Nemo renamed to Files and issue with dual pane

Hello, I am new to Linux. I have Zorin OS Core 17 installed. I wanted a dual pane file manager so I installed Nemo using the Software manager.

I have two issues.

First after installing Nemo it was automatically renamed to Files. So now I have two entries named Files and it's kind of confusing. Is there a way to rename it back to Nemo?

Second. When I use the dual pane feature in Nemo and I select a file in one pane then click the second pane the file name is almost invisible. I can kind of see it if I look closely but it is impossible to see from a normal distance away. Here are two screen shots to illustrate.


1 Like

Yes, the displayed name is stored in the applications .desktop file. This is located in Root, so to change it, you must elevate to root.
In terminal, elevate to root:

sudo -i

Launch the Nemo File Manager:

nemo

Tap the Up arrow icon on the toolbar twice or in the left pane, click on the file system entry.
Now you are top level root - double click on /usr to begin following the path to:
/usr/share/applications and scroll down to the Nemo.desktop file. To open a .desktop file, right click and select from the context menu to Open With Text Editor.
It may be labeled as "Files" but if you get the Nautilus.desktop file, just close that and click open the next "files" .desktop file. .
At the very top,

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Files

Change that name to

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Nemo

Save the File.
Close Nemo FM. In terminal that launched the FM as root, type

exit

You may need to reboot to see the change in display name.

It appears the theme is showing a dark text color inside the dark highlight of the theme. You can report this as a bug directly to the ZorinGroup as that is a System theme issue.

In the meantime, you can add a fix to this issue with a custom gtk.css
In your home directory, tap the keyboard shortcut ctl+h to reveal the hidden system files.
You will now see the ~/.config directory. Open it. Next, open gtk-3.0
Create a new file named gtk.css if one does not exist already.
In that file, paste in:

 .nemo-window .nemo-window-pane widget.entry {
     color: #ADADAD;
}
 .nemo-window .nemo-window-pane widget.entry:selected {
     color: #FFFFFF;
}

Change the Hex Color codes to whatever Light Color you want the text to be. You can use google if you want to... In google search bar type:

#FFFFFF

It will put a color picker at the top where you can use a slider to choose any color you want, then copy the displayed Hex code to use in your gtk.css file.

Once done, save the file. You may need to reboot to see the changes.

6 Likes

Thank you for the fast help! I am back at work now but I will try these suggestions tonight and report back.

1 Like

So, I was able to rename "Files" to "Nemo" but for some reason it has disappeared from my "Show Applications". It is still in my Dock, and it shows up when I search, but the icon is missing from the Show Applications grid.

Also, I would like to change the icon if I could.

It seems weird to have an app "replace" another app but not actually replace it. As in the old app is still there and looks exactly like the new one. Is this intended on Zorin?

For the selection color. I did as you showed and restarted but it didn't seem to work. Here is the file I created.

And the contents in a quote:

 .nemo-window .nemo-window-pane widget.entry {
     color: #ADADAD;
}
 .nemo-window .nemo-window-pane widget.entry:selected {
     color: #8c8a85;
}

They are two separate applications. If you have both installed, both will be installed. Your usage may prefer one over the other, but installing an application does not cause the application to perform any kind of replacement action over the other one.

In the icon sets that I create, I make an Icon for Nautilus and an Icon for Nemo that are distinct from each other. Not all icon makers do this. Many use a generic File Manager icon. This means that the app will share the same icon in many icon sets.
You can change the icon by adding a nemo.png or nemo.svg icon to the applications subfolder in any icon set you are using. If the Icon Set contains "sized" folders (e.g. 16x16, 48x48, 128x128), you will need to place an appropriately sized icon in each sized folder.

A simpler option that can work is to place an icon in a location like /usr/share/pxmaps that you want to use for Nemo that scales well. In that same .desktop file, scroll past the names in other languages and comments in other languages to

Exec=nemo %U
Icon=system-file-manager
Keywords=folders;filesystem;explorer;
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=false
Categories=GNOME;GTK;Utility;Core;
MimeType=inode/directory;application/x-gnome-saved-search;
Actions=open-home;open-computer;open-trash;

Note the line Icon= and replace system-file-manager with the path to the preferred icon, including that icon name. Given the above location and example, it might look like /usr/share/pixmaps/nemo.svg
Save the file and reload the desktop to test changes.

I am not sure on this one...
The Show Applications grid is for Gnome Only... and Gnome uses Nautilus File Manager which it calls "Files" generically having taken a leaf out of Microsofts page that users are too dumb to know what software is unless it is so generically named that it cannot be anything else (MS Money, MS Word, MS Paint, MS Access...)
It may be that the Integrated Shell Show Applications is coded only to show by name "Files"... though this would be absurd, I would not be surprised, either. I would need to look further into this.

The classes and properties are correct... I have used those classes consistently across a large variety of themes and systems to adjust the NemoFM file name entry fields for years at this point.
I would be surprised if some change stemming from GTK4 was causing this to not work, as it does work on other distros utilizing GTK4. Most systems rely on GTK3 for the vast majority of theming.
But I have not done extensive testing on this on systems using Gnome with LibAdwaita. LibAdwaita limits the ability to theme, since Gnome prefers to force users to use their in-built Adwaita themes to protect the appearance of Gnome and halt User Freedom and choice.

1 Like

Thank you for the long and in-depth reply. I will see what I can do with the icon.

The missing icon in Show Applications isn't too big of deal since I have it pined to my Dock and usually use Search to find an app. It shows up when I search "Nemo".

For the highlight issue, where would I report the bug? Here on the Zorin forums or over at Mint? I think Nemo is from Cinnamon Mint?

Nemo is a fork of Nautilus provided by Mint. However, it is the system theme that is displaying a dark on dark text. The theme is a Zorin Theme and therefor under the ZorinGroup.

Reporting it is helpful, since a theme should be versatile and well-rounded. However... this statement I just made is dependent on my ethos as an independent theme creator. It means I must build my themes to work on a variety of distros and desktop environments.
The ZorinGroup create Zorin Themes only for use on Zorin OS. Reporting may be helpful and may produce a fix, but they are not obligated to accommodate every applications appearance so it is with a grain of salt.

First though... I am thinking along the lines of the Nemo FM name highlight... But I am beginning to wonder if the Two-Pane List View has a separate name highlight.
You can test this by changing the #FFFFFF to something like pink in your gtk.css file, then testing in Nemo FM, right click a file, then select "Rename" and see if the text is now pink. If it is, that.css file is working correctly, but we need to look at a different class.
The classes may be

.nemo-window scrolledwindow.frame treeview.view:hover, .nemo-window treeview:hover, .nemo-window treeview button:hover, .nemo-window treeview button:active {
     color: #FFFFFF;

}

Testing a pink color with the original gtk.css didn't change the renaming or selection, but the last code you gave me changes the mouse over highlight.

So we narrowed this down - you are using ListView not IconView, we need the class to be listview class. You may not need to specify Nemo FM for this, since Listview and Treeview are generic classes.
We may need to play with the .css on this a bit... But if so that would mean it is a potential bug in the Zorin Theme if a listview text is showing dark on dark; necessitating a bug report. You can submit this using this page:

This is odd... But I do not see the necessity in teasing this out at this time if you are not using IconView for field entries. It could create confusion to focus on this when what you want to solve is something else (Sorry, I am the one that started this confusion).
It's probably something very simple there and can be re-examined later or elsewhere if you wish.

Thank you for the Feedback link. I will send a report soon.

I am using List View but I just checked and the same thing happens in Icon View and Compact View.

As you say, this should probably be squashed instead of just a fix on my end.

1 Like

If you open the Applications overview and pin the application to the taskbar (dock) from there, the application is removed from the Applications overview. This is gnome's default behavior.

To avoid this, do not add it from there, but rather through the Applications menu. Adding through the applications menu this does not happen.

Regarding the icon, a suggestion is to use the Edit menu Main menu application. Through it you can create an entry (launcher) in the applications menu, placing the desired name and icon. And then you can attach it to the dock.

I believe you can even edit the entry that already exists for Nemo and leave it as you want.

1 Like

I am not seeing an app called Edit Menu. Do you mean Main Menu?

Sorry, my Zorin is in Portuguese.
Yes, it's Main menu in English.

1 Like

It may not be your cup of tea, but perhaps using Double Commander instead of nemo might save you some grief? I'm an old Directory Opus 4 user and so appreciate these sort of applications. Perhaps one day Gnome Foundation will figure out how to do some dual panes.

1 Like

I'll check it out! Thx!

I think so, too, in fact another software I tried had the same issue while the rest of them don't.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.