Xfwm - ArchWiki

# Xfwm

Related articles

- Desktop environment
- Window manager
- Xfce
- Xorg

xfwm is the window manager for the Xfce environment.

## Installation

Install xfwm4 from the official repositories.

### Starting Xfwm

To run xfwm as stand-alone, edit Xinitrc and add the following line:

    exec xfwm4

## Configuration

Most xfwm settings can be accessed through `xfwm4-settings`, for window behavior and shortcuts, `xfwm4-tweaks-settings`, for advanced settings and compositing, and `xfwm4-workspace-settings`, for the number of workspaces and their names.

### Composite manager

Warning: This compositor may cause video tearing in applications. For a list of alternatives, see composite manager.

To enable the Xfwm compositor and adjust its settings, go to Window Manager Tweaks:

    $ xfwm4-tweaks-settings

Alternatively, it can be enabled with `--compositor`. For example:

    ~/.xinitrc

    exec xfwm4 --compositor=on

### Window roll-up

Double clicking the titlebar, or clicking roll window up in the window menu, causes the window contents to disappear leaving only the titlebar. To disable this functionality with `xfconf`, run:

    $ xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/mousewheel_rollup -s false

### Window tiling

Xfwm can "tile" a window automatically when it is moved to an edge of the screen. It does so by resizing it to fit the top half of the screen. To enable or disable this behaviour with `xfconf`, run:

    $ xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/tile_on_move -s false
    $ xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/tile_on_move -s true

Alternatively, (un)check Window Manager Tweaks > Accessibility > Automatically tile windows when moving toward the screen edge.

### Extra settings provided by the xfce settings manager

Install xfce4-settings from the official repositories

Warning: Installing `xfce4-settings` may change the default applications for certain tasks. See xdg-open to set the default applications to your liking.

### Additional Themes

Install xfwm4-themes from the official repositories

The themes installed will be shown in the `xfwm4-settings` window.

## Tips & Tricks

### Hide the titlebar when window is maximized

Install xfwm4-titleless-dev from the AUR.

After installation, run `xfwm4-tweaks-settings`, go to `Accessibility` and check `Hide title of windows when maximized`.

## Troubleshooting

### No icons shown in browser for downloaded items

This is fixed by installing xfce4-settings from the official repositories.

### Double titlebars with GTK3+ applications

Xfwm has trouble recognizing GTK+#Client side decorations and may add a second decoration to applications. Enabling Xfwm's compositor may solve this problem.

### Number of workspaces changes unexpectedly

Keep in mind Xfwm assigns shortcuts to adding and removing workspaces. By default these are `Alt+Delete` and `Alt+Insert`, respectively.

If the number of workspaces resets at login, change the amount after Xfwm is started. This is ensured by the `sleep` command. [1]

    ~/.xinitrc

    (sleep 3 && xfconf-query -v -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count -s number) &
    exec xfwm4

or, from xfce4-session:

    ~/.config/autostart/workspace.desktop

    [Desktop Entry]
    Exec=sh -c "sleep 3 && xfconf-query -v -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count -s number"

See also: Logout alters workspaces

## See also

- Xfwm - Introduction

Category:

- Stacking WMs