How do you make a specific document easliy accessible? [Solved]

[CharlesV]

@andymx Glad to be of help :-)

[BV206]

I made something similar to the "Favorites" function that the Cinnamon desktop has.
Here is how to do it.

Make a ~/Favorites folder.

Add Directory Menu to the panel. Set the base directory to the Favorites folder. Change the icon to something favorites related (If I remember right the default icon is the same folder icon that Thunar uses). Add file pattern *. To keep it simple you can uncheck all the menu items so only the favorite files appear when you click on the panel icon.

Now you have to make a Thunar custom right click action that makes symlinks of selected files or folders in your Favorites folder.
To do this you need to create a desktop file in a folder that normally doesn't exist.
Create the folder ~/.local/share/Thunar/sendto/
Creat the file send-to-favorites.desktop
Put the file in the folder you just created.
Edit the file with your text editor. The contents of the file should be:

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
# Thunar custom Send To menu item
# Creat the folder: mkdir -p $HOME/.local/share/Thunar/sendto/
# then copy this file to it
Type=Application
Name=Favorites (Create Link)
Comment=Makes symlinks in Favorites folder to selected files.
Exec=sh -c "for file in %F; do ln -s -t \"\$HOME\"/Favorites \"\$file\"; done"
Terminal=false
Icon=emblem-favorite

Instead of "Icon=emblem-favorite" you can use another icon or remove that line if you don't want an icon in the right click menu.

To remove favorites you have to open the ~/Favorites folder and delete the symlinks. Deleting symlinks does not delete or change the original files. I don't know how to make adding/removing favorites a toggle function from the menu.

[andymx]

@BV206 Thank you. I'll try your suggestion for something that I'm thinking about and I believe it will be successful.

[hebelwirkung]

I would like to have a specific Writer document easily accessible for me to open at any time. Is there a way to do this by pinning it to the Panel or by any other means?

I've read that Cairo Dock isn't being maintained any longer, but I've installed it on all my distros without problems for years, including MX up to and including MX 23, and in fact its functionality seems to have improved; certainly hasn't deteriorated. Okay, don't try the weather app, it's dead, but if you run XFCE, that has a nice simple one for the panel which works flawlessly.

Anyway, Cairo Dock includes an applet called "Stack". Simply add it to the dock - then, go to your file manager, find the icon of whatever document(s) you want to have easy access to, pull the icon into the Stack in your dock, drop it there - and that's it From then on, just click on the icon(s) in the Stack, and the associated document opens. I have quite a few LibreOffice documents, both writer and calc ones, in my stack, it saves an awful lot of time - and it's an easy solution provided you are comfortable with using Cairo Dock.

[andymx]

@hebelwirkung Thanks. It's reassuring to learn that there are no problems with Cairo Dock. @CharlesV also confirmed this based on his experience. I was going to install it, but before I did that a solution was found with Plank which I tried first, but had a problem with it. So I decided to postpone installing Cairo Dock and I'll use Plank for a while.

[hebelwirkung]

... a solution was found with Plank which I tried first, but had a problem with it. So I decided to postpone installing Cairo Dock and I'll use Plank for a while.

If Plank solves it, that's great. It's a much more straightforward dock than Cairo, doesn't drive you crazy with tons of customization options and, out of the box, looks better :-) Actually, I have a specific configuration for Cairo Dock which I simply copy into whatever distro I might be playing around with - otherwise, it would probably drive me crazy.

[CharlesV]

Same here, it takes a little to get cairo all the way I want it, but then just copy the config and keep on truck'n!

[andymx]

I'm greatly attracted to program settings tweaking. In Windows if I read that a program was too complex because it had many settings and options, I would go straight to installing it. I'm still like this, but with Linux I've spent so many weeks trying to get everything set up properly and working that it made me a bit tired.

I saw videos about Cairo Dock and I was very tempted to install it, but I held back. Now, with the matter discussed in this topic I worked up an appetite to install Cairo Dock, but I postponed it for a while. Then the solution with Plank came about and I said to myself I'd better not go down the rabbit hole of installing Cairo Dock now. Installing it would mean that I would spend at least a full day playing with its settings and trying its plugins. Then I would wonder how come another unproductive day has gone by? I gave myself an excuse not to install it for now when I read on the app website that it can become a burden on resources.

I'll resist the temptation to install it until a have a better computer to play with.

[andymx]

@BV206 I tried to do what you wrote in viewtopic.php?p=749415#p749415, but it didn't work for me. However, I understand the concept. The most important thing is making the Menu Folder and getting its settings right. I can create symlinks manually anywhere and simply cut and paste them to the Favorites folder.

[hebelwirkung]

I worked up an appetite to install Cairo Dock, but I postponed it for a while. ... I'll resist the temptation to install it until a have a better computer to play with.

It doesn't actually uses vast amounts of RAM, and - like @CharlesV - I went through customizing it once, and now use that .config file for all my distros, So that's one way of not having to go through the same stuff time and again. That said, Cairo is one of those apps that, on first set-up, can drive a person round the bend!