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Peter F
Asked: 2014-05-01 04:25:47 +0800 CST

Ubuntu 14.04 Nautilus has no menu - File, Edit etc. don't exist

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Since Ubuntu 13.04, and now 13.10 and 14.04, my Nautilus (Files) has no application menu.

This means that I can't access Edit>Preferences and can only change preferences via dconf-editor, as the 'show hidden files' option keeps turning itself on.

No, it's not hidden in the global menu, whether the global menu is disabled in settings or not.

I've spent hours searching Google for an answer and tried every suggestion, including:

  • Reinstall Nautilus, removing the ~/.config/nautilus and ~/.config/nautilus-actions folders

  • UBUNTU_MENUPROXY= nautilus

  • Installing the appmenu list of programs

  • Removing the appmenu list of programs

Can anyone help?

unity

5 Answers

  1. Run dconf-editor, navigate to org > gtk > settings > file-chooser, then untick show-hidden.

    Press Ctrl+h to show hidden files, press it again again to hide them.

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  2. I think what you're asking about might be "a feature, not a bug".

    Take a look at: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/ubuntu-desktop-moving-application-menus-back-into-application-windows/

    It says:

    ... in May 2012. "By design, the global menu bar displays the menu of the focused window. This proves awkward in some applications with dialogs and multiple windows."

    The intent of moving application-specific menus into the global menu bar was to leave more room for content in applications.

    Fortunately:

    Ubuntu developers wanted to "propose a solution to fix the main UX bug we have [had] in Unity since its very first release: the menus being hard to find or too far from their parent window,"

    To find this solution:

    Hover over an empty space in the background. Click the menu-button on your mouse (usually the right button). A menu appears; select "Change Desktop Background".

    A window will open up, with "All Settings" | "Appearance" and two tabs: "Look" and "Behavior". "Look" will be selected; select "Behavior".

    Under "Show the menus for a window", select the "In the window's title bar" option.

    That should do it.

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  3. This issue can be fixed by installing nemo:

    First remove nautilus with

    sudo apt-get remove --purge nautilus

    then download nemo

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/nemo
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nemo nemo-fileroller

    Then your folders might disappear in places like the desktop. They should return after some time. If not, then please restart the PC.

    You don't have to delete nautilus, but then you have to keep opening nemo and do all from there. Also, if you search for nemo it will show you a application called Files. Don't get confused by that, it's still nemo.

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  4. If you're not root, you can access the preference by clicking on the status bar where it says nautilus. A menu will drop down and you'll be able to access the Preferences from there. This won't work if you're running nautilus as root (as the rest of the shell is not in root).

    if you're root, you can access the Nautilus preference via dconf-editor:

    alt-f2 (to run) gksudo dconf-editor (it will not lauch from shell under sudo)

    you'll find the preference in: org -> gnome -> nautilus -> preferences. They're all there.

    • 0

  5. Press the alt key.

    OR ...

    Move your mouse to the top of the screen.

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