Configuration

All MeowMenu settings are exposed in the Properties dialog (right-click the panel button → Properties) and stored in Xfconf.

Properties dialog

Each tab uses two equal-width columns. The tables below list every option.

General

Option	Description
Preset	Select, save, rename, delete, export, or import a layout preset. The ? control beside the selector reveals the active preset’s description on hover or keyboard focus.
Layout mode	Docked (panel-attached window), Centered (a floating window pinned to the centre of the screen), or FullScreen (full-screen launcher).
Panel gap	Distance between the panel and the menu window, in pixels (Docked only).
Menu width	Width of the menu window in pixels.
Menu height	Height of the menu window in pixels.
Corner radius	Rounded-corner radius of the menu window, in pixels.
Menu opacity	Opacity of the whole menu background, applied uniformly in every layout mode (0–100, where 0 is fully transparent and 100 fully solid), applied live. Foreground content (labels, icons, the selected row) always stays fully opaque. Requires a compositor; without one the menu is always solid and the control is disabled.
Stay visible when focus is lost	Keep the menu open when another window receives focus.

Centered opens on the panel’s monitor at the configured size. Resize it from any edge; it stays centred and remembers the new size. Panel gap does not apply.

Resizing the menu

Docked and Centered menus provide handles on all four sides and four corners. The selected edge follows the pointer while the relevant opposite edge stays anchored; corner handles resize both axes independently. This behavior applies to Classic and Modern presets and to list, tree, and icon-grid views, including when the contents rearrange during a drag.

On X11, resize geometry is designed to remain independent of compositing and rendering speed. A constrained system may display fewer intermediate frames, but a single continuous drag still reaches the final pointer-selected size without a compensating drag. Releasing the primary button saves the completed normal width and height, so closing and reopening restores that size. Full-screen dimensions are not saved as the normal menu size.

The Layout mode selected controls which other options are available. Disabled options are greyed out and switch live as you change the mode:

Option	Docked	Centered	FullScreen
Menu width	✓	✓	—
Menu height	✓	✓	—
Panel gap	✓	—	—
Corner radius	✓	✓	—

Panel-button controls are available independently of the layout mode:

Option	Description
Show panel button title	Display a text label next to the panel button icon.
Panel button title	The label text shown on the panel button.
Show panel button icon	Show the icon on the panel button.
Panel button icon	The icon used for the panel button.
Use a single panel row	Force the panel button into a single row regardless of panel size.

Docked and Centered composition

Docked and Centered use the same menu composition. Profile and Search share one primary row at the selected Top or Bottom edge. The avatar and username are one Profile block: hiding Profile removes both from keyboard navigation and leaves no visible Profile content. With a vertical sidebar, that column remains reserved as sidebar chrome so Search still matches the Results column and does not cover the sidebar. A right sidebar puts the reserved column on the right; without a vertical sidebar, Search may use the complete row and Profile uses the logical leading side when visible.

Apps/Places and available Session actions use a derived secondary row:

Sidebar	Available Session actions	Places	Apps/Places	Secondary row
Left/Right	One or more	On	Physical sidebar side of the secondary row	Visible on the opposite physical edge
Left/Right	One or more	Off	Hidden	Visible on the physical edge opposite the sidebar
Left/Right	None	On	Secondary-row sidebar-side role	Visible
Left/Right	None	Off	Hidden	Hidden
Horizontal	One or more	On	Logical leading side of the secondary row	Visible with Session at logical trailing
Horizontal	One or more	Off	Hidden	Visible with Session at logical trailing
Horizontal	None	On	Secondary row when Profile is visible; primary Search row otherwise	Visible when Profile is visible; hidden otherwise
Horizontal	None	Off	Hidden	Hidden
Disabled	One or more	On	Logical leading side of the bottommost row	Visible with Session at logical trailing
Disabled	One or more	Off	Hidden	Visible with Session at logical trailing
Disabled	None	On	Secondary row when Profile is visible; primary Search row otherwise	Visible when Profile is visible; hidden otherwise
Disabled	None	Off	Hidden	Hidden

A configured Session group counts as available only when at least one enabled action can currently run. An empty group reserves no row or focus target. Without a vertical sidebar, the visible Session action group uses the logical trailing edge of its Results region and mirrors in right-to-left interfaces. With a vertical sidebar, it uses the opposite physical edge. When Apps/Places shares a secondary row with Session, their icons use the same effective size while the selector keeps its natural height and is vertically centred rather than stretching to the height of Session controls.

When Places is enabled without effective Session actions, Apps/Places remains in the secondary row whenever Profile or a vertical sidebar is visible. With a vertical sidebar it uses the sidebar-side width; otherwise it uses the logical leading edge. Only when Profile, the vertical sidebar, and Session are all hidden does it share the primary Search row, as in Minimal. Horizontal follows the same no-vertical-sidebar rule.

In Docked and Centered layouts, a vertical sidebar also determines the physical edges of a shared secondary row: Apps/Places stays on the sidebar’s side and effective Session actions use the opposite side. Thus a Right sidebar places the selector on the right and Session actions on the left. Profile’s avatar and name use the category button’s theme border and padding, so their leading edge matches the category icon column. With category names hidden, the complete avatar/name group and the category icons are centred on the same sidebar axis; if Profile is widest, it determines the sidebar width with equal tolerance on both sides. When Profile is hidden, icon-only category rows expand across the sidebar allocation so their controls retain equal space on both sides in Left and Right layouts. The initial width also reserves the theme’s vertical scrollbar, so category overflow or hover does not widen the launcher. Applications mode opens at the top of the category viewport with Favorites, enabled Recently Used, and All Applications painted on the first frame. These rules apply only to Docked and Centered layouts; Full Screen keeps its established selector, Session, and sidebar sizing arrangement.

Horizontal is one sidebar choice for category navigation only. In Docked and Centered it appears on the Results edge opposite the primary row; when the secondary row is present, that row sits farther outward. Apps/Places never belongs to the Horizontal strip: it follows the same logical row relocation as a disabled sidebar, including the unified Search-row placement in Minimal-style compositions. When the category group fits, it is centered across the complete menu width in Docked and Centered; in Full Screen it is centered within the Results-width strip. Overflow scrolls inside that width without enlarging the menu. Logical leading/trailing order and keyboard traversal mirror in right-to-left interfaces, while explicit Left and Right sidebars stay on their selected physical sides. Every hidden or unavailable control is removed from allocation, shared-width sizing, and focus navigation.

Docked and Centered menus use two related GTK-theme surfaces. Search and Results form the content surface; visible category navigation and the secondary Apps/Places and Session row form the chrome surface. Profile follows the surface of the column it occupies. The distinction comes from the active theme rather than the selected preset, so changing themes updates both surfaces while the menu is open. A thin theme-derived line separates a visible secondary row from Content. When a Horizontal strip and secondary row are both visible, an equal thin line also separates those two Chrome bands. These lines do not add spacing; the controls remain vertically centred between the existing boundaries and launcher edge.

Outer insets and gaps between major regions use one spacing rhythm derived from the active GTK theme. Hiding a region removes its gap as well as its allocation, avoiding doubled spacing and empty seams. Results and the scrollbar trough have no persistent inner frame; result selection, keyboard focus, and the scrollbar slider keep their normal theme feedback. List rows and grid tiles use the same GTK theme selection colours, including while focus moves by keyboard. While scrolling, Results icons and labels remain clipped inside the Results box and never paint over the Horizontal strip or secondary row.

Printable typing and Backspace outside a text-capable child are routed to Search, including immediately after a live layout change has temporarily left no child focused. Arrow keys recover through Search in the same condition and then continue the normal one-step navigation model across Search, list or grid Results, the sidebar, and Session controls.

Full Screen composition

Full Screen always uses one primary row at the top. Profile occupies the logical outer leading edge and available Session actions occupy the logical outer trailing edge. Search stays in a centred middle region whose width and edges exactly match the Results box.

Search remains visible with a positive usable allocation for every Full Screen sidebar choice. A visible vertical sidebar owns category navigation and Apps/Places; a Horizontal strip owns category navigation only. Neither replaces or hides Search.

When the sidebar is disabled or Horizontal and Places is enabled, Apps/Places and Search share the fixed results-width middle region in Full Screen: the switch is logical-leading, Search is logical-trailing, and a visible gap separates them without overflow. In Docked and Centered, Apps/Places moves to the primary Search row only when Profile and Session are also hidden, as in Minimal; otherwise it remains in the windowed secondary row. With a visible vertical sidebar, Full Screen keeps Apps/Places attached to that sidebar while Search remains in the same centered middle region. Apps/Places is the first control at the top of that sidebar, above the application or Places entries. The Horizontal strip keeps category navigation separate and never owns the selector. There is no separate bottom-control variant.

The complete logical no-sidebar order is Profile, Apps/Places, Search, Session. It mirrors naturally in right-to-left interfaces, including the outer anchors and the two edges of the centred middle region. Hidden Profile, unavailable Session actions, and disabled Places reserve neither space nor a keyboard focus target.

Unlike Docked and Centered, Full Screen deliberately uses one uniform surface for Profile, Search, Results, categories, and Session controls. Theme changes and menu opacity still apply uniformly without introducing windowed surface boundaries.

Search Bar

Option	Description
Search bar position	Place the primary row at the top or bottom of Docked and Centered menus. Full Screen always uses the top.
Show profile	Show the avatar and username as one block in the primary row.
Avatar shape	Use a round or square avatar. Available when Show profile is on.
Placeholder text	The hint text shown when the search field is empty.
Fuzzy search	Enable approximate (typo-tolerant) matching.
Fuzzy threshold	Sensitivity of the fuzzy matcher (0 = automatic).
Favorites boost	Rank previously-used apps higher in search results.
Favorites boost level	Strength of the boost: low, medium, or high.
Search actions	Custom keyword-triggered commands (e.g. type ! to run a shell command).

Session

Option	Description
Show session controls	Show the configured session actions when at least one action is available.
Show confirmation dialog	Ask for confirmation before a session action runs.
Session commands	Configure the icon, label, executable, visibility, and confirmation behavior for each session action.

Search-action command templates are split into arguments using shell-style quoting, but they are launched directly rather than through a shell. In a non-regex action, %s inserts the query text after the matched prefix, %S inserts the complete query, %u inserts a URI-escaped form of the text after the prefix, and %% inserts a literal percent sign. Use %u when arbitrary text must remain one command argument. %s and %S preserve spaces and quote characters, so they should be used only where the command template deliberately expects argument splitting.

Results View

Option	Description
View mode	List (compact), Icon grid, or Tree (category tree).
Show app name	Display the application name in each result row.
Show app description	Display the application comment below the name.
Show tooltip	Show a tooltip with the full app description on hover.
Icon size	Size of app icons in the results list (-1 = inherit from theme).
Grid density	Number of columns in icon-grid mode: low, medium, or high.
Transparent grid	Blend idle grid tiles into the results background. Clicking empty grid space clears the tile selection without leaving an unrelated solid tile; theme-provided hover, selection, press, drag, and keyboard-focus feedback remains visible.
Default category	Category shown on open: favorites, recent, or all apps.
Hover to switch category	Change the visible category by hovering over sidebar entries.

Sidebar

| Option | Description | |——–|————-| | Enable sidebar | Turn the category sidebar on or off. When off, the menu shows no sidebar; if Places is enabled the Apps/Places switch stays in the secondary row unless Profile and Session are also hidden, in which case it shares the Search row. Each built-in results page identifies itself with a heading (FAVORITES, RECENTLY USED, or ALL APPLICATIONS), including when Recently Used is empty. | | Position | Place the sidebar on the left, right, or in a Horizontal strip. In Docked and Centered, Horizontal appears on the Results edge opposite the primary row; in Full Screen it appears below Results. The strip contains category navigation only; a fitting category group is centered across the full menu in Docked/Centered or the Results-width column in Full Screen. Apps/Places remains in the same row home used when the sidebar is disabled. The strip scrolls when needed without widening the menu, and Show category name is unavailable. | | Show category name | Display the category label next to its icon. On a left/right sidebar, hiding the names also makes the Apps/Places switch vertical so the sidebar can stay narrow. | | Category icon size | Size of category icons (-1 through 6; -1 inherits the theme size). | | Sort categories | Sort the category list alphabetically. | | Recent items max | Maximum number of recently used applications to track for the Applications Recently Used category. | | Include favorites in recent | Also show favorited apps in the Recent category. | Drag an application onto the visible Favorites sidebar item to add it once. The target is unavailable when the sidebar or item is hidden. The menu stays open and uses a small icon-only preview.

In Docked and Centered layouts, drag applications to the desktop or an accepting file manager. The destination decides placement and collisions. In FullScreen, use the context-menu Add to Desktop action instead. Dragging applications or Places does not close MeowMenu; every drag uses a small icon-only preview.

Places

Option	Description
Enable Places	Show a flat shortcut surface for Home, configured standard user folders, recent files, and bookmarks.
Show icons	Render the Apps/Places switch as two icon buttons (an app-grid icon and a folder icon, with tooltips) instead of text labels. Forced on, and shown greyed in Properties, when the sidebar is Horizontal or disabled.
Show recent files	Include recently opened files in Places History. This is separate from the Applications Recently Used category.
Show bookmarks	Include user bookmarks (from Thunar or GTK bookmarks).
Bookmark sync	Keep the Places bookmarks in sync with MeowMenu or Thunar.
Max items	Maximum number of items shown in the Places view.
Remember last mode	Reopen MeowMenu in the last-used top-level mode: Applications or Places. Entering Places starts on Home.

Apps/Places is always shown as two flat, trackless choices. Exactly one mode is selected, using the active GTK theme’s checked state; hover, press, focus, and disabled feedback remain theme-native. Icons follow the size of their current host region, while text labels use their natural height so they remain readable with enlarged text.

With Places active in a left or right sidebar, Home, History, and Favourites start at the same top edge used by application categories. Any unused sidebar space remains below them. A divider appears only when another visible group follows, so no trailing line is shown below Favourites. The three icons keep one aligned column, with the star optically balanced against the Home and History artwork.

Places Home always starts with Home, followed by configured standard user folders such as Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos when those directories exist. It does not list every folder under Home and is not an embedded file browser: activating a shortcut opens the external file manager. Missing, Home-equivalent, and duplicate standard-folder entries are omitted.

Drag a Places file or folder onto Favourites when Bookmark sync is MeowMenu. The target is unavailable for disabled Places, sidebar, or Favourites, and when sync is Thunar. The menu stays open and uses a small icon-only preview.

In Docked and Centered layouts, drag Places items to the desktop or an accepting file manager. Files keep their URI; folders create a link rather than copying their contents. The destination handles placement and collisions. In FullScreen, use Add Desktop Link from the context menu instead.

Missing recent files and bookmarks

When a recent item or bookmark points to a file or folder that has been deleted or renamed, MeowMenu-owned Places favourites are removed from the visible Favourites list the next time it is rebuilt. Externally managed Places favourites are hidden from MeowMenu’s visible Favourites list without changing the external source. Recent items remain read-only; unavailable entries can appear greyed-out, cannot be opened directly, and still offer Open Containing Folder when a parent directory can be located.

Extras

Extras → Calculator enables an optional inline calculator. Select an installed engine and enter an expression such as 2 + 2; use = to force a lone number to calculate. Activating a result copies its full value.

Choose None to disable it. Missing engines are marked in the list; a missing selected bc shows bc package required. Choose Auto or a semantic result size, and set 0–10 decimal places. Display values round half away from zero; available precision can differ by engine. These settings persist and are included in presets. Long answers stay on one line, with the full value available to hover and accessibility tools.

With Auto selected, MeowMenu follows the active preset: Minimal and custom or unknown presets use Normal, Modern and Calculator-enabled Classic use Large, and Full Screen uses Larger. Named choices stay exactly as selected. This only changes presentation: Auto remains stored as Auto, long values keep the normal result height, and the complete value remains available when the visible label is shortened.

Calculator results use the normal result height and icon scale. They take one full-width row in list and tree views, and span the grid at one tile high. A successful result hides custom search actions and the Run fallback, while application matches remain visible. Other states keep those fallbacks available. For keyboard use, a visible successful Calculator result is the first visual anchor ahead of ordinary matches. If a current calculation finishes after the ordinary results, the query is re-anchored to Calculator; stale or cancelled calculations do not change focus.

Xfconf reference

For scripting or headless configuration, read and write settings directly via xfconf-query. Keys below are relative to /plugins/<id>/:

# List all MeowMenu properties for a panel plugin instance
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep meowmenu

# Set a single property
xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /plugins/<id>/<key> -s <value>

Replace <id> with the numeric plugin ID shown by xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv | grep meowmenu.

Appearance

Key	Type	Default	Description
corner-radius	int	0	Radius, in pixels, that rounds the menu’s visible outer corners (0 = square).
panel-gap	int	0	Gap between the panel and the menu window.
menu-width	int	450	Menu window width in pixels.
menu-height	int	500	Menu window height in pixels.
menu-opacity	int	100	Opacity of the whole menu background in every layout mode (0 = fully transparent, 100 = fully solid), applied live. Foreground content always stays fully opaque; has no effect without a compositor.
stay-on-focus-out	bool	false	Keep menu open when focus moves away.

Layout

Key	Type	Default	Description
layout-mode	string	docked	docked, centered, or fullscreen.
sidebar-position	string	left	left, right, or horizontal.
search-bar-position	string	top	top or bottom.
show-profile	bool	true	Show the avatar and username in the primary row.
show-session	bool	true	Show available session actions.

Results view

Key	Type	Default	Description
view-mode	int	1	0 = icons, 1 = list, 2 = tree.
launcher-show-name	bool	true	Show the app name.
launcher-show-description	bool	true	Show the app description.
launcher-show-tooltip	bool	true	Show a hover tooltip.
launcher-icon-size	int	-1	Icon size (-1 = theme default).
grid-density	string	medium	low, medium, or high columns in grid mode.
transparent-grid	bool	false	In grid mode, make resting result tiles blend into the results area. Empty-space clicks clear the selection without leaving a solid idle tile, while theme-provided hover, selection, press, drag, and keyboard-focus feedback remains visible.

When results are shown as an icon grid, application tiles and Places file or folder tiles use the same application-style tile height. This keeps switching between Applications and Places visually stable across docked, centered, and full-screen layouts.

Calculator

Key	Type	Default	Description
extras/calculator-engine	string	none	none, bc, qalc, or gcalccmd.
extras/calculator-result-font-size	int	-1	-1 = Auto; 0 through 6 select Very Small through Very Large.
extras/calculator-max-decimal-places	int	4	Maximum fractional digits, from 0 through 10.

The effective built-in defaults differ by preset: Classic disables Calculator; Modern, Full Screen, and Minimal select bc. All use Auto and four decimal places. Invalid stored values recover to the safe defaults instead of selecting an arbitrary command or clamping to a different preference.

Sidebar

Key	Type	Default	Description
sidebar-enabled	bool	true	Show the category sidebar. When false the sidebar is removed; with Places on, Apps/Places follows the derived secondary-row or unified Search-row placement.
category-show-name	bool	true	Show category label text.
category-icon-size	int	-1	Category icon size: -1 uses the theme size; 0 through 6 select named sizes.
hover-switch-category	bool	false	Switch category on hover instead of click.
sort-categories	bool	true	Sort categories alphabetically.
default-category	int	0	0 = favorites, 1 = recent, 2 = all.
recent-items-max	int	10	Maximum recent app count.
favorites-in-recent	bool	false	Include favorites in the Recent list.

Search

Key	Type	Default	Description
search/fuzzy-enabled	bool	true	Enable fuzzy (typo-tolerant) matching.
search/fuzzy-threshold	int	0	Fuzzy sensitivity (0 = automatic).
search/favorites-boost-enabled	bool	true	Boost frequently-used apps in results.
search/favorites-boost-level	int	2	Boost strength: 1 = low, 2 = medium, 3 = high.
search/frecency-alpha	int	70	Recency weight in the ranking score (0–100).

Places

Key	Type	Default	Description
places/enabled	bool	false	Enable the Places shortcut surface.
places/switch-show-icons	bool	false	Render the Apps/Places switch as icon buttons instead of text. Forced on (render-time only) when the sidebar is Horizontal or disabled.
places/history-enabled	bool	true	Show recently opened files in Places History.
places/favourites-enabled	bool	true	Show bookmarks.
places/favourite-sync	string	meowmenu	Keep bookmarks in sync with meowmenu or thunar.
places/max-items	int	20	Maximum items in the Places view.
places/remember-last-mode	bool	false	Reopen in the last-used top-level mode, Applications or Places.

X11 is the primary quality path. Wayland support for menu mode, Places, and Transparent grid is experimental; the menu remains usable, but theme- or compositor-specific pixel differences may occur.