FAQ

What is MeowMenu?

MeowMenu is a standalone Xfce panel launcher with presets, Places, flexible layouts, keyboard navigation, and an optional Calculator. It originated as a fork of Whisker Menu, but it has its own settings and release cycle.

Which release should I test?

Before final 1.0.0, 0.x releases are experimental feature releases. An available RC is the more stable testing channel. Choose the newest 0.x release when it is newer and you want newer features.

Compatibility and configuration preservation are not guaranteed in any way before final 1.0.0; configuration preservation is guaranteed from final 1.0.0 onward.

The plugin doesn’t appear in ‘Add New Items’ after install.

Run xfce4-panel -r to restart the panel. If it still doesn’t appear, verify the .so file installed correctly by running ls /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libmeowmenu.so (or ls /usr/local/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libmeowmenu.so for source installs). If the file is absent, the package may not have installed cleanly. Try reinstalling.

My custom preset isn’t loading.

Check three things: (1) the file is in ~/.local/share/meowmenu/presets/; (2) the filename stem matches the Id field inside the file (e.g., my-preset.meowpreset must contain Id=my-preset); (3) you restarted the panel with xfce4-panel -r after placing the file.

My favourites disappeared after testing a development build. Can they be recovered?

MeowMenu preserves the favourite identifiers that are still stored, including applications that are temporarily unavailable. It cannot reconstruct choices that an earlier development build already erased. Restore a saved preset that contains the missing favourites, or add the applications again manually.

Can I contribute a translation?

Yes — edit the relevant po/<lang>.po file, run msgfmt --check, and open a pull request. Italian has maintainer review; reviews for every other language are especially welcome. See translation status.