Presets

A preset is a snapshot of all visual and layout settings saved as a plain .meowpreset file. Switching presets reshapes the menu instantly — size, corner radius, icon style, sidebar position, and more — without touching individual options.

A fresh installation starts on the Modern preset. Upgrades keep your existing layout untouched — nothing is reset on upgrade, and the active-preset label reflects the layout you are actually running.

Selecting a built-in preset is a full reset

Choosing a built-in preset restores that preset’s complete documented layout, regardless of any changes you made beforehand. The settings a preset governs include the whole appearance and layout surface — window size, corner radius, opacity, icon size, the sidebar position, whether the sidebar is shown, whether categories show names or are icon-only, the Apps/Places switch style, and more. None of your prior edits to those settings leak across a switch.

Selecting the preset you are already on re-applies it — a convenient “reset to this preset”. The Reset preset button on Properties → General does the same for the currently selected preset.

Changes you make after selecting a preset are not saved back into a built-in preset. To keep a customised layout, save it as a custom preset (see below); the built-in presets are never modified.

Built-in presets

Classic

Traditional Whisker Menu look. Compact docked window, apps as a list, sidebar on the right, no rounded corners, fully solid (menu opacity 100%). The Apps/Places switch uses text labels.

Modern

Contemporary layout with rounded corners, a fully solid background (menu opacity 100%), hover-to-switch-category, and Places search enabled. The Apps/Places switch uses icon buttons.

Full Screen

Launcher fills the entire screen over a translucent backdrop (menu opacity 80%). Ideal for touch or keyboard-first workflows. Places search enabled. The Apps/Places switch uses text labels.

Minimal

A compact, distraction-free launcher: a search bar over an app list, with no sidebar, no profile area, and no command buttons. Opens centred on screen in a short window with a lightly translucent background (menu opacity 60%), Places enabled with icons, opening on the Recent category. Switch to any other built-in to bring the sidebar, profile, and commands back.

Each preset sets its own default for the Apps/Places Show icons option (Modern and Minimal on; Classic and Full Screen off). Switching presets updates the default, but your own later changes to the option always win.

The Unsaved custom state

The moment you change any governed setting, the preset field on Properties → General switches to Unsaved custom to show that the live layout no longer matches the selected preset. This is reversible: edit the value back to match the preset and the field snaps straight back to the preset’s name. Switching to another preset discards the unsaved changes and applies that preset. The field is never blank — it always reads either a preset name or Unsaved custom.

How the dropdown reads at a glance

The preset dropdown distinguishes the three kinds of entry by their styling:

• Built-in presets (Classic, Modern, Full Screen, Minimal) are shown in bold.
• Saved custom presets are shown in regular weight.
• The transient Unsaved custom entry is shown in italic.

Saving, renaming, deleting

The preset hub on Properties → General manages custom presets without editing files by hand:

• Save as new… — captures the current layout as a new custom preset. Give it a name that is not empty and does not duplicate another preset (built-in or custom); the new preset appears in the dropdown immediately, already selected.
• Rename… — renames the selected custom preset; the dropdown label updates at once and the preset stays selected.
• Delete — removes the selected custom preset. If it was the active one, the layout falls back to Modern.

Built-in presets cannot be renamed, deleted, or exported — those actions are available only for your own saved presets.

Exporting and importing

• Export… writes the selected custom preset to a .meowpreset file you can share or back up. (Built-in presets are not exportable.)
• Import… loads a .meowpreset file. If its name clashes with an existing custom preset you can Overwrite, Rename, or Cancel; if it clashes with a built-in name you can only Rename or Cancel.

Import is tolerant of schema differences in otherwise valid files: unknown settings are ignored, settings the file omits fall back to their defaults, and a file written by a newer (or version-less) MeowMenu is accepted on a best-effort basis. Only unreadable files, or files missing the [Preset]/[Settings] sections or the preset name, are rejected — and a rejected import never changes your saved presets.

Advanced: hand-authored preset files

You can also create a preset by writing the file yourself with a [Preset] header block and a [Settings] block containing the desired keys:

[Preset]
Name=My Custom Preset
SchemaVersion=1
Id=my-custom
Description=My preset

[Settings]
layout-mode=docked
corner-radius=8

Save the file as <id>.meowpreset (the filename stem must match the Id field). Then place it in:

~/.local/share/meowmenu/presets/

Restart the panel with xfce4-panel -r. The preset will appear in Properties → General → Preset.

A file whose Id matches a built-in preset overrides the system version.

File format

[Preset]
Name=My Custom Preset
SchemaVersion=1
Id=my-custom
Description=My preset

[Settings]
layout-mode=docked
corner-radius=8

Unknown keys are silently ignored. Malformed files are skipped without crashing the panel.