How can I start Nautilus on Xubuntu / XFCE via the shortcuts in the XFCE panels?

Question

I am on Xubuntu 13.10 and just installed and activated Nautilus as the default file manager.

I'd like to use the current default file manager (whichever that might be) when I click on my panel shortcut to open any folder shortcut and so on.

I want to try to avoid to re-define the shortcuts for the file manager. Is that possible?

Solution 1

Yes, it is possible to simply open the current default file manager (in a sense of a macro) on Xfce from a shortcut.

First of, you need to install another file manager:

sudo apt-get install nautilus

Then open the (system) Settings and click on Preferred Applications. Under the tab Tools, choose 'Nautilus' for the file manager.

For the shortcut in a bar on your desktop, use xdg-open . (mind the dot at the end) as the command. You don't have to write nautilus. Example:

(Just fyi, I googled quite a bit for this, hence I made this quick Q&A.)

EDIT

I use Synapse on Xubuntu since it is, as of this writing on 2014-04-27, again available on the core PPA of the developer. Looking back, I found using Nautilus quite annoying since it intervened with Synapse's handling of MIME types. Ultimately, I went back to Thunar.

Solution 2

you have to install the package called exo-utils. sudo apt-get install exo-utils

Then press Alt+F2 and run the command exo-preferred-applications.

In Preferred Applications, click on the Utilities tab, and under File Manager, select Nautilus. (You must install Nautilus first, if you haven't already.)