A new install of Zorin 17.3 Pro has been going very well and I like it very much. One issue came up that puzzles me: As in this topic title, the "favorites" category in the main menu has vanished. l have tried various ways to get it back, including going through all of the changes offered in "Appearance" as well as in other areas of Settings.
I am not sure how this happened, as I am used to seeing Favorites right away when I click the big Z menue in the left of the panel. I wonder if an update did that and the Favorites category is no longer in the new version.
Have you installed any recent pieces of software that may have caused an issue? Like perhaps adding a PPA for a specific piece of software? That can cause issues sometimes, depending on the scenario. Also, if you look in the "Menu" application that's available, is it possible that the category simply got disabled somehow and you can just go there and reenable it?
Hi. Thanks for answering. No software installations. The "Menu" app categories do not include "Favorites," and that is another puzzle. I thought for sure I could just edit that. But not there. I tried to find a way to add it manually, but it's not offered.
When you install "gnome extension manager" and then the gnome extension "arc menu" there you can set different layouts for your start menu and configure it so that favorites are shown.
In Zorin menu I am not sure at the moment if this is possible.
Yeah I'm very familiar with Gnome and the extensions offered online at the extensions site. But I didn't try that because I thought Zorin would not allow those. I'll have a look and maybe try after all.
Nothing so far. The Extensions app does list an Applications Menu that includes "Favorites" at the top, but it is not possible to populate that category because right clicking on an app, such as Firefox, does not yield a choice to move to Favorites, so Favorites remains empty. The other categories in that Applications menu do function normally.
With that, You can install and manage Gnome Extensions. And with that, You could install the Gnome Extension ArcMenu - GNOME Shell Extensions and like @Forpli already wrote it offers a lot of Customization Options which includes showing Favorites. You have to play a bit with the Settings. I hope, I understand @Forpli right with this.
I personally use ArcMenu too because it has these Coustomization Options. The Zorin Start Menu, You can see as a customized Version of ArcMenu.
Thank you for the suggestions. I installed ArcMenu and now there is a "Favorites" as an entry, however there is no way to populate that category with apps/links. On right click of Firefox, or any other app, for example, there is no choice to move to that Favorites category. I cannot find a way to use the Favorites category. I do see the edit features for the ArcMenu, and they do offer a lot of various choices as to the looks and functionality, but no choices having to do with actual usage of the Favorites category so it remains empty.
I do like the ArcMenu, and it's there to the left of the big Z Zorin menu, but the other problem is that no setting in Panel Settings or Taskbar Settings or Appearance allow for removal of that default menu. I cannot get rid of it so it sits there next to the ArcMenu (not a good look).
How do I populate that Favorites category in the ArcMenu, and how do I remove the default Z menu?
Here You have 2 Option I would think. You can activate Favorites what adds the Apps what you would have for Example added in the Taskbar or in the Dock in the App Grid.
But You want add manual Apps. For this, I would suggest to take the Option ''Pinned Apps''. With that, You can in the ArcMenu Settings add Entries for that.
To activate Favorites, open the ArcMenu Settings an then:
Thank you! You did a lot of work there! What I ended up doing is the instructions for "Pinned Apps," and then got rid of the "Favorites" entry as I cannot figure out how to transfer the Pinned Apps list to Favorites. But, the functionality is the same, just a different name now.
It does appear that my settings area in the ArcMenu is a bit different than your pics up there (aside from the language ). But, I got it done except for the move to Favorites. This will work for me! And thank you again.
You went the extra mile and I appreciate that very much.
Actually all that I have now is similar to before: Instead of seeing the list of Favorites I had to click the Internet (for example) to get to Firefox, now I click Pinned Apps instead and there's no way that I can see to have Pinned Apps open and showing the apps I have in there unless I click it. So.. same issue different name. I am going to explore some more, surely I can't be the only one who wants Favorites to be the default open category when clicking the menu button.
Can you please explain more detailed what you want to achieve, perhaps with a picture?
There is an option that apps in a category are shown without clicking them but by moving the mouse over them. I really prefer this setting.
You can set this at menu>What shall be shown in menu>Settings for [mint] layout>open categories with mousetouch
And I don't know how many favorites you have and want to pin, I chose the cinnamon menu layout and on the left side I put some apps to have faster access.
Edit: Yes, at favorites there are only the ones that are also in dash/taskbar. There is no possibility to add other ones. But you can use pinned apps, often used or recent apps.
What I did to have fast access to some other favorite apps, I chose mint menu (but this may work in other layouts too), and at settings of "menu">What shall be shown in menu>settings/adaptations for [mint] layout> I added some button links and this was possible for all apps or activities.
The Zorin start menu is my least favourite thing about Zorin besides the gnome software store.
Here is a screenshot of my arc menu. I added "pinned apps" because at "favorites" only the apps from my taskbar are shown. You can add the pinned apps in menu>what shall be displayed in menu>extra categories (I don´t know the exact name in English)>enable pinned apps here.
When I move the mouse over "pinned apps" they are shown and I can open them. On the left side I also added some for faster access. I can choose any of my installed apps.
So, choose in the Dropdown Menu the Option for Pinned Apps. And then You should see in ArcMenu directly the List with all Your Pinned Apps. I tried it by myself and it should work.
@Ponce-De-Leon Good to know. In the settings for arc cinnamon menu there aren't these options so this depends on the chosen layout in arc menu if it is possible or not.
"Can you please explain more detailed what you want to achieve...?"
I thought I'd done that... I guess I'm not making it clear. What I'm used to using as a menu, in Fedora, MX Linux, and others, is when I click the menu button in the taskbar (or "panel") I see the Favorites and all of the apps in that category; it's right there. But in Zorin, when I click on the Menu I see Categories only, including the (empty) Favorites.
Now it is clearer, thank you. I think you can find what you want when you try the different layouts that are offered or Ponce-De-Leons solution.
The layouts are at menu>view.
The Categories list is there, but the Pinned Apps and Favorites choices are closed; just the name of the category is there in my menu. This is Mate, by the way.
Enable all apps, favorites and pinned apps or further ones at "extra-categories" at tab "menu" then you should be able to set them here.
Here are some ideas for the menu. There can be displayed all apps or only the pinned apps when click on start menu. It depends on the layout, also if they are displayed as list or as tiles.
I think I never saw Favorites there, I just replaced Zorin Menu with AppGrid (another way to access software, just as a grid and bigger icons), I don't remember of this category . I opened Main Menu (the main menu editor) and actually it allows creating categories, with New Menu.
). But, I got it done except for the move to Favorites. This will work for me! And thank you again.
. I opened Main Menu (the main menu editor) and actually it allows creating categories, with New Menu.