
Setting the number of desktop workspaces for Xfce4
Last Updated on December 14, 2020 by David Both
I just learned something very cool.
Sometimes it is necessary to make remote modifications to a desktop using the command line. In this case I needed to reduce the number of workspaces on the Xfce panel from 4 to 3 at the request of the user. This is actually easy and only required about 20 minutes of searching on the Internet.
The xfconf-query command can be used by non-root users to query and set various attributes for the xfwm4 window manager. In the sample below I have first verified the current setting of 4 workspaces, then set the number to 2, and finally verified the new setting.
[user@test1 ~]# xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count 4 [user@test1 ~]# xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count -s 2 [user@test1 ~]# xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count 2 [user@test1 ~]#
Also, the default workspace count and many other defaults for xfwm4 can be found and changed in the /usr/share/xfwm4/defaults file. So setting “workspace_count=4” to “workspace_count=2” changes the default for all users on the host.
Look for more details about remote Xfce desktop configuration and the xconf-query command here.
More Stories
Building a random text generator
Generate your own random placeholder text by writing a few lines in Bash.
Exploring GNU Algol 68
Since early 2019, I’ve spent some time here and there refreshing my appreciation for the Algol 68 programming language, courtesy...
10 reasons to use Linux
Southern humorist, newspaper editor and columnist, comedian, and author, Lewis Grizzard once said that there are two kinds of naked...
Good Reasons for Linux as your daily driver
Linux stands out as a consumer operating system thanks to its unique blend of freedom, performance, and community-driven innovation. Whether...
End of 10…
There’s an interesting new movement gearing up as Win10 nears the end of it’s supported lifecycle. It’s called, “End of 10…” and can help keep 400 million computers out of the recycling stream — or worse, landfills.