Is there a way to search for files with the whisker menu?
I've found a command that enables web searches through the whisker menu, but is there a way to search for files with it?
You can use Catfish to search for files and it can be started from within the Whisker menu. In the Whisker menu properties "Search Actions" tab, create a new search entry with the following parameters:
- Name = Catfish
- Pattern =
~ - Command =
catfish --start %s
*Note: you can use whatever pattern is most useful to you.
Once this is done, simply enter in Whisker Menu's input field the pattern indicator followed by the search term.
For example, to search for a file called "New Document", enter "~New Document" in the input field and press enter. Catfish will open and display the search results for you (by default, it will only search in your home directory).
The command catfish --start %s will search in$HOME, but new search actions with new patterns can be added:
-
for searching a mounted drive - use a command like
catfish --start /path/to/mountpoint %s -
for searching the entire system -
catfish --start / %s
Setting "s" as "Pattern" for "Search entire system":
For a way of searching and opening files in Xfce with an application launcher like Whisker-menu, one that is showing as pop-up triggered by shortcut, Synapse is the way to go.
sudo apt install synapse
Open it, click the top right button for properties, check to have it run at startup (add it to startup list).
Under plugins tab, enable Directory Search, Hybrid Search, Locate, Related Files, Zeitgeist.
In case some files are not opened, see this answer.
In case files from NTFS partition are not found, see this answer.
In order to open Synapse with just the Super key, see this answer.
Press DOWN-ARROW button for multiple results:
Clicking TAB and DOWN-ARROW shows multiple options for the selected file:
Just opening Synapse and clicking DOWN-ARROW shows recently opened files (accessed from the file manager but not from Synapse).
If nothing is found, press ENTER to activate locate command.
If files are found but not the one you want, DOWN-ARROW to scroll the list down to the last entry (preceded by a question mark) and press ENTER to activate locate command:
See why some files need locate and some do not.