Unfortunately, nautilus does not offer command line options to read the opened directory of its windows, nor does it have any option to send an existing window to another directory. Since you cannot remember what you do not see, we are running out of options at first sight.
However
We do have xdotool, not to do what nautilus doesn't, but to at least fake the behaviour that you describe. We can do that in such a way that "you would believe it" if you didn't know how it is done.
Although the solution below does not survive a restart, "remembering" (possibly tabbed) window and all opened directories is very well possible within one session. Since you mentioned to be interested in that as a "second choice", here it is.
How it works; the process
Although We cannot close a window and preserve its tabs and opened directories, we can make an existing window seemingly (and completely) disappear, with the help of xdotool.
If we subsequently change the behaviour of the nautilus launcher in such a way that it first looks for possible unmapped windows to remap, before opening a new one, effectively we have exactly the same behaviour as if nautilus would remember the last used window(s).
How to set up
Copy the script below into an empty file, save it as remember.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os
app = "nautilus"
wfile = os.environ["HOME"]+"/.unmapped_"+app
def get(cmd):
# simply a helper function
return subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode("utf-8").strip()
def check_windowtype(w_id):
# check the type of window; only unmap "NORMAL" windows
return "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_NORMAL" in get(["xprop", "-id", w_id])
def get_pid(app):
# (try to) get the pid of the application
try:
return get(["pgrep", app])
except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
pass
def get_matches(pid):
# get the window list, select the valid (real) app's windows
ws = get(["wmctrl", "-lpG"]).splitlines()
matches = [w.split() for w in ws if pid in w]
return [w for w in matches if check_windowtype(w[0]) == True]
try:
# try to read the file with unmapped windows
wininf = [l.split() for l in open(wfile).readlines()]
except FileNotFoundError:
# if there are no, unmap the current app's windows
filebrowserwins = get_matches(get_pid(app))
if filebrowserwins:
open(wfile, "wt").write(("\n").join((" ").join(l) for l in filebrowserwins))
for w in [w[0] for w in filebrowserwins]:
subprocess.Popen(["xdotool", "windowunmap", w])
else:
arg = "--new-window" if app == "nautilus" else ""
subprocess.Popen([app, arg])
else:
# re- map unmapped windows
for w in wininf:
wid = w[0]; geo = w[3:7]
subprocess.call(["xdotool", "windowmap", wid])
subprocess.Popen(["wmctrl", "-ir", wid, "-e", "0,"+(",").join(geo)])
os.remove(wfile)
The script needs both wmctrl and xdotool:
sudo apt-get install wmctrl xdotool
Copy the nautilus launcher from /usr/share/applications to ~/.local/share/applications
and look for the first line, starting with Exec=. Change it into:
Exec=python3 /path/to/remember.py
Save and close the file.
Create a keyboard shortcut with the same command: Choose: System Settings > "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts" > "Custom Shortcuts". Click the "+" and add the command:
python3 /path/to/remember.py
Now log out and back in
How to use
The use is very simple:
To open a window, do as usual: click on the nautilus launcher. Tab the window as you like:
To close a window definitively, close it by clicking on the window's "close" (x) box.
To preserve the window(s) + all its tabs:
press the shortcut key. The window(s) will vanish (seemingly close).
Next time when you click the launcher, the nautilus window(s) will appear exactly like the last time, even the window position(s) will be preserved.
That's it
Note
In the tests I ran, I couldn't find any downside (14.04). If you
might run into any, please mention!
In the How to use -section, I suggested to click on the nautilus icon to remap possible unmapped windows. The shortcut key will do the same however, so you can see what works the most convenient for you. Also, if you opened a folder by double click after you unmapped on or more folders, unmapped folders still will be remapped by the shortcut.
EDIT:
Nemo users
Nemo users can equally use the solution above, but:
The easiest way to access folders is bookmarking. You wont keep your tabs open but you can at least see the folders you want quickly (and if you think about it, the bookmarks act as tabs).
Just open a folder on Nautilus, go to Bookmark menu and add a bookmark.
(Very) limited command line options of nautilus
Unfortunately, nautilus does not offer command line options to read the opened directory of its windows, nor does it have any option to send an existing window to another directory. Since you cannot remember what you do not see, we are running out of options at first sight.
However
We do have
xdotool, not to do whatnautilusdoesn't, but to at least fake the behaviour that you describe. We can do that in such a way that "you would believe it" if you didn't know how it is done.Although the solution below does not survive a restart, "remembering" (possibly tabbed) window and all opened directories is very well possible within one session. Since you mentioned to be interested in that as a "second choice", here it is.
How it works; the process
Although We cannot close a window and preserve its tabs and opened directories, we can make an existing window seemingly (and completely) disappear, with the help of
xdotool.If we subsequently change the behaviour of the
nautiluslauncher in such a way that it first looks for possible unmapped windows to remap, before opening a new one, effectively we have exactly the same behaviour as ifnautiluswould remember the last used window(s).How to set up
Copy the script below into an empty file, save it as
remember.pyThe script needs both
wmctrlandxdotool:Copy the
nautiluslauncher from/usr/share/applicationsto~/.local/share/applicationsfor 15.04 and later:
for earlier Ubuntu versions:
open the local copy with gedit:
(in case of
15.04 +)and look for the first line, starting with
Exec=. Change it into:Save and close the file.
Create a keyboard shortcut with the same command: Choose: System Settings > "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts" > "Custom Shortcuts". Click the "+" and add the command:
Now log out and back in
How to use
The use is very simple:
To open a window, do as usual: click on the nautilus launcher. Tab the window as you like:
To close a window definitively, close it by clicking on the window's "close" (x) box.
To preserve the window(s) + all its tabs:
press the shortcut key. The window(s) will vanish (seemingly close).
Next time when you click the launcher, the nautilus window(s) will appear exactly like the last time, even the window position(s) will be preserved.
That's it
Note
EDIT:
Nemo users
Nemo users can equally use the solution above, but:
In the head section of the script, change:
into:
In point 3, use:
In point 4, use:
Tested, proved to be working with nemo
I recommend using other file manager instead if that's okay with you since Nautilus doesn't have that feature.
Here's one alternative app that does the trick: SpaceFM
Here's how to install it.
It has rich features such as, of course, reopen last tabs.
To make it the default file manager:
xdg-mime default spacefm.desktop inode/directoryTry out these scripts to save and restore tabs of nautilus file manager. https://github.com/susurri/nautilus_save_tabs/
The easiest way to access folders is bookmarking. You wont keep your tabs open but you can at least see the folders you want quickly (and if you think about it, the bookmarks act as tabs).
Just open a folder on Nautilus, go to Bookmark menu and add a bookmark.