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I'm running 16.04 on a very old PC, so I'm using the Enlightenment (currently E22) desktop.

I'm looking at LXQT, but I'd like the "program search" feature that comes with XFCE's Whisker Menu. I'm told that a whisker menu-type search isn't possible in LXDE (which is why I don't use it), but can it be (easily) done in LXQT?

LeafHead
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  • If all you want to search in installed applications, you can try kupfer in the repo. Though it is developed for KDE. you can install it without dependency. I think it's default shortcut ctrl-space. – kenn Dec 08 '17 at 15:13
  • Thanks. So it's not visible on the menu? – LeafHead Dec 08 '17 at 15:14
  • I guess you could install the xfce4-appfinder then assign the command to a keyboard shortcut. sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends xfce4-appfinder – Terrance Dec 08 '17 at 15:14
  • I mean, like a search bar at the top (or bottom) of the menu where I can type in the first few characters of the program and get suggestions. Like the whisker menu does. – LeafHead Dec 08 '17 at 15:16
  • xfce4-appfinder is the search part of the Whisker Menu. Install it and command line launch it. – Terrance Dec 08 '17 at 15:17
  • kupfer is a keystroke launcher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4L-hLsoCk – kenn Dec 08 '17 at 15:18

3 Answers3

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The xfce4-appfinder is part of the Whisker Menu.

To install it, run the following command:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends xfce4-appfinder

After it is installed simply run xfce4-appfinder from a command prompt or you can assign it to a keyboard shortcut. In Xfce4 it is assigned to Super+R to bring it up.

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Hope this helps!

Terrance
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  • I've tried the xfce-appfinder, and I can see it under "Applications" (It's called "Application Finder"). Thanks for your assistance! – LeafHead Dec 09 '17 at 07:23
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    @stroudmw I was actually going to answer that for you this morning. Glad you found it. =) – Terrance Dec 09 '17 at 15:16
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The xfce app finder will do it: 

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends xfce4-appfinder

Then you can find it from the main menu under Accessories: it's called "Application Finder" and has an hour-glass icon.

LeafHead
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LXQt comes with its own launchers

  • The Applications menu panel widget acts just like Whisker-menu.

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  • There is also lxqt-runner, very similar to krunner from KDE. Github. Its shortkey can be configured.

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  • Other launchers, especially desktop-agnostic ones like Synapse, can be used to get the desired behavior.

  • Assigning only the Super key as shortcut, a nice feature of the Whisker Menu (but also of other launchers) can be added thus: for any launcher, including the ones mentioned above: install ksuperkey (preferably from source, which worked very smoothly for me - see details here), run it at startup, then assign Alt-F1 as shortcut for the launcher. For Synapse you need just to follow this answer (that is: edit .config/synapse/config.json in order to have "activate" : "Super_L").

  • The Applications panel doesn't act just like the whisker menu, it acts just like the default menu that comes with Xfce which is also bad like the lxqt applications menu. That is why the whisker menu exists. In the lxqt Applications menu, searching for GIMP doesn't even work because only the one field is searched that says "GNU Image Manipulation Tool". There aren't any favorites either. It is also missing many icons even though the theme or system contains them and they display on other desktops. – Poikilos Mar 24 '21 at 16:13