Help:Contents

Welcome to the community maintained documentation for Openbox! Please help out and add your own articles or improve the ones that are already here.

To make changes: fork, make changes, and submit a Pull Request to the http://github.com/openboxwm/openboxwm.github.io repository. Modify or add new articles under the help/ directory. This website used to be maintained as a wiki, but it has since moved to a git repository.

Contents 1 rc.xml 1.1 Configuration 1.2 Application settings 1.3 Mouse & keybindings 1.3.1 Binding documentation 1.3.2 Actions 2 Menus 2.1 Menu documentation 2.2 Actions 2.3 Pipe menus 2.4 Generating an applications menu 3 Themes 3.1 Theme specification 3.2 Openbox 3.4 theme file changes 4 Desktop Environments 4.1 Openbox in GNOME 4.2 Openbox in KDE 4.3 Openbox in XFCE 5 Custom Desktop Environments 5.1 openbox-session 5.2 Autostart 6 Miscellaneous 6.1 rc.xml Configuration examples 6.2 Feature list 6.3 Frequently asked questions 6.4 Compiling from source 6.5 Using Git 6.6 ObConf 6.7 Upgrading to 3.4 7 Other resources

rc.xml

Configuration

• The configuration documentation has details on the various options you can set in rc.xml.

Application settings

• Customize properties such as borders, geometry, workspace presence, layering etc. on a per-application basis.

Mouse & keybindings

Binding documentation

• Improve productivity and customize the function of your desktop by binding actions to key/mouse buttons (commonly called hot keys).

Actions

• Comprehensive documentation of all actions available for key and mouse bindings and the options which can affect their behavior.

Menus

Menu documentation

• Describes how to set up your own menus in Openbox.

Actions

• The actions documentation lists all of the actions available for use in Openbox menus.

Pipe menus

• The pipe menu documentation explains basic use of pipe menus in Openbox. If you're looking for scripts there are many available on the community page.

Generating an applications menu

• Scripts may be used to generate an application menu based on the contents of /usr/share/applications or other directories. See this section for a complete list.
• There are also instructions available for getting a working Debian menu, if yours is not.

Themes

Theme specification

• Comprehensive detail and documentation all of the elements found in an Openbox theme.

Openbox 3.4 theme file changes

• Details differences between 3.3->3.4 theme files
• A tool to help with converting blackbox/fluxbox themes to Openbox themes. (For non-xpm-based themes.)

Desktop Environments

Openbox in GNOME

• Instructions for running Openbox in the GNOME desktop environment and getting things to work how you want.

Openbox in KDE

• Instructions for running Openbox in K Desktop Environment.

Openbox in XFCE

• Instructions for running Openbox in the XFCE desktop enviroment.

Custom Desktop Environments

openbox-session

• Running Openbox as a stand-alone window manager in part of a custom desktop environment.

Autostart

• The autostart documentation gives instructions on how to launch programs with Openbox at startup (not applicable unless openbox-session is called from the Desktop Manager/xinit)

Miscellaneous

rc.xml Configuration examples

• rc.xml Configuration reference - Lists all default key bindings and default configuration.
• Focus-follows-mouse - This configuration is similar to the default configuration, but has more suitable mouse bindings for focus-follows-mouse that won't interfere with your windows' stacking order.
• Vi-styled bindings - Two examples of Vi-style keybindings (by Clay Barnes).
• "Windows"/Super key control - Example of using the "Windows" AKA. Super key to control windows (by Deters).
• Irssi-style window switching

Feature list

• A list of features found in the Openbox windowmanager.

Frequently asked questions

Compiling from source

• Details what you need to build the latest version of Openbox, and how to install it correctly.

Using Git

• Explains how to get bleeding-edge Openbox code for testing or developing with.

ObConf

• Obconf provides a simple graphical user interface to ease configuration for new Openbox users.

Upgrading to 3.4

• Walks through all the changes made since version 3.3, and there is a lot of them. Some of them mean new configuration options and features available to you, that you need to update your configuration to access.

Other resources

• The Arch wiki has a lot of great information on setting up and using Openbox.

• Many Openbox questions have been answered in forums around the internet. Trying a search may be fruitful.

• See community portal for other community resources and related projects.