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How to Update Whisker Menu (App Launcher) to 2.8.0 in XUbuntu 22.04

Last updated: September 29, 2023 — Leave a comment

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Whisker Menu, the main menu for launching apps, in XUbuntu 22.04, Linux Lite 6.6, and Linux Mint 21 XFCE Edition.

The default main menu (aka applications menu, or start menu) in Debian and Ubuntu with XFCE Desktop is Whisker Menu. It’s a free and open-source project being developed by gottcode.org.

XUbuntu 22.04 includes Whisker Menu 2.7.1, while the latest version has now reached v2.8.0. For users who want to try out new features and receive bug-fixes, here’s how to install it step by step.

What’s New in Whisker Menu 2.8.0

For multiple monitors, you may have more than one instances of the menu in panel. In the case, the default Super shortcut key always open the menu in primary monitor.

To trigger the Whisker Menu in other monitors, user can bind xfce4-popup-whiskermenu -i ID-number to a keyboard shortcut. To get the ID-number, open ‘Panel Preferences -> Items’ and move mouse over the Whisker Menu applet to see the tooltip. It’s NOT the PID, but seems to be applet sequence number.

Also for keyboard users, the new release can trigger the menu in screen center by binding xfce4-popup-whiskermenu -c to a shortcut key.

The appearance settings menu has been redesigned in the release. There’s a new “Position profile on buttom” option. With it, user can put the user figure, Settings, Logout buttons in either top or bottom of the menu.

There’s also a “downside” in the release. User can no longer drag menu border to resize it. Instead, there are new “Menu width” and “Menu height” setting options to resize the menu. For more about the new release changes, see its official page.

Install Whisker Menu 2.8.0 via its Official PPA

The software developer has an official PPA contains the latest Whisker Menu packages for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and their derivatives.

(X)Ubuntu, Linux Mint XFCE Edition, and Linux Lite users can follow the steps below one by one to install it:

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open up a terminal window. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

Type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, Linux Mint users need to manually refresh the system package cache, by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install the latest version of Whisker Menu by running command:

sudo apt install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

After installing the package, log out and back in. Then, right click on the menu and go to ‘About‘ to verify its version!

For Debian 12 with XFCE Desktop, user can download and install the .deb package directly from the PPA packages page.

How to Uninstall

To restore the original Whisker Menu, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install ppa-purge tool:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

Then, purge the PPA which will also downgrade the menu to the original version:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:gottcode/gcppa

In case the command above failed for you, you may manually remove the PPA by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:gottcode/gcppa

Then, remove the Whisker Menu package by running command:

sudo apt remove xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

And, install back the original version via command:

sudo apt install --reinstall xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

In Howtos Whisker Menu

Upgrade to Whisker Menu 1.5 in (X)ubuntu or Linux Mint Xfce

Last updated: February 20, 2015

Whisker Menu, the default application menu for Linux Mint Xfce edition, has reached the 1.5 release with some new features and bug fixes.

According to the release note, Whisker Menu 1.5 adds an option to set background opacity and allows searching Xfce settings manager items.

There are also a few bug fixes, UI improvements and translations updates. See the full changes:

Fix search activation to allow input methods (bug #11271)
Fix broken menu when closed by window manager (bug #11287)
Fix unnecessary assignment to NULL
Fix possible null pointer dereference
Add option to set background opacity
Add command to edit profile
Add profile picture
Add customizable limit for recently used
Add support for non-square panel button icon
Add items of Xfce settings manager to allow searching
Expand subcategories when activated
Load default settings from XDG location
Make launchers executable when they are added to desktop
Rearrange options in configuration dialog
Refactor list page code
Rename option for including favorites in recently used
Rename option to use single panel row
Rename button to match default menu applet
Use a single instance of the garcon menu
Translation updates: Bulgarian, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Taiwan)

How to Install/Upgrade Whisker Menu:

For Linux Mint 17.1 (or 17), (X)Ubuntu 12.04, (X)Ubuntu 14.04, and later, this software and future updates are available in the developer’s PPA.

To add the PPA, open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

Then update your system package cache and install/upgrade the app via below 2 commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

If you’re first time using this app launcher, you have to manually add it to panel from panel preferences -> panel items.

In Howtos Whisker Menu, xfce4

Install Whisker Menu 1.4 for Xfce4 in Ubuntu 14.10 / 14.04

Last updated: June 30, 2014

Whisker Menu is an alternate application launcher for Xfce, it gives you a unity/gnome3 style search in xfce4 desktop. As well as that you can browse through all of your installed applications by clicking on the category buttons on the side.

Whisker Menu is the default app launcher in Linux Mint Xfce edition since Mint 15 Olivia. The developer has released version 1.4.0 with new features and various translation updates:

Add option to switch position of categories and launchers
Add waiting for grabs
allows modifier as shortcut
Add padding to username
Add single panel row option
Add about entry to context menu
Load applications immediately
Recognize keypad enter as return for searching
Set menu window type hint to DIALOG
Translation updates: Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Taiwan), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish

Install Whisker Menu 1.4.0 in Ubuntu 14.10 / 14.04:

The binary packages has been built into developer’s PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives such as Linux Mint 13 and 17.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and run to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

After that install it via your package manager after checking for updates. Or run:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

If you don’t like Ubuntu PPAs, grab the .deb package directly from the launchpad page.

Once installed, add the launcher menu onto panel and move it to the left.

In Howtos, Linux Mint Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Whisker Menu

Xfce4 Whisker Menu Added Dragging Launchers to Panel or Desktop

Last updated: December 30, 2013

Whisker Menu, the default application launcher of Linux Mint Xfce Desktop now is at version 1.3.0. According to the changelog, now you can drag app launchers from Whisker Menu to Panel or Desktop.

Whisker Menu 1.3 ChangeLog:

Fix menu artifacts when switching categories
Fix undefined behavior in slots
Add command to launch menu editor
Add command to switch users
Add hiding commands
Add browsing for commands
Add hiding category and launcher icons
Add loading default settings from a file
Add search actions
Add running arbitrary programs in PATH
Add dragging launchers to panel or desktop
Add support for custom menu files
Defer loading applications until window is shown
Merge configuration dialog tabs
Rearrange source files to match standard layout of Xfce plugins
Reduce unnecessary reloading of applications
Rewrite search model code
Use a single row in Xfce 4.10 panel
Use empty file for saving settings
Translation updates: Asturian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Taiwan), Dutch, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Malay, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek

Click “Mark Executable” button if you get below window. The desktop icon will work properly next time you open it.

Install Whisker Menu:

If you’re on Xfce Desktop with Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13/14/15/16 and their derivatives. Whisker Menu can be easily installed from PPA.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

For Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE and other Linux, go to whisker menu homepage

In Howtos drag launcher to desktop, Whisker Menu, xfce4

Xfce4 Whisker Menu updates with fixes & improvements [PPA]

Last updated: November 20, 2013

The Whisker Menu for Xfce recently released version 1.2.1 with bug fixes and improvements.

As you may know, Whisker Menu is an alternate application launcher for Xfce. With it, you can browser, search, and marked as favorites through all of your installed applications. Changes in version 1.2.1:

Fix incorrect comparison for checking icon sizes
Add window title to allow identifying menu window
Add tips to README for popup script and compiz workaround
Improve build system files
Translation updates: Asturian, Catalan, Chinese (Taiwan), Czech, German, Estonian, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish

whisker menu in Ubuntu 13.10 Xfce4

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint and their derivatives you can easily install or upgrade to this release by running commands below one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

For Arch Linux, OpenSUSE, Debian, Fedora, and other Linux, get the Whisker Menu from its website

In News Whisker Menu, xfce4

Whisker Menu 1.2 released with more options, Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 31, 2013

Whisker Menu for Xfce released v1.2.0 with more options and bugfixes. Here’s how to install it in XUbuntu 13.10, XUbuntu 13.04, Xubuntu 12.04, XUbuntu 12.10 and other Linux distributions.

Whisker Menu is an alternate application launcher for Xfce. With it, you can browser, search, and marked as favorites through all of your installed applications.

What’s New in version 1.2.0:

Fix popup script to show correct version information
Fix memory leak when reloading applications
Fix favorites and recent deleted when menu failed to load
Add option to load menu hierarchy
Add option to not include favorites in recently used
Add options to set custom commands
Add option to show recently used by default
Add option to position search entry next to panel button
Add option to position command buttons next to search entry
Add manual page for popup script
Use tabs for configuration dialog layout
Translation updates: Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Spanish, Uzbek.

Install Whisker Menu 1.2 for Xfce4:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

For Debian / Fedora / openSUSE and others, see installation guide on Whisker Menu Homepage

Once installed, right-click on panel and add this launcher by navigating to panel -> Add new item…

whisker menu in Ubuntu 13.10 Xfce4

In Xfce Whisker Menu, xfce4

Install Whisker Menu for XFCE in (X)Ubuntu 13.10/13.04/12.04

Last updated: November 12, 2014

Want the Linux Mint 15 Whisker Menu on your Xfce Desktop? Well, here’s how to do it via PPA in (X)Ubuntu 13.10, (X)Ubuntu 13.04, (X)Ubuntu 12.04 and (X)Ubuntu 12.10.

Whisker Menu is an alternate application launcher for Xfce, which is used as default in Linux Mint 15 Xfce. By default, it displays list of your favorite apps. You can browse through all of your installed applications by clicking on the category buttons on the side. Or you can quickly access your app by the search box.

Note that the developer has removed the package for Ubuntu 13.10 and Ubuntu 13.04. So far, only Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, and Ubuntu 12.04 are supported.

Install Whisker Menu via PPA:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

Update package lists:

sudo apt-get update

Install the app launcher:

sudo apt-get install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

Once installed, right-click on your panel and go to Panel -> Add New Items…. Find out Whisker Menu and click to add it to launcher.

By default, it’s in the right corner. Right-click on the icon and move it to the left. Modify the icon and title in its properties window. Also you can remove the previous ‘application menu’ from its right-click menu.

For Debian, Feroda, openSUSE, see the installation guide Whisker Menu homepage

In Xfce Whisker Menu, xfce4