the odd bug report or two to write-up this run-down about what to expect.<\/p>\n

Let’s dive in!<\/p>\n

Xfce 4.18: New Features<\/h2>\n

note<\/strong>: this post is note<\/em> an introduction to Xfce. Anyone unfamiliar with the unique selling points of this desktop environment should head to the official Xfce website or Wikipedia page. Those offer a better starting point than this post (which only looks at what’s new-since-last-time). <\/p>\n

Thunar<\/h3>\n

Thunar<\/em> is Xfce’s default file manager. It’s a lightweight, capable tool. As part of the Xfce 4.18 release the tool picks up a plethora of new features and extended capabilities \u2013 more than a lot of folks may have been expecting.<\/p>\n

For instance, it’s now possible to enable an image preview sidebar<\/strong>. This displays a larger preview of a selected image on the left of the app by default, taking up space in the sidebar. A more practical option lets you display it ‘standalone’ on the right, where there’s more room for the actual preview.<\/p>\n

Thunar’s newly editable toolbar lets you add and reorder toolbar icons based on your needs. With the 4.18 uplift, you can add a new Split View<\/strong> icon to Thunar’s toolbar (this is also available in the view<\/em> menu, or by hitting F3<\/code>). Split View splits the active window into independently navigable columns with drag\/drop support between them.<\/p>\n

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Split View, and file highlight in Thunar 4.18<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

There’s also a rather interesting new file highlighting<\/strong> feature (accessed from the file properties dialog). This lets you set a custom color background and a custom foreground text color \u2013 an effective way to call attention to specific file(s) in a directory laden with similar-looking mime types.<\/p>\n

On the subject of finding files, Thunar 4.18 includes recursive search<\/strong>. Search can be activated by clicking the spy glass icon in the toolbar (it replaces the reload icon in earlier versions). This changes the path bar to a text field where you can enter a search term. <\/p>\n

Thunar 4.18 shows on-screen notifications when invoking undo\/redo actions. there’s also expanded “undo\/redo” support<\/strong>. This encompasses all copy, move, link, create, rename, and trash actions, and includes multi-level undo\/redo \u2014 a definite plus for indecisive deleters like me!<\/p>\n

Other changes:<\/p>\n