ICEWM-PREFERENCES(5)

📦

version 4.1.0 · 17 versions

💖 icewm-preferences(5) — the preferences file, bestie

🌸 NAME

icewm-preferences — the icewm preferences configuration file. That’s the whole name section, and it’s already iconic. ✨

🌈 SYNOPSIS

okay so icewm is gonna look in these spots, bestie:

$ICEWM_PRIVCFG/preferences
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm/preferences
$HOME/.icewm/preferences
/usr/etc/icewm/preferences
/usr/share/icewm/preferences

🦋 DESCRIPTION

This file is where the general settings live — paths, colors, fonts, all of that — plus the options that control icewm’s focus behaviour and the applets that get started in the task bar. Your icewm installation comes with a default preferences file, and you can copy it to the icewm user configuration directory and then modify it. Copy, paste, customize, slay. 💅

🧚 FORMAT

This is the formatting zone, and the first batch of keys is all about focus and behavior. Let’s get into it.

🔥 FOCUS AND BEHAVIOR

These preferences affect focus and general behavior of icewm(1), bestie:

Alpha=0 — use a 32-bit visual for alpha blending. ✨
Synchronize=0 — synchronize X11 for debugging. It’s slow, ngl.
LogEvents=0 — enable event logging for debugging.
OutputFile="" — redirect all output to FILE. A leading tilde or environment variable is expanded. Heads up: this file is truncated on startup if it exceeds 5 KB.
Splash="" — splash image on startup (IceWM.jpg).
Trace="" — enable tracing for the given list of modules. Modules that are traceable include conf, font, icon, prog, systray.
ClickToFocus=1 — focus windows by clicking in them.
FocusOnAppRaise=0 — focus windows when applications request that they be raised.
RequestFocusOnAppRaise=1 — request focus (the lil flashing in the taskbar) when an application requests raise.
RaiseOnFocus=1 — raise windows when focused.
FocusOnClickClient=1 — focus the window when the client area is clicked.
RaiseOnClickClient=1 — raise the window when the client area is clicked.
RaiseOnClickTitleBar=1 — raise the window when the title bar is clicked.
RaiseOnClickButton=1 — raise the window when a frame button is clicked.
RaiseOnClickFrame=1 — raise the window when the frame border is clicked.
LowerOnClickWhenRaised=0 — lower the active window when it’s clicked again.
PassFirstClickToClient=1 — pass the focusing click on the client area to the client.
FocusChangesWorkspace=0 — change to the workspace of newly focused windows.
FocusCurrentWorkspace=0 — move newly focused windows to the current workspace.
FocusOnMap=1 — focus a normal window when it’s initially mapped.
FocusOnMapTransient=0 — focus a dialog window when it’s initially mapped.
FocusOnMapTransientActive=1 — focus a dialog window when it’s initially mapped only if the parent frame is focused.
MapInactiveOnTop=1 — put new windows on top even if you’re not focusing them.
PointerColormap=1 — colormap focus follows the pointer.
DontRotateMenuPointer=1 — don’t rotate the cursor for popup menus.
LimitSize=1 — limit the size of windows to the screen.
LimitPosition=1 — limit the position of windows to the screen.
LimitByDockLayer=0 — let the Dock layer limit the workspace. This is incompatible with GNOME Panel, fyi.
ConsiderHBorder=0 — consider border frames when maximizing horizontally.
ConsiderVBorder=0 — consider border frames when maximizing vertically.
ConsiderSizeHintsMaximized=1 — consider XSizeHints if the frame is maximized. Turning this off allows the titlebar to cover the width of the screen.
CenterMaximizedWindows=0 — center maximized windows that can’t fit the screen (like terminals).
HideBordersMaximized=0 — hide window borders if the window is maximized.
SizeMaximized=0 — maximized windows can be resized.
ShowMoveSizeStatus=1 — show the position status window during move/resize.
ShowWorkspaceStatus=1 — show the name of the current workspace while switching.
MinimizeToDesktop=0 — display mini-icons on the desktop for minimized windows.
MiniIconsPlaceHorizontal=0 — place the mini-icons horizontal instead of vertical.
MiniIconsRightToLeft=0 — place new mini-icons from right to left.
MiniIconsBottomToTop=0 — place new mini-icons from bottom to top.
StrongPointerFocus=0 — always maintain focus under the mouse window. This makes some keyboard support non-functional or unreliable. 😭
OpaqueMove=1 — opaque window move.
OpaqueResize=1 — opaque window resize.
ManualPlacement=0 — windows are initially placed manually by the user.
SmartPlacement=1 — smart window placement (minimal overlap).
HideTitleBarWhenMaximized=0 — hide the title bar when maximized.
CenterLarge=0 — center large windows.
CenterTransientsOnOwner=1 — center dialogs on the owner window.
MenuMouseTracking=0 — menus track the mouse even with no mouse buttons held.
AutoRaise=0 — raise windows when the mouse pointer enters, after a delay of AutoRaiseDelay milliseconds. Note that RaiseOnFocus=1 may interfere.
DelayPointerFocus=1 — delay pointer focusing when the mouse moves.
Win95Keys=1 — support the Windows/Super key modifier to activate special functions. The left Super key toggles the Start menu, while the right Super key toggles the Window list window.
ModSuperIsCtrlAlt=0 — treat the Super/Win key modifier as a synonym for the Ctrl+Alt modifier combination. The default key bindings have many occurrences of Ctrl+Alt. If you enable this, then the Super modifier is an alternative way to activate them.
UseMouseWheel=0 — support the mouse wheel. When pressing Ctrl+Alt, rotating the mouse wheel on the root window will cycle the focus over the windows.
TaskBarTaskGrouping=0 — group applications with the same class name under a single task button. 0 disables it, 1 shows the number of windows, 2 shows bread crumbs, 3 shows a number + bread crumbs.
ShowPopupsAbovePointer=0 — show popup menus above the mouse pointer.
ReplayMenuCancelClick=0 — send the clicks outside menus to the target window.
ClientWindowMouseActions=1 — allow mouse actions on client windows. This is buggy with some programs.
GrabRootWindow=1 — manage the root window. EXPERIMENTAL — normally enabled!
SnapMove=1 — snap to the nearest screen edge/window when moving windows.
SnapDistance=8 [0-64] — distance in pixels before windows snap together.
ArrangeWindowsOnScreenSizeChange=1 — automatically arrange windows when the screen size changes.
AllowFullscreen=1 — allow switching a window to fullscreen.
FullscreenUseAllMonitors=0 — span over all available screens if a window goes into fullscreen.
MsgBoxDefaultAction=0 [0-1] — preselect Cancel (0) or the OK (1) button in message boxes.
NetWorkAreaBehaviour=0 [0-2] — NET_WORKAREA behaviour: 0 (single/multi-monitor with STRUT information, like metacity), 1 (always full desktop), 2 (single monitor with STRUT, multi-monitor without STRUT).

🫶 QUICK SWITCH

Quick switch is the Alt+Tab situation, and these keys run it:

QuickSwitch=1 — enable Alt+Tab window switching.
QuickSwitchToMinimized=1 — enable Alt+Tab to minimized windows.
QuickSwitchToHidden=1 — enable Alt+Tab to hidden windows.
QuickSwitchToUrgent=1 — prioritize Alt+Tab to urgent windows.
QuickSwitchToAllWorkspaces=0 — include windows from all workspaces in Alt+Tab.
QuickSwitchGroupWorkspaces=1 — group windows by workspace together in Alt+Tab.
QuickSwitchPersistence=0 — time in seconds to remember the state of Alt+Tab.
QuickSwitchPreview=0 — use a QuickSwitch that shows previews of applications.
QuickSwitchRaiseCandidate=0 — raise a selected window while Alt+Tabbing in the QuickSwitch.
QuickSwitchAllIcons=1 — show all reachable icons when quick switching.
QuickSwitchTextFirst=0 — show the window title above (all reachable) icons.
QuickSwitchSmallWindow=0 — create a smaller QuickSwitch window of 1/3 screen width.
QuickSwitchVertical=1 — place the icons and titles vertical instead of horizontal.
QuickSwitchHugeIcon=0 — show the huge (48x48) of the window icon for the active window.
QuickSwitchFillSelection=0 — fill the rectangle highlighting the current icon.

🦋 EDGE SWITCHING

Edge switching is the “yeet the mouse to the edge” situation. These keys control it:

EdgeSwitch=0 — workspace switches by moving the mouse to the left/right screen edge.
HorizontalEdgeSwitch=0 — workspace switches by moving the mouse to the left/right screen edge.
VerticalEdgeSwitch=0 — workspace switches by moving the mouse to the top/bottom screen edge.
ContinuousEdgeSwitch=1 — workspace switches continuously when moving the mouse to the screen edge.
EdgeResistance=32 [0-10000] — resistance in pixels when trying to move windows off the screen (10000 = infinite).

🎀 TASK BAR

These preferences affect the icewm(1) task bar — yes, the whole bar situation:

ShowTaskBar=1 — show the task bar.
TaskBarAtTop=0 — task bar at the top of the screen.
TaskBarKeepBelow=0 — keep the task bar below regular windows.
TaskBarAutoHide=0 — auto hide the task bar after a delay.
TaskBarFullscreenAutoShow=1 — auto show the task bar when a fullscreen window is active.
TaskBarShowClock=1 — show the clock on the task bar.
TaskBarShowAPMStatus=0 — show the battery status monitor on the task bar.
TaskBarShowAPMAuto=1 — enable TaskBarShowAPMStatus if a battery is present.
TaskBarShowAPMTime=1 — show battery status on the task bar in time-format.
TaskBarShowAPMGraph=1 — show battery status in graph mode.
TaskBarShowMailboxStatus=1 — show mailbox status on the task bar.
TaskBarMailboxStatusBeepOnNewMail=0 — beep when new mail arrives.
TaskBarMailboxStatusCountMessages=0 — count messages in the mailbox.
TaskBarShowWorkspaces=1 — show workspace switching buttons on the task bar.
TaskBarShowWindows=1 — show windows on the taskbar.
TaskBarShowShowDesktopButton=1 — show the ‘show desktop’ button on the taskbar. If set to 2, it will move the icon to the right side, after the clock.
ShowEllipsis=1 — show Ellipsis in taskbar items.
TaskBarShowTray=1 — show windows in the tray.
TaskBarEnableSystemTray=1 — enable the system tray in the taskbar.
TrayShowAllWindows=1 — show windows from all workspaces on the tray.
TaskBarShowTransientWindows=1 — show transient (dialogs, …) windows on the task bar.
TaskBarShowAllWindows=0 — show windows from all workspaces on the task bar.
TaskBarShowWindowIcons=1 — show icons of windows on task buttons of the task bar.
TaskBarShowWindowTitles=1 — show titles of windows on task buttons of the task bar.
TaskBarShowStartMenu=1 — show the ‘Start’ menu on the task bar.
TaskBarShowWindowListMenu=1 — show the ‘window list’ menu on the task bar.
TaskBarShowCPUStatus=1 — show CPU status on the task bar (Linux & Solaris).
CPUStatusShowRamUsage=1 — bestie, this puts RAM usage in the CPU status tool tip. 💖
CPUStatusShowSwapUsage=1 — yep, swap usage also shows up in the CPU status tool tip. 🫶
CPUStatusShowAcpiTemp=1 — ACPI temperature in the CPU status tool tip? iconic. 🌡️
CPUStatusShowAcpiTempInGraph=0 — show ACPI temperature in the CPU status bar itself. 🔥
CPUStatusShowCpuFreq=1 — CPU frequency in the CPU status tool tip, slay. ⚡
NetStatusShowOnlyRunning=0 — show network status only for connected devices, like an active Ethernet link or associated wireless interface. If false, any network interface that has been brought up will be displayed. 💅
TaskBarShowMEMStatus=1 — show memory usage status on task bar (Linux only). 🧠
TaskBarShowNetStatus=1 — show network status on task bar (Linux only). 🌐
TaskBarShowCollapseButton=0 — show a button to collapse the taskbar. 🎀
TaskBarDoubleHeight=0 — use double-height task bar. 📏
TaskBarWorkspacesLeft=1 — place workspace pager on left, not right. 👈
TaskBarWorkspacesTop=0 — place workspace pager on top row when using dual-height taskbar. ⬆️
TaskBarWorkspacesLimit="" — limit the number of taskbar workspaces buttons that are shown on the workspaces pane of the taskbar. If the numeric value has a "p" suffix then the limitation is in pixels. A "%" suffix limits by percentage of desktop width. By default a "B" suffix is assumed for number of buttons. 🔢
TaskBarUseMouseWheel=1 — enable mouse wheel cycling over workspaces and task buttons in taskbar. 🖱️
PagerShowPreview=1 — show a mini desktop preview on each workspace button. 🦋
PagerShowWindowIcons=1 — draw window icons inside large enough preview windows on pager (if PagerShowPreview=1). 🪟
PagerShowMinimized=1 — draw even minimized windows as unfilled rectangles (if PagerShowPreview=1). 😴
PagerShowBorders=1 — draw border around workspace buttons (if PagerShowPreview=1). 🖼️
PagerShowLabels=1 — show workspace name label on workspace button (if PagerShowPreview=1). 🏷️
PagerShowNumbers=1 — show number of workspace on workspace button (if PagerShowPreview=1). 🔢
TaskBarLaunchOnSingleClick=1 — execute taskbar applet commands (like MailCommand, ClockCommand, ...) on single click. 👆
EnableAddressBar=1 — enable address bar functionality in taskbar. 📫
ShowAddressBar=1 — show address bar in task bar. 🗂️
MultiByte=1 — overrides automatic multiple byte detection. 🔤
ConfirmLogout=1 — confirm logout. 🚪
ShapesProtectClientWindow=1 — don't cut client windows by shapes set trough frame corner pixmap. 💀
XRRDisable=1 — disable use of new XRANDR API for dual head (nvidia workaround). 🖥️
PreferFreetypeFonts=1 — favour Xft fonts over core X11 fonts where possible. ✨
MailBoxPath="" — a list of paths of your mailboxes separated by spaces. If this is empty, $MAILPATH or $MAIL is used instead. 📬

Path to a mbox file. Remote mail boxes are accessed by specifying a URL using the Common Internet Scheme Syntax (RFC 1738):

scheme://[user[:password]@]server[:port][/path]

Supported schemes are "pop3", "imap" and "file". When the scheme is omitted file:// is prepended silently. IMAP subfolders can be accessed by using the path component. Reserved characters like slash ("/"), at ("@") and colon (":") can be specified using escape sequences with a hexadecimal encoding like %2f for the slash or %40 for the at sign. For example:

file:///var/spool/mail/captnmark
pop3://markus:%2f%40%3a@maol.ch/
imap://mathias@localhost/INBOX.Maillisten.icewm-user

NetworkStatusDevice="eth0 wlan0" — network devices for which to show status. 🌈
TimeFormat="%X" — the clock time format. See the strftime manpage for the meaning of all the percent options. It is possible to define multiple clocks for different time zones in a single TimeFormat. A new clock is defined by the beginning of the string, and by each time zone specification that starts with "TZ=...", followed by a space. For example, TimeFormat="%X TZ=Asia/Aden %T TZ=Asia/Baku %T" defines 3 clocks. ⏰
TimeFormatAlt="" — alternate Clock Time format shown every other second. 🔁
DateFormat="%c" — Clock Date format for tooltip (strftime format string). 📅
DockApps="right high desktop" — support DockApps (right, left, center, down, high, above, dock, ontop, normal, below, desktop, or empty to disable). The first five control positioning, while the next six set the layer. Control with Ctrl+Mouse. 🧚
XRRPrimaryScreenName="" — screen/output name of the primary screen. 🖥️
AcpiIgnoreBatteries="" — list of battery names (directories) in /proc/acpi/battery to ignore. Useful when more slots are built-in, but only one battery is used. 🔋
TaskBarCPUSamples=20 [2-1000] — the width of the CPU Monitor applet in pixels. 📊
TaskBarMEMSamples=20 [2-1000] — the width of the Memory Monitor applet in pixels. 🧮
TaskBarNetSamples=20 [2-1000] — the width of the Net Monitor applet in pixels. 📶
TaskbarButtonWidthDivisor=3 [1-25] — default number of tasks in taskbar. 🧩
TaskBarWidthPercentage=100 [0-100] — task bar width as percentage of the screen width. 📐
TaskBarJustify="left" — taskbar justify left, right or center. ⬅️➡️
TaskBarApmGraphWidth=10 [1-1000] — width of battery Monitor. 🔌
XineramaPrimaryScreen=0 [0-63] — primary screen for xinerama (taskbar, ...). 🖼️
KeyboardLayouts="" — a comma-separated list of keyboard layouts. A layout may be enclosed in double quotes. Each layout is a name with optional arguments, that is to be parsed by the "setxkbmap" program. To support changing keyboard layouts, the "setxkbmap" program must be installed. The first in the list is the default layout. Programs may have their own keyboard layout defined in the winoptions file. The first two letters of a layout are used to locate an icon image file. ⌨️

🍽️ MENUS

AutoReloadMenus=1 — reload menu files automatically. 🔄
ShowProgramsMenu=0 — show programs submenu. 🧁
ShowSettingsMenu=1 — show settings submenu. ⚙️
ShowFocusModeMenu=1 — show focus mode submenu. 🎯
ShowThemesMenu=1 — show themes submenu. 🎨
ShowLogoutMenu=1 — show logout menu. 🚪
ShowHelp=1 — show the help menu item. 🆘
ShowLogoutSubMenu=1 — show logout submenu. 🚶‍♀️
ShowAbout=1 — show the about menu item. ℹ️
ShowRun=1 — show the run menu item. 🏃‍♀️
ShowWindowList=1 — show the window menu item. 🪟
MenuMaximalWidth=0 [0-16384] — maximal width of popup menus, 2/3 of the screen's width if set to zero. 📏
NestedThemeMenuMinNumber=25 [0-1234] — minimal number of themes after which the Themes menu becomes nested (0=disabled). 🪆

⏱️ TIMINGS

DelayFuzziness=10 (0-100) — delay fuzziness, to allow merging of multiple timer timeouts into one (notebook power saving). 🔋
ClickMotionDistance=4 [0-32] — pointer motion distance before click gets interpreted as drag. 🖱️
ClickMotionDelay=200 [0-2000] — delay before click gets interpreted as drag. ⏳
MultiClickTime=400 [0-5000] — multiple click time. 👆👆
MenuActivateDelay=40 [0-5000] — delay before activating menu items. 🍽️
SubmenuMenuActivateDelay=300 [0-5000] — delay before activating menu submenus. 📂
ToolTipIcon=1 — show an application icon in toolbar and tray tooltips. 🖼️
ToolTipDelay=1000 [0-5000] — delay before tooltip window is displayed. 💬
ToolTipTime=0 [0-60000] — time before tooltip window is hidden (0 means never). ♾️
AutoHideDelay=300 [0-5000] — delay before task bar is hidden. 🙈
AutoShowDelay=500 [0-5000] — delay before task bar is shown. 👀
AutoRaiseDelay=400 [0-5000] — delay before windows are auto raised if AutoRaise=1. ⬆️
PointerFocusDelay=200 [0-1000] — delay for pointer focus switching. 🎯
EdgeSwitchDelay=600 [0-5000] — screen edge workspace switching delay. 🖥️
ScrollBarStartDelay=500 [0-5000] — initial scroll bar autoscroll delay. 📜
ScrollBarDelay=30 [0-5000] — scroll bar autoscroll delay. 🔁
AutoScrollStartDelay=500 [0-5000] — auto scroll start delay. 🌀
AutoScrollDelay=60 [0-5000] — auto scroll delay. 🕰️
WorkspaceStatusTime=2500 [0-2500] — time before workspace status window is hidden. 🗂️
MailCheckDelay=30 [0-86400] — delay between new-mail checks. (seconds). 📬
TaskBarCPUDelay=500 [10-3600000] — delay between CPU Monitor samples in ms. ⚡
TaskBarMEMDelay=500 [10-3600000] — delay between Memory Monitor samples in ms. 🧠
TaskBarNetDelay=500 [10-3600000] — delay between Net Monitor samples in ms. 🌐
FocusRequestFlashTime=0 [0-86400] — number of seconds the taskbar app will blink when requesting focus (0 = forever). 💡
FocusRequestFlashInterval=250 [0-30000] — taskbar blink interval (ms) when requesting focus (0 = blinking disabled). ✨
BatteryPollingPeriod=10 [2-3600] — delay between power status updates (seconds). 🔋
PingTimeout=3 [0-86400] — timeout in seconds for applications to respond to the _NET_WM_PING protocol. 🏓

🎮 BUTTONS AND KEYS

UseRootButtons=255 [0-255] — bitmask of root window button click to use in window manager. 🖱️
ButtonRaiseMask=1 [0-255] — bitmask of buttons that raise the window when pressed. ⬆️
DesktopWinMenuButton=0 [0-20] — desktop mouse-button click to show the window list menu. 🪟
DesktopWinListButton=2 # [0-20] — desktop mouse-button click to show the window list. 📋
DesktopMenuButton=3 [0-20] — desktop mouse-button click to show the root menu. 🌱
TitleBarMaximizeButton=1 [0-5] — title bar mouse-button double-click to maximize the window to full screen with the frame border visible. Press Shift to maximize only in the vertical direction. Press Alt+Shift to maximize only in the horizontal direction. 🪟
TitleBarRollupButton=2 [0-5] — title bar mouse-button double-click to rollup the window. Press Shift to maximize in the horizontal direction. 🌀

🗂️ WORKSPACES

WorkspaceNames=" 1 ", " 2 ", " 3 ", " 4 " — create four workspaces with names 1, 2, 3 and 4. ✨

📁 PATHS

IconPath="/usr/local/share/icons:/usr/local/share/pixmaps:/usr/share/icons:/usr/share/pixmaps" — icon search path (colon separated). Also, the icons/ subdirectory in IceWM resource folders are searched first. 🎀
IconThemes="*:-HighContrast" — the list of icon themes, colon separated bestie 💅 it works as an extra filter over the icon subdirectories inside any of your IconPath folders. The expressions can be wildcards, and there are special wildcards too — ones starting with - — that exclude the themes they match from the selection. So -HighContrast is literally "not that one, thanks" 🫶
MailBoxPath="" — a colon separated list of paths to your mailboxes 📬 if it's empty, then $MAILPATH or $MAIL gets used instead, no cap.

🚀 PROGRAMS 🚀

MailCommand="xterm -name mutt -e mutt" — the command that runs on your mailbox ✉️
MailClassHint="mutt.XTerm" — the WM_CLASS that lets runonce do its thing for MailCommand 🎀
NewMailCommand="" — the command that runs when new mail shows up 👀
LockCommand="" — the command that locks your display / screensaver 🔒
ClockCommand="xclock -name icewm -title Clock" — the command that runs on the clock 🕰️
ClockClassHint="icewm.XClock" — the WM_CLASS so runonce works for ClockCommand ✨
RunCommand="" — the command that lets you select and run a program 🏃‍♀️
OpenCommand="" — the command that opens a file or directory straight from the Start menu 📂
TerminalCommand="xterm" — your terminal emulator, and heads up: it must accept the -e option, that's non-negotiable 💀
LogoutCommand="" — the command that starts logout 🚪
LogoutCancelCommand="" — the command that cancels logout 🙅‍♀️
ShutdownCommand="/bin/sh -c "{ test -e /run/systemd/system && systemctl poweroff || loginctl poweroff; }"" — the command that shuts the system down 🔌
RebootCommand="/bin/sh -c "{ test -e /run/systemd/system && systemctl reboot || loginctl reboot; }"" — the command that reboots the system 🔁
SuspendCommand="test -e /run/systemd/system && systemctl suspend || loginctl suspend" — the command that sends the system to standby mode 😴
SuspendCommand="test -e /run/systemd/system && systemctl hibernate || loginctl hibernate" — the command that hibernates the system 🐻 (yes, it's literally listed as SuspendCommand again in the page, we're just reporting the facts here 🫡)
CPUStatusCommand="xterm -name top -title Process\ Status -e top" — the command that runs on CPU status 🖥️
CPUStatusClassHint="top.XTerm" — the WM_CLASS so runonce behaves for CPUStatusCommand 💅
CPUStatusCombine=1 0/1 — combine all the CPUs into one, yes please 🧠
NetStatusCommand="xterm -name netstat -title 'Network Status' -e netstat -c" — the command that runs on Net status 🌐
NetStatusClassHint="netstat.XTerm" — the WM_CLASS so runonce behaves for NetStatusCommand ✨
AddressBarCommand="" — the command that runs for address bar entries 🔍
InputIgnorePrefix="nohup|(nice[[:space:]]+-n[[:space:]]*[[:digit:]]+)|sudo|(LANG|LC_[[:alnum:]]]*)(=|=[^[:space:]]+)" — a regular expression (POSIX Extended flavor, fyi) that marks the beginning of a command line inside command input fields 🎯 those prefixes get ignored while auto-completion happens — typically for commands that are pass-through wrappers executing the command you actually specified. iykyk 🧚

🪟 WINDOW MENUS 🪟

WinMenuItems="rmsnxfhualytiecw" — the items supported in the menu window (rmsnxfhualytieckw) 🎛️
RolloverButtonsSupported=0 — does it support the 'O' title bar button images (the mouse rollover ones)? 🖱️
ShowMenuButtonIcon=1 # 0/1 — show the application icon on top of the menu button 🎀

🎨 THEME SETTINGS 🎨

The following sections show settings that can be set in theme files. They can also be set in the preferences file, but plot twist: themes will override the values set there 😱 so if you actually want to override the theme's values, the settings should go in the prefoverrides file — see icewm-prefoverrides(5). Default values are shown following the equal sign, bestie 📌

💖 THEME DESCRIPTION 💖

ThemeAuthor="" — theme author, e-mail address, credits 🫶
ThemeDescription="" — description of the theme, credits 📝
Look="nice" — choose a theme look from one of: "win95", "motif", "warp3", "warp4", "nice", "metal2", "gtk2", and some others 👑
Gradients="" — the list of gradient pixmaps in the current theme 🌈

🎀 THEME BORDERS, ICONS, MARGINS AND BUTTONS 🎀

BorderSizeX=6 [0-128] — horizontal window border 📏
BorderSizeY=6 [0-128] — vertical window border 📐
DlgBorderSizeX=2 [0-128] — horizontal dialog window border 🪟
DlgBorderSizeY=2 [0-128] — vertical dialog window border 🪟
CornerSizeX=24 [0-64] — resize corner width 🧩
CornerSizeY=24 [0-64] — resize corner height 🧩
TitleBarHeight=20 [0-128] — title bar height 📊
TitleBarJustify=0 [0-100] — justification of the window title ✍️
TitleBarHorzOffset=0 [-128-128] — horizontal offset for the window title text ↔️
TitleBarVertOffset=0 [-128-128] — vertical offset for the window title text ↕️
MenuButtonIconVertOffset=0 [-128-128] — vertical offset for the menu button icon 🖼️
ScrollBarX=16 [0-64] — scrollbar width 📜
ScrollBarY=16 [0-64] — scrollbar (button) height 📜
MenuIconSize=16 [8-128] — menu icon size 🍓
SmallIconSize=16 [8-128] — dimension of the small icons 🐣
LargeIconSize=32 [8-128] — dimension of the large icons 🦋
HugeIconSize=48 [8-128] — dimension of the large icons (yes, huge ones) 🐘
QuickSwitchHorzMargin=3 [0-64] — horizontal margin of the quickswitch window 🪟
QuickSwitchVertMargin=3 [0-64] — vertical margin of the quickswitch window 🪟
QuickSwitchIconMargin=4 [0-64] — vertical margin in the quickswitch window 🖼️
QuickSwitchIconBorder=2 [0-64] — distance between the active icon and its border 💫
QuickSwitchSeparatorSize=6 [0-64] — height of the separator between (all reachable) icons and text, 0 to avoid it entirely ✂️
TitleButtonsLeft="s" — titlebar buttons from left to right (x=close, m=max, i=min, h=hide, r=rollup, s=sysmenu, d=depth) ⬅️
TitleButtonsRight="xmir" — titlebar buttons from right to left (x=close, m=max, i=min, h=hide, r=rollup, s=sysmenu, d=depth) ➡️
TitleButtonsSupported="xmis" — titlebar buttons supported by the theme (x,m,i,r,h,s,d) 🎛️
TitleBarCentered=0 # 0/1 — draw the window title centered (obsoleted by TitleBarJustify, so like… legacy vibe 💀)
TitleBarJoinLeft=0 # 0/1 — join title*S and title*T 🤝
TitleBarJoinRight=0 # 0/1 — join title*T and title*B 🤝
TaskBarClockLeds=0 # 0/1 — the task bar clock/battery monitor uses the nice pixmap LCD display… but then it doesn't display correctly in many languages anymore 😭 e.g. for Japanese and Korean it works only when a real font is used and not the LCD pixmaps. Noted 🫡
TaskBarGraphHeight=20 [16-1000] — height of taskbar monitoring applets 📈
TaskbuttonIconOffset=0 # [0-16] — width of taskbutton side icons 🖼️
TrayIconMaxWidth=32 # [16-128] — maximum scaled width of tray icons 📦
TrayIconMaxHeight=24 # [16-128] — maximum scaled height of tray icons 📦
TrayDrawBevel=0 # 0/1 — surround the tray with a plastic border 💎

🔤 THEME FONTS 🔤

TitleFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / TitleFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the title bar font 👑
MenuFontName="-*-sans-bold-r-*-*-*-100-*-*-*-*-*-*" / MenuFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=10:bold" — name of the menu font 🍔
StatusFontName="-*-monospace-bold-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / StatusFontNameXft="monospace:size=12:bold" — name of the status display font 📟
QuickSwitchFontName="-*-monospace-bold-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / QuickSwitchFontNameXft="monospace:size=12:bold" — name of the font for the Alt+Tab switcher window 🔄
NormalButtonFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / NormalButtonFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the normal button font 🔘
ActiveButtonFontName="-*-sans-bold-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ActiveButtonFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12:bold" — name of the active button font 🔥
NormalTaskBarFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / NormalTaskBarFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the normal task bar item font 📋
ActiveTaskBarFontName="-*-sans-bold-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ActiveTaskBarFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12:bold" — name of the active task bar item font ✨
ToolButtonFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ToolButtonFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the tool button font (fallback: NormalButtonFontName) 🧰
NormalWorkspaceFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / NormalWorkspaceFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the normal workspace button font (fallback: NormalButtonFontName) 🗂️
ActiveWorkspaceFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ActiveWorkspaceFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the active workspace button font (fallback: ActiveButtonFontName) 🗂️
MinimizedWindowFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / MinimizedWindowFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the mini-window font 🐜
ListBoxFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ListBoxFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the window list font 📑
ToolTipFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ToolTipFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the tool tip font 💬
ClockFontName="-*-monospace-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ClockFontNameXft="monospace:size=12" — name of the task bar clock font 🕰️
TempFontName="-*-monospace-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*" / TempFontNameXft="monospace:size=12" — name of the task bar temperature font 🌡️
ApmFontName="-*-monospace-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*" / ApmFontNameXft="monospace:size=12" — name of the task bar battery font 🔋
InputFontName="-*-monospace-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*" / InputFontNameXft="monospace:size=12" — name of the input field font ⌨️
LabelFontName="-*-sans-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*" / LabelFontNameXft="sans-serif:size=12" — name of the label font 🏷️

🌈 THEME COLORS 🌈

ColorDialog = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of dialog windows 🪟
ColorNormalBorder = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — border of inactive windows 😴
ColorActiveBorder = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — border of active windows 🔥
ColorNormalButton = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of regular buttons 🔘
ColorNormalButtonText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of regular buttons 🖤
ColorActiveButton = "rgb:E0/E0/E0" — background of pressed buttons 👇
ColorActiveButtonText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of pressed buttons 🖤
ColorNormalTitleButton = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of titlebar buttons 🎀
ColorNormalTitleButtonText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of titlebar buttons 🖤
ColorToolButton = "" — background of toolbar buttons; ColorNormalButton is used if this is empty 🧰
ColorToolButtonText = "" — text color of toolbar buttons; ColorNormalButtonText is used if this is empty 🧰
ColorNormalWorkspaceButton = "" — background of workspace buttons; ColorNormalButton is used if this is empty 🗂️
ColorNormalWorkspaceButtonText = "" — text color of workspace buttons; ColorNormalButtonText is used if this is empty 🗂️
ColorActiveWorkspaceButton = "" — background of the active workspace button; if it’s empty, ColorActiveButton is used instead 💅
ColorActiveWorkspaceButtonText = "" — text color of the active workspace button; if it’s empty, ColorActiveButtonText is used instead ✨
ColorNormalTitleBar = "rgb:80/80/80" — background of the titlebar of regular windows.
ColorNormalTitleBarText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of the titlebar of regular windows.
ColorNormalTitleBarShadow = "" — text shadow of the titlebar of regular windows.
ColorActiveTitleBar = "rgb:00/00/A0" — background of the titlebar of active windows.
ColorActiveTitleBarText = "rgb:FF/FF/FF" — text color of the titlebar of active windows.
ColorActiveTitleBarShadow = "" — text shadow of the titlebar of active windows.
ColorNormalMinimizedWindow = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background for mini icons of regular windows.
ColorNormalMinimizedWindowText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color for mini icons of regular windows.
ColorActiveMinimizedWindow = "rgb:E0/E0/E0" — background for mini icons of active windows.
ColorActiveMinimizedWindowText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color for mini icons of active windows.
ColorNormalMenu = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of pop-up menus.
ColorNormalMenuItemText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of regular menu items.
ColorActiveMenuItem = "rgb:A0/A0/A0" — background of the selected menu item; leave it empty to force transparency.
ColorActiveMenuItemText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of selected menu items.
ColorDisabledMenuItemText = "rgb:80/80/80" — text color of disabled menu items.
ColorDisabledMenuItemShadow = "" — shadow of regular menu items.
ColorMoveSizeStatus = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of the move/resize status window.
ColorMoveSizeStatusText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of the move/resize status window.
ColorQuickSwitch = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of the quick switch window.
ColorQuickSwitchText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color in the quick switch window.
ColorQuickSwitchActive = "" — rectangle around the active icon in the quick switch window.
ColorQuickSwitchBorder = "" — color for the quick switch border. When it’s empty, a one pixel wide elevation border will be drawn, based on the quick switch background.
ColorDefaultTaskBar = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of the taskbar.
ColorNormalTaskBarApp = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background for task buttons of regular windows.
ColorNormalTaskBarAppText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color for task buttons of regular windows.
ColorActiveTaskBarApp = "rgb:E0/E0/E0" — background for task buttons of the active window.
ColorActiveTaskBarAppText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color for task buttons of the active window.
ColorMinimizedTaskBarApp = "rgb:A0/A0/A0" — background for task buttons of minimized windows.
ColorMinimizedTaskBarAppText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color for task buttons of minimized windows.
ColorInvisibleTaskBarApp = "rgb:80/80/80" — background for task buttons of windows on other workspaces.
ColorInvisibleTaskBarAppText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color for task buttons of windows on other workspaces.
ColorScrollBar = "rgb:A0/A0/A0" — scrollbar background (sliding area).
ColorScrollBarSlider = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of the slider button in scrollbars.
ColorScrollBarButton = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of the arrow buttons in scrollbars.
ColorScrollBarArrow = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of the arrow buttons in scrollbars (obsolete).
ColorScrollBarButtonArrow = "rgb:00/00/00" — color of active arrows on scrollbar buttons.
ColorScrollBarInactiveArrow = "rgb:80/80/80" — color of inactive arrows on scrollbar buttons.
ColorListBox = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of listboxes.
ColorListBoxText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color in listboxes.
ColorListBoxSelection = "rgb:80/80/80" — background of selected listbox items.
ColorListBoxSelectionText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of selected listbox items.
ColorToolTip = "rgb:E0/E0/00" — background of tooltips.
ColorToolTipText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of tooltips.
ColorLabel = "rgb:C0/C0/C0" — background of labels; leave it empty to force transparency.
ColorLabelText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of labels.
ColorInput = "rgb:FF/FF/FF" — background of text entry fields (e.g., the addressbar).
ColorInputText = "rgb:00/00/00" — text color of text entry fields (e.g., the addressbar).
ColorInputSelection = "rgb:80/80/80" — background of selected text in an entry field.
ColorInputSelectionText = "rgb:00/00/00" — selected text in an entry field.
ColorClock = "rgb:00/00/00" — background of non-LCD clock; leave it empty to force transparency.
ColorClockText = "rgb:00/FF/00" — text color of non-LCD clock.
ColorKeyboardLayoutText = "" — color of keyboard layout indicator.
ColorApm = "rgb:00/00/00" — background of battery monitor; leave it empty to force transparency.
ColorApmText = "rgb:00/FF/00" — text color of battery monitor.
ColorApmBattery = "rgb:FF/FF/00" — color of battery monitor when discharging.
ColorApmLine = "rgb:00/FF/00" — color of battery monitor when charging.
ColorApmGraphBg = "rgb:00/00/00" — background color for graph mode.
ColorCPUStatusUser = "rgb:00/FF/00" — user load on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusSystem = "rgb:FF/00/00" — system load on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusInterrupts = "rgb:FF/FF/00" — interrupts on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusIoWait = "rgb:60/00/60" — IO Wait on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusSoftIrq = "rgb:00/FF/FF" — Soft Interrupts on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusNice = "rgb:00/00/FF" — Nice load on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusIdle = "rgb:00/00/00" — Idle (non) load on the CPU monitor; leave it empty to force transparency.
ColorCPUStatusSteal = "rgb:FF/8A/91" — Involuntary Wait on the CPU monitor.
ColorCPUStatusTemp = "rgb:60/60/C0" — temperature of the CPU.
ColorMEMStatusUser = "rgb:40/40/80" — user program usage in the memory monitor.
ColorMEMStatusBuffers = "rgb:60/60/C0" — OS buffers usage in the memory monitor.
ColorMEMStatusCached = "rgb:80/80/FF" — OS cached usage in the memory monitor.
ColorMEMStatusFree = "rgb:00/00/00" — free memory in the memory monitor.
ColorNetSend = "rgb:FF/FF/00" — outgoing load on the network monitor.
ColorNetReceive = "rgb:FF/00/FF" — incoming load on the network monitor.
ColorNetIdle = "rgb:00/00/00" — Idle (non) load on the network monitor; leave it empty to force transparency.

🌈 DESKTOP BACKGROUND 🌈

These themeable preferences are read by icewmbg(1), bestie:

DesktopBackgroundCenter=0 0/1 — display the desktop background centered and not tiled.
DesktopBackgroundScaled=0 0/1 — resize the desktop background to full screen.
DesktopBackgroundColor="" — a comma-separated list of zero or more desktop background colors.
DesktopBackgroundImage="" — a comma-separated list of zero or more desktop background images. Each image may be a path with a glob(7) pattern, or start with a tilde or environment variable.
ShuffleBackgroundImages=0 0/1 — choose a random selection from the list of background images.
SupportSemitransparency=1 0/1 — support for semitransparent terminals like Eterm or gnome-terminal.
DesktopTransparencyColor="" — color(s) to announce for semitransparent windows.
DesktopTransparencyImage="" — image(s) to announce for semitransparent windows. This is a list similar to DesktopBackgroundImage.
DesktopBackgroundMultihead=0 0/1 — paint the background image over all multihead monitors combined.
CycleBackgroundsPeriod=0 — seconds between cycling over all background images; default zero is off.

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

Alpha=1
Splash="IceWM.jpg"
LimitSize=0
LimitPosition=0
LimitByDockLayer=1
QuickSwitchToAllWorkspaces=1
QuickSwitchHugeIcon=1
QuickSwitchFillSelection=1
TaskBarMailboxStatusBeepOnNewMail=1
TaskBarMailboxStatusCountMessages=1
TaskBarShowMEMStatus=0
TaskBarShowCollapseButton=1
TaskBarWorkspacesLimit="8"
ShowProgramsMenu=1
ShowAddressBar=0
ToolTipDelay=200
ToolTipTime=5000
AutoHideDelay=900
AutoShowDelay=100
EdgeResistance=3
KeySysWinMenu=""
KeySysWinListMenu="Shift+Ctrl+Esc"

The above example shows how to tell icewm to not bind a specific key: KeySysWinMenu in this case. Iconic little trick, no cap 🎀

📁 FILES 📁

Locations for the preferences file are as follows:

$ICEWM_PRIVCFG/preferences
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm/preferences
$HOME/.icewm/preferences
/usr/etc/icewm/preferences
/usr/share/icewm/preferences

The locations are searched in the order listed; the first file found is read and the remainder ignored. First come, first served, bestie 💅

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

Go peek at icewm(1) and icewm-prefoverride(5).

💖 AUTHOR 💖

Brian Bidulock — <mailto:bidulock@openss7.org>.

📜 LICENSE 📜

IceWM is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License. See the COPYING file in the distribution.

This page is from icewm 4.1.0, dated 2026-08-06, and it’s ICEWM-PREFERENCES(5) — catch you in the next manpage, bestie 🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from

arch rolling: icewm 4.1.0-1 · LGPL-2.0-only
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-06: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms