Configuration

Right-click the MeowMenu panel button and choose Properties. Changes apply immediately and are saved in Xfconf.

If you want a quick starting point, choose one of the four built-in presets. See Presets for screenshots and a short description of each one.

General

Option	What it does
Preset	Select or manage a layout preset.
Layout mode	Choose Docked, Centered, or Full Screen.
Panel gap	Set the space between a Docked menu and the panel.
Menu width and height	Set the size of a Docked or Centered menu.
Corner radius	Round the corners of a Docked or Centered menu.
Menu opacity	Set the background opacity. This requires a compositor.
Stay visible when focus is lost	Keep the menu open when another window receives focus.

Layout modes

Mode	Description
Docked	Opens next to the panel.
Centered	Opens in the centre of the panel’s monitor.
Full Screen	Fills the screen and keeps the search bar at the top.

Docked and Centered menus can be resized by dragging an edge or corner. The new size is saved when you release the mouse button. Full Screen uses the current screen size instead.

Panel button

Option	What it does
Show panel button title	Display a label beside the panel icon.
Panel button title	Set the label. Pango markup is supported.
Show panel button icon	Show or hide the icon.
Panel button icon	Choose the icon.
Use a single panel row	Keep the button on one row in a multi-row panel.

Search bar

Option	What it does
Search bar position	Put the main row at the top or bottom of a Docked or Centered menu.
Show profile	Show the current avatar and username.
Avatar shape	Use a round or square avatar.
Placeholder text	Change the hint shown in an empty search field.
Fuzzy search	Find close matches when a query contains a typo.
Fuzzy threshold	Adjust fuzzy-match sensitivity. 0 uses the automatic value.
Favorites boost	Give frequently used applications a higher search rank.
Favorites boost level	Choose a low, medium, or high boost.
Search actions	Add keyword-triggered commands.

Search-action templates support these placeholders:

• %s inserts the text after the matched prefix.
• %S inserts the complete query.
• %u inserts URI-escaped text as one argument.
• %% inserts a percent sign.

Commands run directly, without a shell. Use %u when the query must remain one argument.

Results

Option	What it does
View mode	Show results as a list, icon grid, or category tree.
Show app name	Display application names.
Show app description	Display application descriptions.
Show tooltip	Show the full description on hover.
Icon size	Set the result icon size. -1 follows the theme.
Grid density	Choose how many columns the icon grid uses.
Transparent grid	Blend idle grid tiles into the results background.
Default category	Open on Favourites, Recently Used, or All Applications.
Hover to switch category	Open a category when the pointer moves over it.

For keyboard controls, see Keyboard navigation.

Sidebar

Option	What it does
Enable sidebar	Show or hide category navigation.
Position	Put the sidebar on the left, right, or in a horizontal strip.
Show category name	Show labels beside category icons.
Category icon size	Set the icon size. -1 follows the theme.
Sort categories	Sort categories alphabetically.
Recent items max	Limit the number of recently used applications.
Include favorites in recent	Include favourite applications in Recently Used.

When the sidebar is hidden, MeowMenu keeps the search and results available and moves other controls into the remaining space.

Places

Places provides shortcuts to Home, standard user folders, recent files, and bookmarks. It opens folders and files in your normal file manager or application; it is not an embedded file browser.

Option	What it does
Enable Places	Add the Applications and Places switch.
Show icons	Use icons instead of text in the switch.
Show recent files	Show recently opened files in History.
Show bookmarks	Show saved folder and file bookmarks.
Bookmark sync	Keep bookmarks in MeowMenu or synchronize them with Thunar.
Max items	Limit the number of items shown.
Remember last mode	Reopen in the last-used Applications or Places mode.

Missing files and folders cannot be opened. MeowMenu hides missing bookmarks it manages itself. Bookmarks managed by another application are left unchanged.

Session controls

Option	What it does
Show session controls	Show available lock, log out, suspend, and power actions.
Show confirmation dialog	Ask before running a session action.
Session commands	Choose the icon, label, command, and confirmation behavior for each action.

Unavailable actions are hidden automatically.

Calculator

Open Extras → Calculator to enable inline calculations. Select an installed engine, then enter an expression such as 2 + 2. Activating the result copies its full value.

Choose None to disable the Calculator. Missing engines are marked in the list. The engine packages and installation options are described in the installation guide.

You can also choose the result text size and set between 0 and 10 decimal places. Calculator choices are included in presets.

Drag and drop

• Drag an application onto Favourites to add it.
• Drag a Place onto Favourites when bookmarks are managed by MeowMenu.
• In Docked and Centered modes, applications and Places can be dragged to the desktop or an accepting file manager.
• In Full Screen, use Add to Desktop or Add Desktop Link from the item’s context menu.

Advanced Xfconf reference

Most users should change settings through Properties. For scripting, keys are stored below /plugins/<id>/ in the xfce4-panel channel.

# Find the MeowMenu plugin ID and list its settings
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep meowmenu

# Change one setting
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /plugins/<id>/<key> -s <value>

Key	Type	Default
corner-radius	int	0
panel-gap	int	0
menu-width	int	450
menu-height	int	500
menu-opacity	int	100
stay-on-focus-out	bool	false
layout-mode	string	docked
sidebar-position	string	left
search-bar-position	string	top
show-profile	bool	true
show-session	bool	true
view-mode	int	1
launcher-show-name	bool	true
launcher-show-description	bool	true
launcher-show-tooltip	bool	true
launcher-icon-size	int	-1
grid-density	string	medium
transparent-grid	bool	false
sidebar-enabled	bool	true
category-show-name	bool	true
category-icon-size	int	-1
hover-switch-category	bool	false
sort-categories	bool	true
default-category	int	0
recent-items-max	int	10
favorites-in-recent	bool	false
search/fuzzy-enabled	bool	true
search/fuzzy-threshold	int	0
search/favorites-boost-enabled	bool	true
search/favorites-boost-level	int	2
search/frecency-alpha	int	70
places/enabled	bool	false
places/switch-show-icons	bool	false
places/history-enabled	bool	true
places/favourites-enabled	bool	true
places/favourite-sync	string	meowmenu
places/max-items	int	20
places/remember-last-mode	bool	false
extras/calculator-engine	string	none
extras/calculator-result-font-size	int	-1
extras/calculator-max-decimal-places	int	4

X11 is the primary supported session. Wayland support and its current fallback behavior are summarized in Known limitations.