Bring back `BackSpace` Keyboard Shortcuts on nautilus and thunar

Question

I want to use the "BackSpace" button as a shortcut key on nautilus. I want to return to the previous folder whilst browsing the Home folder, just like windows 7.

Also I want the same thing while using Firefox, In a way that when I press the shortcut key I will return to the previous web page.

I can't imagine what is motivation to remove very popular hotkey from app for everyday use. — ruX, Jan 25 '14 at 09:52

score 77 · Answer 1 · edited May 08 '13 at 15:02

77

For Firefox and Nautilus: You can use Alt+← to go back instead of Backspace.

For nautilus 3.6 to bring backspace functionality you need to add this:

 (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ShellActions/Up" "BackSpace")

under

~/.config/nautilus/accels

And then restart nautilus by

nautilus -q or killall nautilus

In Thunar you have to add

(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ThunarWindow/open-parent" "BackSpace")

to

~/.config/Thunar/accels.scm

edited May 08 '13 at 15:02

Alex

1,052

answered May 02 '13 at 12:49

Achu

21,237

2

Does it work for you?
; (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ShellActions/Up" "BackSpace")

For me, its not working.
– thefourtheye May 02 '13 at 13:00
I restarted :( It still is not responding to BackSpace. I think it is not referring that file. Because, even after changing that file, I am able to use Alt + Up – thefourtheye May 02 '13 at 13:14
7

Please remove the comment. this one -> ; use only (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ShellActions/Up" "BackSpace") – Achu May 02 '13 at 13:15
2

Aaah... How could I miss that. Spent two hours this morning. I didnt uncomment. :( Thanks @Achu :) – thefourtheye May 02 '13 at 13:17
Sorry. I didnot ask this question. So I upvoted it. – thefourtheye May 02 '13 at 13:21
It gives me ("syntax error near unexpected token `gtk_accel_path'") – Tareq May 02 '13 at 18:27
Thank you alot for showing how to add backspace again to Nautilus! :D :D – Jeggy May 10 '13 at 15:15
How can I make the addition you are talking about? – Tareq May 14 '13 at 18:33
I did what you asked me to do, but still no change. Is this working for others? – charlie May 19 '13 at 13:37
3

Thanks. Since it is not possible to "bind" both Backspace and Alt+Up to the same (I'm actually quite used to the Alt+Down/Up instead of Enter/Backspace when using only the keyboard), but as a workaround you can also change Backspace to do "<Actions>/ShellActions/Back". – pileofrocks May 24 '13 at 00:43
2

Aaaaaaah!! its working! sigh of relief! :D thanx a lot – Nirmik Jun 06 '13 at 09:42
Is there a documentation for this ? So may be we can find much more information. – Muhammad Gelbana Nov 29 '13 at 22:04
Is not "up" is "back", back is the last directory. (gtk_accel_path "/ShellActions/Back" "BackSpace") – fpilee Dec 08 '13 at 18:25
1

I think now the shortcut for nautilus is Alt + ↑ – Sharif Minhazul Islam Nov 26 '18 at 18:34
Not working on Fedora 34 – ajinzrathod Jun 20 '21 at 08:17
I had this configuration, it worked. Now something has changed and it doesn't work. Anyone has the same problem? – juanmah Mar 13 '22 at 23:25

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered May 04 '13 at 19:21

6

For Firefox

Open firefox, type in about:config in address bar, press enter

Search backspace, should return 1 entry, browser.backspace_action

Right click on the value > modify & change from 2 to 0

answered May 04 '13 at 19:21

doug

17,026

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 20 '20 at 20:08

2020 - For Nautilus 3.30.5 (on Debian Buster and Gnome 3.30.2)

Based on nautilus-backspace, you need to install nautilus-python and then place a python script in ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions/.

Install python-nautilus using this:

sudo apt-get install python-nautilus

You may need to create the directory as well.

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions

Now, navigate to the newly created directory:

cd ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions

Download the script:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/riclc/nautilus_backspace/master/BackspaceBack.py

Finally, restart Nautilus using:

killall nautilus

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited May 04 '13 at 18:53

5

for thunar

Just as I thought, I should have written backspace in a different way. This is how I tried:

(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ThunarWindow/open-parent" "BackSpace")

And it worked.

edited May 04 '13 at 18:53

fossfreedom

172,746

answered Jan 21 '11 at 17:54

Lawand

141

Still gice the following error: ("syntax error near unexpected token `gtk_accel_path'" – Tareq May 06 '13 at 06:43
@Tareq: Are you using Thunar or Nautilus? Ubuntu comes with Nautilus by default... – Lawand May 13 '13 at 11:06
I am using Nautilus. – Tareq May 14 '13 at 15:54
@Tareq: well, what I wrote is for Thunar... Did you try Achu's answer?: http://askubuntu.com/a/289540/815 – Lawand May 14 '13 at 20:15
Yes, But it didn't work, I don't know how to make the addition, or how to write on the Read-Only file (accels). – Tareq May 17 '13 at 09:27
maybe you need root access? for example, if you are using gedit to modify the text file, then press alt+f2 and type "gksudo gedit" then open the file and edit it. – Lawand May 25 '13 at 14:00

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 07 '13 at 16:11

5

Is not "up" is "back", back is the last directory.

echo '(gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ShellActions/Back" "BackSpace")' >> ~/.config/nautilus/accels

answered Dec 07 '13 at 16:11

fpilee

320

Indeed this is the only one that worked for me. – Ruben Mar 26 '14 at 23:19
Correct - this is proper one for "back', up is parent directory not back. Also note that at least in nautius 3.10 (14.04, trusty) backspace is auto binded to up so one would need to manually edit the file. – doug Jul 03 '15 at 13:40

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 29 '19 at 15:52

2

2019 - For Nautilus:
Based on @riclc/nautilus_backspace repo, I wrote a shell script to install the necessary packages and scripts to bring back this function. I use it with Fedora 30, but the script would work for distros that using apt and pacman too.

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/7aman/backspace-up/master/install.sh | bash

edited Sep 29 '19 at 15:52

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Sep 29 '19 at 15:38

Zaman

76

1

I tried manually adding the function in accels file and didn't work, I reviewed the code of this before run, saw nothing nasty, and IT WORKED. Thx, you saved me time. – m3nda Jan 23 '20 at 05:57

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 02 '13 at 18:19

2

To make Nautilus go back like in old times, with the Backspace key, do this:

echo '(gtk_accel_path "/ShellActions/Up" "BackSpace")' >> ~/.config/nautilus/accels

edited Oct 02 '13 at 18:19

Jorge Castro

71,754

answered Oct 02 '13 at 18:17

user198164

29

@Jorge Castro: you may need to add to the proposed command: echo ' (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ShellActions/Up" "BackSpace") >> ~/.config/nautilus/accels – alex Aug 03 '16 at 10:39

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 17 '21 at 13:06

For Debian 11 (based on above information):

sudo apt install python3-nautilus
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions
cd ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/riclc/nautilus_backspace/master/BackspaceBack.py

Open the downloaded script for editing:

gedit BackspaceBack.py

Change lines in the downloaded script as below:

"#!/usr/bin/env python"
->
"#!/usr/bin/env python3"
"app.set_accels_for_action( "win.up", ["BackSpace"] )"
->
"app.set_accels_for_action( "win.back", ["BackSpace"] )"

Kill and then start manually:

killall nautilus

Adam Smith · Answer 9 · 2022-10-07T17:57:29.347

For Thunar:

This problem has haunted me since the gtk_accel_path method stopped working around Ubuntu version 21.10. I'm running thunar version 4.16.10. I think I have a solution using autokey-gtk:

Install autokey

sudo apt install autokey-gtk

Open the AutoKey application, click New, then Script, and then I named it backspace_for_parent (your choice). Replace # Enter script code with the following:

win_class = window.get_active_class()
win_title = window.get_active_title()
if win_class == 'Thunar.Thunar' and win_title.startswith("/"):
  keyboard.send_keys("<alt>+<up>")
else:
  keyboard.send_keys("<backspace>")

(The second startswith condition above was needed to allow normal backspace when renaming files or setting the name of a new folder.)

Then, below, for Hotkey, click Set. Click Press to Set and hit backspace and then click OK.

Finally, at the top, click Save.

Now, in Thunar, hitting the backspace key opens the parent folder!

This is slightly suboptimal in that it uses an external application, but AutoKey is fantastic and it's already part of my daily workflow, so nbd from my perspective.

Hope this helps someone.

Inspiration taken from:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/491868/126708

Bring back `BackSpace` Keyboard Shortcuts on nautilus and thunar

9 Answers9

Install autokey

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