# Nautilus

Related articles

- GNOME
- File manager functionality
- Nemo
- Thunar
- PCManFM

Nautilus is the default file manager for GNOME. From the Gnome website: The Nautilus file manager provides a simple and integrated way to manage your files and applications. You can use the file manager to do the following:

- Create folders and documents
- Display your files and folders
- Search and manage your files
- Run scripts and launch applications
- Customize the appearance of files and folders
- Open special locations on your computer
- Write data to a CD or DVD
- Install and remove fonts

## Installation

Install nautilus from the Official Repositories.

Note: Nautilus does not depend on the gnome-shell package, but it does require gnome-desktop.

Nautilus is part of the gnome group.

## Configuration

Nautilus is simple to configure graphically, but not all options are available in the preferences menu. More options are available with dconf-editor under `org.gnome.nautilus`.

### Desktop Management

Nautilus, by default, no longer controls your background/desktop in gnome-shell. If you need icons on your desktop you can easily configure nautilus to handle the desktop.

Install the package gnome-tweak-tool and run the program. Click on the "Desktop" tab and set the "Icons on Desktop" slider to "on". You may have to restart nautilus by running `killall nautilus; nautilus` or if you are running Gnome, press `ALT+F2`, type `r`, and press `Enter`.

Alternatively you can use `dconf-editor` to change the same setting. Expand `org > gnome > desktop` and click on background. Tick the option labelled show-desktop-icons.

Note: Nautilus will manage the desktop when using the GNOME Classic session.

### Change default item view

You can change the default view for the items by setting the `default-folder-viewer` variable, e.g. for the list view:

    $ gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences default-folder-viewer 'list-view'

### Remove folders from the places sidebar

The displayed folders are specified in `~/.config/user-dirs.dirs` and can be altered with any editor. An execution of `xdg-user-dirs-update` will change them again, thus it may be advisable to set the file permissions to read-only.

### Always show text-entry location

The standard Nautilus toolbar shows a button bar interface for path navigation. To enter path locations using the keyboard, you must expose the location text-entry field. This is done by pressing `Ctrl+l`

To make the location text-entry field always present, use gsettings as shown.

    $ gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences always-use-location-entry true

Note: After changing this setting, you will not be able to expose the button bar. Only when the setting is false can both forms of location navigation be employed.

### Plugins

Some programs can add extra functionality to Nautilus. Here are a few packages in the official repositories that do just that.

- Nautilus Actions — Configures programs to be launched when files are selected in Nautilus

  http://www.nautilus-actions.org/ || nautilus-actions

- Nautilus Terminal — Terminal embedded in Nautilus. It is always open in the current folder, and follows the navigation.

  http://projects.flogisoft.com/nautilus-terminal/ || nautilus-terminal

- Open in Terminal — A nautilus plugin for opening terminals in arbitrary local paths

  http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/nautilus-open-terminal || nautilus-open-terminal

Tip: This plugin is not needed if you have gnome-terminal installed: since version 3.10.0-2 it provides the extension `/usr/lib/nautilus/extensions-3.0/libterminal-nautilus.so` which creates an entry in Nautilus' context menu for opening the selected directory in a new terminal (see [commit]).

- Send to Menu — Nautilus context menu for sending files.

  http://download.gnome.org/sources/nautilus-sendto/ || nautilus-sendto

- Sound Converter — Nautilus extension to convert audio files formats

  http://code.google.com/p/nautilus-sound-converter/ || nautilus-sound-converter

Warning: As of 2014-05-14 this plugin does not work (cannot convert any file and displays an error). Development seems to have ceased for at least two years.

- Seahorse Nautilus — PGP encryption and signing for nautilus

  http://git.gnome.org/browse/seahorse-nautilus/ || seahorse-nautilus

### Create an empty document in Nautilus 3.6 and above

Gnome 3.6 brought changes to Nautilus. The option to create an empty document has been removed from the right-click menu in Nautilus. To get this option back one has to create a `~/Templates/` folder in your home folder and place an empty file inside the folder through your favourite Terminal by `touch ~/Templates/new` or by using any other file manager. Then just restart Nautilus.

On non-English installations, the templates directory might have another name. One can find the actual directory with the following command: `xdg-user-dir TEMPLATES`.

### Use delete key to move to trash in Nautilus 3.6 and above

By default Nautilus now no longer uses the delete key to move files to trash. If you want to get that feature back make the following changes in `~/.config/nautilus/accels`:

    - ; (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/DirViewActions/Trash" "<Primary>Delete")
    + (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/DirViewActions/Trash" "Delete")

And restart Nautilus with:

    nautilus -q

## Troubleshooting

### Nautilus can't browse my windows network shares

Nautilus relies on gvfs-smb for this functionality, it can be Installed from the Official Repositories

### Nautilus can't browse my apple network shares

Nautilus relies on gvfs-afp and avahi for this functionality, they can be Installed from the Official Repositories. Note that in addition to installing avahi, it needs to be started too, using

    # systemctl start avahi-daemon

and/or

    # systemctl enable avahi-daemon

### Nautilus is no longer the default file manager

If Nautilus is not recognised as the default file manager, set Nautilus as default handler for the mime type inode/directory

    $ xdg-mime default nautilus.desktop inode/directory

Alternatively, add the following line under the [Default Applications] section in the `~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list` file:

    inode/directory=nautilus.desktop

Tip: If you want the change to be systemwide run the command above as root or create a `mimeapps.list` file in `/usr/share/applications` and add the line there instead.
Categories:

- File managers
- GNOME