I’d love a setting to change the default file manager. I always install Nemo and configure it to be the default but last I checked, it’s not a simple GUI setting like changing the default browser or email client or whatever. And then you end up with two programs called “Files,” which obviously isn’t ideal.
Would it be that much of a problem to have what app is “Files” be a simple setting? Maybe it’s way more complicated than one assumes.
My dream is that one day we will be able to assign default applications to the “generic” names in Gnome. Launch “Browser” and open Firefox (or chrome 🤢), Files and open Dolphin, Messages and open Elements etc etc.
Obviously I can do the same with custom .desktop files but it would be a nice flair to use the settings to just assign applications to those generic names.
Maybe they added this when I wasn’t looking. It’s been awhile since I did a fresh install of a Gnome distro. (I use Fedora for work stuff and I’ve learned over the years to leave my work laptop the fuck alone and distro hop on a personal laptop.)
It’s still a problem. And then once I finally set thunar as default, Firefox continues to open Nautilus. Removing Nautilus isn’t an option either since it’s a dependencie of something else.
I really hope choosing a default file manager woll be simple and always working at some point.
Most DEs do include the file manager in the default applications menu. You can also use xdg-mime to set it as the default for inode/directory
Until some app doesn’t care about xdg-mime. At least I had some issues with firefox a while ago.
Firefox uses xdg-mime or xdg portals, depending on the configuration of the package. If you are using it as a flatpak, it will use portals.
Apps using portals will use the file picker your portal provides. This will usually be either the GNOME or Plasma file picker. Note that this file picker is separate from your default file manager.
