Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

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jmpurser
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:21 pm

Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by jmpurser »

LXDE on Mint

I'm new to LXDE and there are some things I like about it but one thing clashes with how I'm used to working. I like to have the first three programs in the tax bar window list in a specific order. That way I'm not searching for the programs I use most among all the incidental windows I have open. I'm used to being able to drag the program icons to the correct order but so far I haven't found a way to do that within LXDE.

Am I missing something or is this an unsupported feature?

Thanks,

John
seppalta
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Location: USA
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Re: Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by seppalta »

drooly
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Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:45 am

Re: Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by drooly »

afaik, there's no drag-and-drop functionality for this. but you can right-click into any of these icons, and something like "launchbar properties" should show up.
that's where you change which icons to have there and in which order.

this is not the same as the list of opened windows, but i assumed that's what you wanted.
jmpurser
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:21 pm

Re: Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by jmpurser »

Thank you Drooly and Seppalta but I'm talking about the icons of currently running programs rather than the launch bar. I want to change the order they appear in on the "Task Bar (Window List)" without closing and reopening them.

It's a work habit thing. I almost always have my e-mail client, facebook browser, and web browser open at any given time. However I'll be opening and closing other programs as the day goes along and of course their window icons will be added to the task bar. Rather than having to hunt for my three persistent programs during the day I keep them as icons 1, 2, and 3 on the task bar. I also like to move related programs together, such as a word processor window and a web page I'm using as reference, or my check book program and the web browser showing my banking activity.

I can close and reopen any program that's out of order but it would be a lot nicer if I could just put them where I wanted them.

This functionality is fairly ubiquitous in other desktops I've used so I assumed I was overlooking the obvious when I didn't find it in LXDE. Looks like this is some of the functionality that was skipped in order to keep it light. You can't have everything, even in election years.

It's an attractive desktop and I do like the quick response. I'll keep poking around. Thank you for your suggestions.

John
Rex Bouwense
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Re: Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by Rex Bouwense »

I am not sure what you want to do is possible, however you can always create multiple desktops like I have done. Desktop 1 is my Internet browser, desktop 2 is always my email client, desktop 3 is PCManFM, etc. Not sure if that is a solution that you can live with, but it is an option.
Rex
Bob E
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:37 am

Re: Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by Bob E »

jmpurser wrote:I'm used to being able to drag the program icons to the correct order but so far I haven't found a way to do that within LXDE.
The easiest way to accomplish this on LXDE is to install and use a tint2 panel instead of the lxpanel for the window list/buttons. You can use the cursor to rearrange the icons in any order you like.

I use tint2 on LXDE and Xfce and still have lxpanel (and xfce panel) on the left for all my most frequently used launchers.
drooly
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Re: Changing Program Icon order in Task Bar Window List

Post by drooly »

jmpurser wrote:I'm talking about the icons of currently running programs rather than the launch bar. I want to change the order they appear in on the "Task Bar (Window List)" without closing and reopening them.
while i tend to agree with rex bouwense (change your habits instead), i am 99% sure that this exact topic has been discussed here on the forums and someone even created a modified version of lxpanel that has this feature. search, you will find (it's not like the forums are drowning in posts).
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