Xubuntu Thunar Menu Bar disabled, now lost forever

The shortcut for disabling and enabling the menu bar in my German version is Ctrl+M.

Try that.

Use F10 key to open or temporarily show the menu bar in Thunar.

The shortcut key behaves differently depending on menu bar visibility:

• If menu bar in Thunar is visible, press F10 key once to open menu in menu bar.

• If menu bar in Thunar is hidden, press F10 key twice to temporarily show and open menu in menu bar (same result as visible).

To make the menu bar always visible again:

1. Press F10 key twice
2. Use cursor keys to navigate to View > Menubar (Press right-cursor key twice, then press down-cursor key five times)
3. Press Space key to select that menu
4. Press Esc key to close the menu

The menu shortcut key is applicable to GTK+ applications including Thunar. Unlike the combination key Ctrl+M, the function key F10 will work as it is regardless of keyboard layout.

xfce4-settings-editor is your friend.

• Close all thunar windows
• start xfce4-settings-editor from the console
• locate thunar on the left hand tab
• check last-menubar-visible
• open a new thunar window

done.

Bonus:

• memorize the shortcut key for your locale :)