DOKK / manpages / debian 10 / icewm-common / icewm-preferences.5.en
ICEWM-PREFERENCES(5) Standards, Environments and Macros ICEWM-PREFERENCES(5)

 icewm-preferences - icewm preferences configuration file

$ICEWM_PRIVCFG/preferences
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm/preferences
$HOME/.icewm/preferences
/etc/icewm/preferences
/usr/share/icewm/preferences

Contains general settings like paths, colors and fonts, but also options to control the icewm focus behaviour and the applets which are started in the task bar. The icewm installation will provide a default preferences file, which can be copied to the icewm user configuration directory and modified.

FOCUS AND BEHAVIOR

The following preferences affect focus and general behavior of icewm(1):

Focus windows by clicking in them.
Focus windows when applications request that they be raised.
Request focus (flashing in taskbar) when application requests raise.
Raise windows when focused.
Focus window when client area clicked.
Raise window when client area clicked.
Raise window when title bar is clicked.
Raise window when frame button is clicked.
Raise window when frame border is clicked.
Lower the active window when clicked again.
Pass focusing click on client area to client.
Change to the workspace of newly focused windows.
Move newly focused windows to current workspace.
Focus normal window when initially mapped.
Focus dialog window when initially mapped.
Focus dialog window when initially mapped only if parent frame focused.
Put new windows on top even if not focusing them.
Colormap focus follows pointer.
Don't rotate the cursor for popup menus.
Limit size of windows to screen.
Limit position of windows to screen.
Let the Dock layer limit the workspace (incompatible with GNOME Panel).
Consider border frames when maximizing horizontally.
Consider border frames when maximizing vertically.
Consider XSizeHints if frame is maximized.
Center maximized windows which can't fit the screen (like terminals).
Hide window borders if window is maximized.
Maximized windows can be resized.
Show position status window during move/resize.
Show name of current workspace while switching.
Display mini-icons on desktop for minimized windows.
Place the mini-icons horizontal instead of vertical.
Place new mini-icons from right to left.
Place new mini-icons from bottom to top.
Always maintain focus under mouse window (makes some keyboard support non-functional or unreliable.
Opaque window move.
Opaque window resize.
Windows initially placed manually by user.
Smart window placement (minimal overlap).
Hide title bar when maximized.
Center large windows.
Center dialogs on owner window.
Menus track mouse even with no mouse buttons held.
Auto raise windows after delay.
Delay pointer focusing when mouse moves.
Support win95 keyboard keys (Penguin/Meta/Win_L,R shows menu).
Treat Super/Win modifier as Ctrl+Alt.
Support mouse wheel.
Show popup menus above mouse pointer.
Send the clicks outside menus to target window.
Allow mouse actions on client windows (buggy with some programs).
Manage root window (EXPERIMENTAL - normally enabled!).
Snap to nearest screen edge/window when moving windows.
Distance in pixels before windows snap together.
Automatically arrange windows when screen size changes.
Allow to switch a window to fullscreen.
Span over all available screens if window goes into fullscreen.
Preselect to Cancel (0) or the OK (1) button in message boxes.
NET_WORKAREA behaviour: 0 (single/multi-monitor with STRUT information, like metacity), 1 (always full desktop), 2 (single monitor with STRUT, multi-monitor without STRUT).

Quick Switch List

Alt+Tab window switching.
Alt+Tab to minimized windows.
Alt+Tab to hidden windows.
Priorize Alt+Tab to urgent windows.
Alt+Tab to windows on other workspaces.
Alt+Tab: group windows on current workspace.
Show all reachable icons when quick switching.
Show the window title above (all reachable) icons.
Attempt to create a small QuickSwitch window (1/3 instead of 3/5 of
Go through all window titles and choose width of the longest one.
Place the icons and titles vertical instead of horizontal.
Show the huge (48x48) of the window icon for the active window.
Fill the rectangle highlighting the current icon.

Edge Workspace Switching

Workspace switches by moving mouse to left/right screen edge.
Workspace switches by moving mouse to left/right screen edge.
Workspace switches by moving mouse to top/bottom screen edge.
Workspace switches continuously when moving mouse to screen edge.
Resistance in pixels when trying to move windows off the screen (10000 = infinite).

TASK BAR

The following preferences affect the icewm(1) task bar:

Show task bar.
Task bar at top of the screen.
Keep the task bar below regular windows.
Auto hide task bar after delay.
Auto show task bar when fullscreen window active.
Show clock on task bar.
Show APM/ACPI/Battery/Power status monitor on task bar.
Enable TaskBarShowAPMStatus if a battery is present.
Show APM status on task bar in time-format.
Show APM status in graph mode.
Show mailbox status on task bar.
Beep when new mail arrives.
Count messages in mailbox.
Show workspace switching buttons on task bar.
Show windows on the taskbar.
Show 'show desktop' button on taskbar.
Show Ellipsis in taskbar items.
Show windows in the tray.
Show windows from all workspaces on tray.
Show transient (dialogs, ...) windows on task bar.
Show windows from all workspaces on task bar.
Show icons of windows on the task bar.
Show 'Start' menu on task bar.
Show 'window list' menu on task bar.
Show CPU status on task bar (Linux & Solaris).
Show RAM usage in CPU status tool tip.
Show swap usage in CPU status tool tip.
Show ACPI temperature in CPU status tool tip.
Show ACPI temperature in CPU status bar.
Show CPU frequency in CPU status tool tip.
Show memory usage status on task bar (Linux only).
Show network status on task bar (Linux only).
Show a button to collapse the taskbar.
Use double-height task bar.
Place workspace pager on left, not right.
Place workspace pager on top row when using dual-height taskbar.
Show a mini desktop preview on each workspace button.
Draw window icons inside large enough preview windows on pager (if PagerShowPreview=1).
Draw even minimized windows as unfilled rectangles (if PagerShowPreview=1).
Draw border around workspace buttons (if PagerShowPreview=1).
Show number of workspace on workspace button (if PagerShowPreview=1).
Execute taskbar applet commands (like MailCommand, ClockCommand, ...) on single click.
Enable address bar functionality in taskbar.
Show address bar in task bar.
Mailbox path (use \$MAIL instead).

Path to a mbox file. Remote mail boxes are accessed by specifying an URL using the Common Internet Scheme Syntax (RFC 1738):

    `scheme://[user[:password]@]server[:port][/path]`.
    

Supported schemes are "pop3", "imap" and "file". When the scheme is omitted file:// is prepended silently. IMAP subfolders can be accessed by using the path component. Reserved characters like slash ("/"), at ("@") and colon (":") can be specified using escape sequences with a hexadecimal encoding like %2f for the slash or %40 for the at sign. For example:

    file:///var/spool/mail/captnmark
    pop3://markus:%2f%40%3a@maol.ch/
    imap://mathias@localhost/INBOX.Maillisten.icewm-user
    
Network device for which to show status.
Clock Time format (strftime format string).
Alternate Clock Time format (e.g. for blinking effects).
Clock Date format for tooltip (strftime format string).
Width of CPU Monitor.
Width of Memory Monitor.
Width of Net Monitor.
Default number of tasks in taskbar.
Task bar width as percentage of the screen width.
Taskbar justify left, right or center.
Width of APM Monitor.
Height of taskbar monitoring applets.
Primary screen for xinerama (taskbar, ...).

MENUS

Reload menu files automatically.
Show programs submenu.
Show settings submenu.
Show focus mode submenu.
Show themes submenu.
Show logout menu.
Show the help menu item.
Show logout submenu.
Show the about menu item.
Show the run menu item.
Show the window menu item.
Maximal width of popup menus, 2/3 of the screen's width if set to zero.
Minimal number of themes after which the Themes menu becomes nested (0=disabled).

TIMINGS

Delay fuzziness, to allow merging of multiple timer timeouts into one (notebook power saving).
Pointer motion distance before click gets interpreted as drag.
Delay before click gets interpreted as drag.
Multiple click time.
Delay before activating menu items.
Delay before activating menu submenus.
Delay before tooltip window is displayed.
Time before tooltip window is hidden (0 means never.
Delay before task bar is hidden.
Delay before task bar is shown.
Delay before windows are auto raised.
Delay for pointer focus switching.
Screen edge workspace switching delay.
Initial scroll bar autoscroll delay.
Scroll bar autoscroll delay.
Auto scroll start delay.
Auto scroll delay.
Time before workspace status window is hidden.
Delay between new-mail checks. (seconds).
Delay between CPU Monitor samples in ms.
Delay between Memory Monitor samples in ms.
Delay between Net Monitor samples in ms.
Number of seconds the taskbar app will blink when requesting focus (0 = forever).
Taskbar blink interval (ms) when requesting focus (0 = blinking disabled).
Delay between power status updates (seconds).

BUITTONS AND KEYS

Bitmask of root window button click to use in window manager.
Bitmask of buttons that raise the window when pressed.
Desktop mouse-button click to show the window list menu.
Desktop mouse-button click to show the root menu.
TitleBar mouse-button double click to maximize the window.
TitleBar mouse-button double click to rollup the window.

WORKSPACES

PATHS

Icon search path (colon separated).
Mailbox path (use \$MAIL instead).

PROGRAMS

Command to run on mailbox.
WM_CLASS to allow runonce for MailCommand.
Command to run when new mail arrives.
Command to lock display/screensaver.
Command to run on clock.
WM_CLASS to allow runonce for ClockCommand.
Command to select and run a program.
Open command.
Terminal emulator must accept -e option.
Command to start logout.
Command to cancel logout.
Command to shutdown the system.
Command to reboot the system.
Command to run on CPU status.
WM_CLASS to allow runonce for CPUStatusCommand.
Combine all CPUs to one.
Command to run on Net status.
WM_CLASS to allow runonce for NetStatusCommand.
Command to run for address bar entries.

WINDOW MENUS

THEME SETTINGS

This section shows settings that can be set in theme files. They can also be set in the preferences file, but themes will override the values set there. To override the theme values, the settings should be set in prefoverrides file: see icewm-prefoverrides(5). Default values are shown following the equal sign.

Description

Theme author, e-mail address, credits.
Description of the theme, credits.

Borders, Icons, Margins and Buttons

Horizontal window border.
Vertical window border.
Horizontal dialog window border.
Vertical dialog window border.
Resize corner width.
Resize corner height.
Title bar height.
Justification of the window title.
Horizontal offset for the window title text.
Vertical offset for the window title text.
Scrollbar width.
Scrollbar (button) height.
Menu icon size.
Dimension of the small icons.
Dimension of the large icons.
Dimension of the large icons.
Horizontal margin of the quickswitch window.
Vertical margin of the quickswitch window.
Vertical margin in the quickswitch window.
Distance between the active icon and it's border.
Height of the separator between (all reachable) icons and text, 0 to avoid it.
Titlebar buttons from left to right (x=close, m=max, i=min, h=hide, r=rollup, s=sysmenu, d=depth).
Titlebar buttons from right to left (x=close, m=max, i=min, h=hide, r=rollup, s=sysmenu, d=depth).
Titlebar buttons supported by theme (x,m,i,r,h,s,d).

Fonts

Name of the title bar font.
Name of the menu font.
Name of the status display font.
Name of the font for Alt+Tab switcher window.
Name of the normal button font.
Name of the active button font.
Name of the normal task bar item font.
Name of the active task bar item font.
Name of the tool button font (fallback: NormalButtonFontName).
Name of the normal workspace button font (fallback: NormalButtonFontName).
Name of the active workspace button font (fallback: ActiveButtonFontName).
Name of the mini-window font.
Name of the window list font.
Name of the tool tip font.
Name of the task bar clock font.
Name of the task bar temperature font.
Name of the task bar battery font.
Name of the input field font.
Name of the label font.

Colors

Background of dialog windows.
Border of inactive windows.
Border of active windows.
Background of regular buttons.
Textcolor of regular buttons.
Background of pressed buttons.
Textcolor of pressed buttons.
Background of titlebar buttons.
Textcolor of titlebar buttons.
Background of toolbar buttons, ColorNormalButton is used if empty.
Textcolor of toolbar buttons, ColorNormalButtonText is used if empty.
Background of workspace buttons, ColorNormalButton is used if empty.
Textcolor of workspace buttons, ColorNormalButtonText is used if empty.
Background of the active workspace button, ColorActiveButton is used if empty.
Textcolor of the active workspace button, ColorActiveButtonText is used if empty.
Background of the titlebar of regular windows.
Textcolor of the titlebar of regular windows.
Textshadow of the titlebar of regular windows.
Background of the titlebar of active windows.
Textcolor of the titlebar of active windows.
Textshadow of the titlebar of active windows.
Background for mini icons of regular windows.
Textcolor for mini icons of regular windows.
Background for mini icons of active windows.
Textcolor for mini icons of active windows.
Background of pop-up menus.
Textcolor of regular menu items.
Background of selected menu item, leave empty to force transparency.
Textcolor of selected menu items.
Textcolor of disabled menu items.
Shadow of regular menu items.
Background of move/resize status window.
Textcolor of move/resize status window.
Background of the quick switch window.
Textcolor in the quick switch window.
Rectangle around the active icon in the quick switch window.
Background of the taskbar.
Background for task buttons of regular windows.
Textcolor for task buttons of regular windows.
Background for task buttons of the active window.
Textcolor for task buttons of the active window.
Background for task buttons of minimized windows.
Textcolor for task buttons of minimized windows.
Background for task buttons of windows on other workspaces.
Textcolor for task buttons of windows on other workspaces.
Scrollbar background (sliding area).
Background of the slider button in scrollbars.
Background of the arrow buttons in scrollbars.
Background of the arrow buttons in scrollbars (obsolete).
Color of active arrows on scrollbar buttons.
Color of inactive arrows on scrollbar buttons.
Background of listboxes.
Textcolor in listboxes.
Background of selected listbox items.
Textcolor of selected listbox items.
Background of tooltips.
Textcolor of tooltips.
Background of labels, leave empty to force transparency.
Textcolor of labels.
Background of text entry fields (e.g. the addressbar).
Textcolor of text entry fields (e.g. the addressbar).
Background of selected text in an entry field.
Selected text in an entry field.
Background of non-LCD clock, leave empty to force transparency.
Background of non-LCD monitor.
Background of APM monitor, leave empty to force transparency.
Textcolor of APM monitor.
Color of APM monitor in battary mode.
Color of APM monitor in line mode.
Background color for graph mode.
User load on the CPU monitor.
System load on the CPU monitor.
Interrupts on the CPU monitor.
IO Wait on the CPU monitor.
Soft Interrupts on the CPU monitor.
Nice load on the CPU monitor.
Idle (non) load on the CPU monitor, leave empty to force transparency.
Involuntary Wait on the CPU monitor.
Temperature of the CPU.
User program usage in the memory monitor.
OS buffers usage in the memory monitor.
OS cached usage in the memory monitor.
Free memory in the memory monitor.
Outgoing load on the network monitor.
Incoming load on the network monitor.
Idle (non) load on the network monitor, leave empty to force transparency.
Desktop background color(s).
Color(s) to announce for semitransparent windows.

Desktop Background

The following preferences are read by icewmbg(1):

Display desktop background centered and not tiled.
Resize desktop background to full screen.
Desktop background color(s).
Desktop background image(s).
Support for semitransparent terminals like Eterm or gnome-terminal.
Color(s) to announce for semitransparent windows.
Image(s) to announce for semitransparent windows.
Paint the background image over all multihead monitors combined.

Task Bar

Locations for the preferences file are as follows:

$ICEWM_PRIVCFG/preferences
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm/preferences
$HOME/.icewm/preferences
/etc/icewm/preferences
/usr/share/icewm/preferences

icewm(1), icewm-prefoverride(5).

Brian Bidulock <mailto:bidulock@openss7.org>.

IceWM is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License. See the COPYING file in the distribution.

2018-10-31 icewm 1.4.3.0~pre-20181030