Nautilus File Manager

The view pane can display the contents of the following:

Nautilus contains viewer components that enable you to display particular types of file in the view pane. For example, you can use a web page viewer to display HTML files in the view pane. The following figure shows a plain text document displayed in the view pane.

Displaying a file in the view pane provides the following benefits:

However, you can not edit a file in the view pane.

Click on the Reload button to reload the contents of the view pane.

Nautilus also includes views that enable you to display the contents of your folders in different ways. For example, you can display the contents of a folder in the following types of view:

Use the View menu to choose how to display a folder. For more information on views, see Section I.7.6.4 ― Using Views to Display Your Files and Folders.

The side pane can contain the following elements:

The side pane contains the following tabbed panes:

Table I.7-2 describes how to work with tabbed panes.

In icon view, Nautilus displays your files and folders as icons. You can add emblems to your file icons and folder icons. An emblem is a small icon that you can add to an item to visually mark the item. For example, to mark a file as important, you can add an Important emblem to the file icon to create the following visual effect:

For more information on how to add an emblem to an icon, see Section I.7.6.1 ― To Add an Emblem to a File or Folder.

The following table describes the structure of the file icon:

Component	Description
	Emblem. This emblem is the Important emblem.
	Icon that represents the file. This icon contains a preview of the content of the file.
	Icon caption. You can modify what items of information are displayed in the icon caption.

Nautilus includes default emblems for the following types of item:

The default emblems change depending on your theme. The following table shows the default emblems for the Default theme.

Default Emblem	Description
	Symbolic link
	Read permission only
	No read permission and no write permission

To display your home location, perform one of the following actions:

The Nautilus window displays the contents of your home location. To reload the display, click on the Reload button.

For information on how to set your home location, see Section I.7.8.1.8 ― To Set Navigation Preferences.

You can display the contents of a folder in any of the following ways:

To change to the folder that is one level above the current folder, choose Go ▸ Up a Level. Alternatively, click on the Up toolbar button.

To reload the display, click on the Reload button.

If you can not find the folder that you want to display, you can use Search Tool. To start Search Tool, choose Actions ▸ Search for Files.

The Tree tabbed pane displays a hierarchical representation of your file system. The Tree tabbed pane provides a convenient way to navigate your file system. By default, the Tree tabbed pane is not displayed in your side pane. To add the Tree tabbed pane to the side pane, right-click in the side pane, then choose Tree from the popup menu.

The following figure shows the Tree tabbed pane.

In the Tree tabbed pane, folders are represented as follows:

Table I.7-3 describes the tasks that you can perform with the Tree tabbed pane, and how to perform the tasks.

You can set your preferences so that the Tree tabbed pane does not display files. For more information, see Section I.7.8.1.7 ― To Set Side Pane Preferences.

When you open a file, Nautilus performs the default action for that file type. The default action can be one of the following:

Nautilus checks the contents of a file to determine the type of a file. If the first lines do not determine the type of the file, then Nautilus checks the file extension.

If you can not find the file that you want to open, you can use Search Tool. To start Search Tool, choose Actions ▸ Search for Files.

I.7.3.4.4. To Execute Other Actions When Displaying a File

When you display a file in the view pane, the side pane might contain buttons. Figure I.7-2 shows the side pane when a text file is displayed in the view pane.

Figure I.7-2 Side Pane When a File is Displayed in the View Pane

The buttons represent any actions that are defined in the File Types and Programs desktop preference tool. The actions are defined in the Default action drop-down list box in the Edit file type dialog in the File Types and Programs preference tool. Click on a button to execute an action. For example, if an action defined for plain text documents is to open the file in gedit. If this action is defined, an Open with gedit button is displayed in the side pane. To open the file in the gedit application, click on the Open with gedit button.

A button that represents the action does not appear in the side pane if the actions are excluded in either of the following dialogs:

• Open with Other
• View as Other

The Start Here location enables you to access the following desktop functions:

You can access the Start Here location in the following ways:

You can use Nautilus as a browser to view websites, but you can only view pages that contain HTML code. You can not view pages that contain other types of code, for example, JavaScript.

To view a HTML-only website, enter the URL for the site in the field on the location bar, then press Return. The contents of the site are displayed in the view pane. To reload the current page, click on the Reload button.

When you display a website in the view pane, the side pane might contain buttons. The buttons represent any actions that you can perform on the web page that is displayed in the view pane. To execute an action on the web page, click on the button that represents the action.

For example, when you display a HTML document in the view pane, an Open with Netscape button is displayed in the side pane. To open the file in Netscape, click on the Open with Netscape button.

You can use Nautilus to access FTP sites. To access an FTP site, enter the URL for the site in the field on the location bar, then press Return. The contents of the site are displayed in the view pane. To copy a file from the FTP site, drag the file to the new location.

Nautilus maintains a history list of files, folders, and URLs. You can use the history list to navigate to files, folders, and URLs that you have recently visited. The following sections describe how to navigate your history list.

To clear your history list choose Go ▸ Clear History.

I.7.3.8.3. To Navigate Your History List Using the History Tabbed Pane

To display the History tabbed pane, click on the History tab in the side pane. The History tabbed pane displays a list of your previously-viewed items, as shown in the following figure:

To display an item from your history list in the view pane, click on the item in the History tabbed pane.

To access an item in your bookmarks, choose the item from the Bookmarks menu. You can add your favorite locations to your Bookmarks menu. You can add bookmarks to locations on the Internet, or to files and folders in your file system.

By default, Nautilus contains certain bookmarks. You can set your Nautilus preferences so that the default bookmarks are excluded from the Bookmarks menu. For more information, see Section I.7.8.1 ― Setting Your Preferences.

You can use drag-and-drop to perform several tasks in Nautilus. When you drag-and-drop, the mouse pointer provides feedback about the task that you perform. Table I.7-4 describes the tasks that you can perform with drag-and-drop. The table also shows the mouse pointers that appear when you drag-and-drop.

Table I.7-4 Drag-and-Drop in Nautilus

Task	Action	Mouse Pointer
Move an item	Drag the item to the new location.
Copy an item	Press-and-hold Ctrl, then drag the item to the new location.
Link to an item	Press-and-hold Shift , then drag the item to the location where you want the link to reside.
Ask what to do with the item you drag	Press-and-hold Alt, then drag the item to the location where you want the item to reside. Release the mouse button. A popup menu appears. Choose one of the following items from the popup menu: Move here Moves the item to the location. Copy here Copies the item to the location. Link here Creates a symbolic link to the item at the location. Cancel Cancels the drag-and-drop operation.

You can select files and folders in several ways in Nautilus. Table I.7-5 describes how to select items in Nautilus windows and on the Nautilus desktop background.

To perform the default action on an item, double-click on the item. You can set your Nautilus preferences so that you work with Nautilus as follows:

For more information, see Section I.7.8.1.5 ― To Set Icon and List Views Preferences.

The following sections describe the ways you can move a file or folder.

The following sections describe the ways you can copy a file or folder.

To create a copy of a file or folder in the current folder perform the following steps:

To create a folder perform the following steps:

To rename a file or folder perform the following steps:

To move a file or folder to Trash perform the following steps:

Alternatively, you can drag the file or folder from the view pane to the Trash icon on the desktop.

When you delete a file or folder, the file or folder is not moved to Trash, but is deleted from your file system immediately. The Delete menu item is only available if you select the Include a Delete command that bypasses Trash option in the Preferences dialog. For more information on this option, see Section I.7.8.1.3 ― To Set Preferences for New Windows.

To delete a file or folder perform the following steps:

A symbolic link is a special type of file that points to another file or folder. When you perform an action on a symbolic link, the action is performed on the file or folder to which the symbolic link points. However, when you delete a symbolic link, you delete the link file, not the file to which the symbolic link points.

To create a symbolic link to a file or folder, select the file or folder to which you want to create a link. Choose File  ▸ Make Link. A link to the file or folder is added to the current folder.

Alternatively, press-and-hold Shift. Drag the item to which you want to create a link to the location where you want to place the link.

By default, Nautilus adds an emblem to symbolic links.

To change the permissions on a file or folder perform the following steps:

You can move the following items to Trash:

When you move an item to Trash, the item is temporarily stored in your /.Trash directory. If you need to retrieve a file from Trash, you can display Trash and move the file out of Trash.

When you empty Trash, you delete the contents of Trash permanently.

You can use the Notes tab to add a note to a folder. To add a note to a folder perform the following steps:

You can add an emblem to an item in either of the following ways:

To add an emblem to an item with the properties dialog, perform the following steps:

To add an emblem to an item with the Backgrounds and Emblems dialog, perform the following steps:

To change the icon that represents an individual file or folder, perform the following steps:

To change the icon that represents a file type, use the File Types and Programs desktop preference tool. To open the File Types and Programs desktop preference tool, choose Applications ▸ Preferences ▸ Advanced ▸ File Types and Programs .

To restore an icon from a custom icon to the default icon specified in the File Types and Programs desktop preference tool, right-click on the icon then choose Remove Custom Image . Alternatively, click on the Remove Custom Icon button on the Properties dialog.

You can change the size of items in a view. You change the size if the view displays a file or a folder. You can change the size of items in a view in the following ways:

You can also use the zoom buttons on the location bar to change the size of items in a view. Table I.7-6 describes how to use the zoom buttons.

Table I.7-6 Zoom Buttons

Button	Button Name	Description
	Zoom Out button	Click on this button to reduce the size of items in a view.
	Normal Size button	Click on this button to return items in a view to normal size.
	Zoom In button	Click on this button to enlarge the size of items in a view.

Nautilus remembers the size of items in a particular folder. The next time that you display the folder, the items are displayed in the size you selected. In other words, when you change the size of items in a folder, you customize the folder to display the items at that size. To return the size of the items to the default size specified in your preferences, choose View ▸ Reset View to Defaults.

Nautilus provides several ways to display the contents of your files. Nautilus includes viewer components that enable you to display particular types of file in the view pane. For example, you can use a web page viewer to display HTML files in the view pane. You can use a text viewer to view plain text files in the view pane.

You can also use Nautilus to open a file in an appropriate application. For more information, see Section I.7.3.4 ― Opening Files.

Nautilus includes views that enable you to display the contents of your folders in different ways. For example, you can display the contents of a folder in the following types of view:

Use the View menu to choose how to display a file or folder. You can also use the View as drop-down list box to choose how to display a file or folder. When you display a folder, you can specify how you want to arrange or sort items in the folder. You can modify the size of the items in the view pane. The following sections describe how to work with icon view, list view, and views of files.

You can modify the actions associated with a file or file type. You can do the following:

To modify the actions associated with a file or file type, perform the following steps:

Use the Preferences dialog to set preferences for the Nautilus windows and desktop. To display the Preferences dialog, choose Edit ▸ Preferences .

You can set preferences in the following categories:

I.7.8.1.1. To Set View Preferences

You can specify a default view, and default settings for icon views and list views. To specify your default view settings for Nautilus windows, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose View Defaults from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-7 lists the view settings that you can modify. The Preferences dialog contains an Icon View Defaults group box and a List View Defaults group box. The group boxes contain mostly the same dialog elements. Each dialog element is described once in Table I.7-7.

Table I.7-7 View Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
View new folders using	Select the default view for folders. When you open a folder, the folder is displayed in the view that you select.
Arrange Items	Select the characteristic by which you want to sort the items in folders that are displayed in this view.
Default zoom level	Select the default zoom level for folders that are displayed in this view. The zoom level specifies the size of items in a view.
Sort in reversed order	Select this option if you want to reverse the order by which items are sorted in this view. If you select this option, the order of the characteristic you select in Layout items is reversed. For example, if you select By Name from the Layout items drop-down list box. You can select the Sort in reversed order option to sort the items in reverse alphabetical order.
Use tighter layout	Icon view only. Select this option to arrange the items so that the items in the folder are closer to each other.

I.7.8.1.2. To Set Font and Theme Preferences

You can select the font that Nautilus uses in windows and the desktop background. Nautilus also includes themes that you can use to change the look-and-feel of the Nautilus windows and the desktop background.

To set your preferences for the font and theme of the Nautilus windows and desktop background, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Appearance from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-8 lists the font and theme settings that you can modify.

Table I.7-8 Appearance Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Nautilus Themes	To change your Nautilus theme, choose a theme from the list.
Add New Theme	To add a new Nautilus theme, click on the Add New Theme button. A dialog is displayed. Use the dialog to find the new theme. Nautilus themes are stored as directories in the $GNOME_BASEDIR/share/pixmaps/nautilus/ directory.

I.7.8.1.3. To Set Preferences for New Windows

To set your preferences for the Nautilus windows and desktop, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Windows from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-9 lists the windows settings that you can modify.

Table I.7-9 New Window Preferences

Option	Description
Open each file or folder in a separate window	Select this option to open a new window when you open a file or folder.
Display side bar in new windows	Select this option to display a side pane in new windows.
Display toolbar in new windows	Select this option to display a toolbar in new windows.
Display location bar in new windows	Select this option to display a location bar in new windows.
Display status bar in new windows	Select this option to display a statusbar in new windows.

I.7.8.1.4. To Set Desktop Background and Trash Preferences

To set your preferences for the Nautilus desktop background and Trash, choose Edit ▸ Preferences . Choose Desktop & Trash from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-10 lists the desktop background and Trash settings that you can modify.

Table I.7-10 Windows and Desktop Background Preferences

Option	Description
Use Nautilus to draw the desktop	Select this option to use Nautilus to manage your desktop. If you do not use Nautilus to manage your desktop, you can not do the following: Use the File Manager menu. Use Nautilus to change the pattern or color of the desktop. Use the Nautilus Home launcher and Trash launcher. The Home launcher and Trash launcher are not displayed on the desktop.
Use your home folder as the desktop	Select this option to use your home directory as the desktop background directory, instead of the default desktop background directory, /.nautilus/desktop . If you select this option, the contents of your home directory are displayed as desktop background objects.
Ask before emptying the Trash	Select this option to display a confirmation message before Trash is emptied.
Include a Delete command that bypasses Trash	Select this option to add a Delete menu item to the following menus: The File menu. The popup menu that is displayed when you right-click on a file, folder, or desktop background object. When you select an item then choose the Delete menu item, the item is deleted from your file system immediately.

I.7.8.1.5. To Set Icon and List Views Preferences

To set your preferences for items in icon views and list views, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Icon & List Views from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-11 lists the settings that you can modify for items in icon views and list views.

Table I.7-11 Icon and List Views Preferences

Option	Description
Activate items with a single click	Select this option to perform the default action for an item when you click on the item. When this option is selected, and you point to an item, the title of the item is underlined.
Activate items with a double click	Select this option to perform the default action for an item when you double-click on the item.
Execute files when they are clicked	Select this option to run an executable file when you choose the executable file. An executable file is a text file that can execute, that is, a shell script.
Display files when they are clicked	Select this option to display the contents of an executable file when you choose the executable file.
Ask each time	Select this option to display a dialog when you choose an executable file. The dialog asks whether you want to execute the file or display the file.
Show hidden files	Select this option to display hidden files in the view pane. The first character in a hidden file name is a period (.).
Show backup files	Select this option to display backup files in the view pane. The last character in a backup file name is a tilde (~).
Show special flags in Properties window	Select this option to show the following special flags in the Permissions tab on a properties dialog: Set User ID Set Group ID Sticky
Always list folders before files	Select this option to list folders before files.

I.7.8.1.6. To Set Icon Captions Preferences

An icon caption displays the name of a file or folder in an icon view. The icon caption also includes three additional items of information on the file or folder. The additional information is displayed after the file name. Normally only one item of information is visible, but when you zoom in on an icon, more of the information is displayed. You can modify what additional information is displayed in icon captions.

To set your preferences for icon captions, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Icon Captions from the Preferences dialog.

Select the items of information that you want to display in the icon caption from the three drop-down list boxes. Select the first item from the first drop-down list box, select the second item from the second drop-down list box, and so on. The following table describes the items of information that you can select:

Information	Description
Size	Choose this option to display the size of the item.
Type	Choose this option to display the description of the MIME type of the item from the File Types and Programs desktop preference tool.
Date modified	Choose this option to display the last modification date of the item.
Date changed	Choose this option to display the last modification date of the inode of the item. An inode is a data structure that contains information about individual files in UNIX file systems. Each file has one inode. An inode contains the node, type, owner, and location of a file.
Date accessed	Choose this option to display the date that the item was last accessed.
Owner	Choose this option to display the owner of the item.
Group	Choose this option to display the group to which the owner of the item belongs.
Permissions	Choose this option to display the permissions of the item as three sets of three characters, for example -rwxrw-r--.
Octal permissions	Choose this option to display the permissions of the item in octal notation, for example 764.
MIME type	Choose this option to display the MIME type of the item.
None	Choose this option to display no information for the item.

I.7.8.1.7. To Set Side Pane Preferences

To set your preferences for the side pane, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Sidebar Panels from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-12 lists the side pane settings that you can modify.

Table I.7-12 Side Pane Preferences

Option	Description
Display History tab in sidebar	Select this option to display the History tab in the side pane.
Display Notes tab in sidebar	Select this option to display the Notes tab in the side pane.
Display Tree tab in sidebar	Select this option to display the Tree tab in the side pane.
Show only folders (no files) in the tree	Select this option to display only folders in the Tree tabbed pane.

I.7.8.1.8. To Set Navigation Preferences

To set navigation preferences, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Navigation from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-13 lists the navigation settings that you can modify.

Table I.7-13 Navigation Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Home Location	Enter the location that you want to use as your home page. Enter your home location as follows: To specify a web page as your home location, enter the URL in the Home Location field. To specify a file or folder as your home location, enter the path in the Home Location field.
Don't include the built-in bookmarks in the Bookmarks menu	Select this option to exclude the default bookmarks that are supplied with Nautilus from the Bookmarks menu.

I.7.8.1.9. To Set Speed Tradeoffs Preferences

Some Nautilus features can affect the speed with which Nautilus responds to your requests. You can modify the behavior of some of these features to improve the speed of Nautilus. In this way, you can exchange, or trade off, a Nautilus feature for better performance. For each of the speed tradeoff preferences, you can select one of the options described in the following table:

Option	Description
Always	Performs the action for both local files, and files on other file systems.
Local Files Only	Performs the action for local files only.
Never	Never performs the action.

To set your speed tradeoff preferences, choose Edit ▸ Preferences. Choose Speed Tradeoffs from the Preferences dialog.

Table I.7-14 lists the speed tradeoff settings that you can modify.

Table I.7-14 Speed Tradeoff Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Show Text in Icons	Select an option to specify when to preview the content of text files in the icon that represents the file.
Show Count of Items in Folders	Select an option to specify when to show the number of items in folders.
Show Thumbnails for Image Files	Select an option to specify when to show thumbnails of image files. Nautilus stores the thumbnail files for each folder in a .thumbnails directory that is one level below the folder. Don't make thumbnails for files larger than: Specify the maximum file size for files for which Nautilus creates a thumbnail.
Preview Sound Files	Select an option to specify when to preview sound files.

Nautilus includes backgrounds that you can use to change the look-and-feel of the following screen components:

To change the background of a screen component perform the following steps:

When you change the background of the side pane or the view pane of a particular folder, Nautilus remembers the background that you chose. The next time that you display the folder, the background that you selected is displayed. In other words, when you change the background of a folder, you customize the folder to display the background.

You can show and hide Nautilus window components as follows: