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ICEWM(1) User Commands ICEWM(1)
NAME
icewm - lightweight X11 window manager
SYNOPSIS
icewm [OPTIONS]
DESCRIPTION
icewm is a small and fast window manager for the X11 window system. It
is best started by icewm-session(1), which also starts icewmbg(1).
icewm is called re-parenting, because it draws frames around
application windows. Drag this frame with the mouse, to move or resize
a window.
Because windows may overlap, icewm is also a stacking window manager.
Many windows may exist, some hidden behind others.
icewm supports a configurable number of virtual desktops. These are
called workspaces. Related windows are grouped on a dedicated
workspace. By switching between workspaces, the user can attend to
different tasks, while keeping oversight. This is supported by a task
bar and a pager.
The installation comes with several themes. Choose a theme via a menu.
Install extra themes automatically with the --install option.
icewm is compliant with the ICCCM and EWMH window manager
specifications.
PROGRAMS
The icewm package includes several programs:
icewm(1)
The actual window manager. It positions application windows on
screen and decorates them with borders. It gives input focus to the
current active application. icewm supports different focus modes,
which are explained below. It draws a small task bar at the bottom
of the screen, that gives easy access to programs, to virtual
desktops, to active applications, and to a small set of monitoring
applets.
icewmbg(1)
The background setting application. It can assign plain background
color or images in different formats to the X background. Each
workspace can have its own background. It supports
semitransparency. Semitransparent background image and colour can
be configured. When the background image has changed then
icewmbg(1) can be notified to update the background. Multi-head
monitor setups are fully supported. See the icewmbg(1).
icewm-session(1)
icewm-session(1) is the preferred program to start the IceWM
system. It first loads additional environment variables from the
optional env file. Then it starts icewmbg(1) and icewm. It also
runs the startup script and implements basic session management.
On termination the shutdown script will be run first, then
icewm-session(1) will terminate icewm and icewmbg(1).
icewm-session(1) will also start the optional icesound(1) if you
give it the --sound option. See icewm-session(1).
icesh(1)
A powerful tool to control window properties and to interact with
the window manager. It is typically used in shell scripts. See
icesh(1).
icehelp(1)
A small document browser that is used by icewm to display the
'IceWM manual' and some man pages.
icewmhint(1)
A utility for passing IceWM-specific window options to icewm. The
options are used to configure the first application that is started
subsequently. See icewmhint(1).
icesound(1)
Plays audio files on GUI events that are raised by icewm. It
supports ALSA, AO and OSS. See the icesound(1) man page.
icewm-menu-fdo(1)
Generate an icewm menu with executable desktop applications
according to XDG specifications. See the icewm-menu-fdo(1) man
page.
icewm-set-gnomewm(1)
Configures GNOME to start IceWM instead of its own WM.
OPTIONS
COMMON OPTIONS
Each of the IceWM executables supports the following options:
-c, --config=FILE
Use FILE as the source of configuration options. By default icewm
looks for a file named preferences. This is a readable text file
that can be modified with the help of a text editor.
-t, --theme=NAME
Use NAME as the name of the icewm theme to use. A theme defines
the look and feel of icewm, like colors, fonts and buttons.
-d, --display=DISPLAY
Connect to the X11 server on DISPLAY. By default the environment
variable "DISPLAY" is used.
-o, --output=FILE
Redirect all output to FILE. A leading tilde or environment
variable is expanded.
--sync
This option specifies to use a slower synchronous communication
mode with the X11 server. This is irrelevant for normal use.
-h, --help
Gives a complete list of all the available command-line options
with some very brief explanation.
-V, --version
Shows the software release version for this program.
ICEWM OPTIONS
The icewm program supports some additional options:
-a, --alpha
Use a 32-bit visual for translucency. This can also be set in the
preferences file as "Alpha=1".
--replace
Instructs icewm to replace an existing window manager. Provided
that the window manager being replaced is ICCCM 2.0 compliant, once
it notices that it is to be replaced it will cease operations and
typically stop execution. This allows icewm to establish itself as
the only active window manager.
-r, --restart
Tell icewm to restart itself. This reloads the configuration from
file. If no window manager is active, then it starts one.
-s, --splash=IMAGE
Briefly show IMAGE on startup in the center of the screen. This
can also be set in the preferences file as Splash="image.jpg".
--configured
Shows a list of configuration options that were enabled when icewm
was compiled from source code. This can be helpful if one suspects
some functionality may be missing.
--directories
Gives a list of directories where icewm will look for configuration
data. This list is printed in the actual order in which icewm uses
it to search for configuration files.
-l, --list-themes
icewm will search all the configuration directories for theme files
and print a list of all found themes.
-i, --install=THEME
Install THEME from icewm-extra and exit. When THEME is list, print
a listing of available themes to install. This option requires the
presence of the lzip, tar and wget or curl commands.
-p, --postpreferences
This gives a long list of all the internal icewm options with their
actual values after icewm has processed all of the configuration
and theme files. In some advanced scenarios this can be helpful to
inspect which configuration was chosen or whether option formatting
was correct.
--rewrite-preferences
Overwrite an existing preferences file with an icewm default
preferences, but preserve all modifications insofar they deviate
from the defaults.
--extensions
Give a list of the current X extensions, their versions and status.
--trace=conf,font,icon,prog,systray
Enable tracing of the paths that are used to load configuration,
fonts, icons, executed programs, and/or system tray applets.
USAGE
TASKBAR
On startup icewm launches the task bar at the bottom of the screen.
The task bar consists from left to right of the following components:
The Menu button in the lower left corner gives access to the icewm root
menu. This menu has sub-menus to start applications, to control icewm
settings, and the icewm Logout menu.
The Show Desktop button unmaps all application windows to fully uncover
the desktop.
The Window List Menu button gives access to a menu with a list of
active windows for the current workspace and a list of workspaces with
sub-menus for their active application windows.
The Toolbar is a list of icons for applications that are defined in the
toolbar configuration file.
The Workspace Pane shows one button for each workspace. The current
workspace is indicated by a pressed button. Clicking another workspace
switches to that workspace. Press left mouse, then the Shift key, then
release the left mouse, takes the current window to that workspace.
Press left, then Alt, then release left, moves only the focused window
to other workspace, without changing the current workspace.
The workspaces are defined in the preferences file. To change a name
for only this session, double-click, edit the name and hit Enter. When
"PagerShowPreview" is turned on, a small graphical window summary for
each workspace is shown. They support drag-and-drop: dragging a Firefox
tab to a workspace button changes the current workspace. Then
releasing it moves that tab to a new window in that workspace.
The Task Pane consists of a list of wide buttons for each application
that is running on the current workspace, or all workspaces if
"TaskBarShowAllWindows=1". Each task button shows the application icon
and the application title. The active application is indicated by a
pressed button. This is the application that has input focus.
Clicking another button activates that application: it is brought to
the foreground and receives input focus. Clicking the button of an
active application minimizes it. To minimize an inactive application,
click its button while "Ctrl" is down.
The window buttons can be dragged with the left mouse button to
rearrange their order. A window can be closed with "Alt" + middle
button, lowered with "Ctrl" + middle button, or brought to the current
workspace with "Shift" + middle button when "TaskBarShowAllWindows=1".
If there are not many application buttons then a stretch of plain task
bar is visible. Clicking on it with the right mouse button gives the
task bar menu. Even with a full task pane, this menu can be usually
accessed by right-clicking the bottom right corner of the taskbar.
The Tray Applet shows system tray objects.
The APM Applet shows battery power status.
The Net Applet shows network activity. Network devices to monitor are
given by the "NetworkStatusDevice" option.
The Memory Applet monitors memory usage.
The CPU Applet monitors processor utilization.
The Mailbox Applet monitors mailbox status changes. See the section
MAILBOX MONITORING below.
The Clock Applet shows the current time and date. It is configured by
the "TimeFormat" option.
The Task Bar Collapse button collapses the task bar and hides it.
Not all icewm applets may show up on the task bar. They must have been
enabled during configuration of the icewm software. Their appearance
is also controlled by options in the preferences file.
INPUT FOCUS
Of all visible windows only one can be the active window. This is the
window that has input focus. It is the primary receiver of keyboard
and mouse events and hence one can interact with the application that
created that window. A primary task of a window manager is to allow
the user to switch input focus between different windows. The primary
means to do this is the mouse pointer. By moving the mouse pointer
over the screen to another window, and perhaps also by clicking on a
window, input focus can be directed.
The "FocusMode" option controls the way icewm gives input focus to
applications. It is initialized by the focus_mode configuration file.
The focus mode is set via the Focus menu. icewm supports six focus
models:
1. Click-to-focus
The default focus mode. In this mode changing input focus requires
to click a window with the left mouse button. The window is raised
if needed. When an application requests focus its task pane button
flashes. This gives the option to honor this request or to ignore
it. When a new application window appears it automatically
receives focus. Also when a hidden application raises to the front
it receives focus.
2. Sloppy-mouse-focus
Sets input focus merely by moving the mouse pointer over a window.
It is called sloppy, because if the mouse then leaves the window
and moves to the desktop background the input focus remains with
the last active window. When a window receives focus it is raised.
When an application requests focus its task pane button flashes. A
new application or an application that raises to the front
automatically receives focus.
3. Explicit-focus
Focus is even more user-controlled than Click-to-focus. When a
window receives focus it is not raised by default, unless the frame
border is clicked. No flashing occurs when an application requests
focus. When a new application window appears it does not receive
focus. Only by explicit clicking on a window is focus directed.
4. Strict-mouse-focus
Like Sloppy but focus remains with the last window. New
applications don't receive focus and are mapped behind other
windows. When an application raises to the front it still does not
get focus.
5. Quiet-sloppy-focus
Like Sloppy but no disturbing flashing occurs on the task bar when
an application requests focus.
6. Custom-mode
A focus mode that is defined by the following ten options:
"ClickToFocus", "FocusOnAppRaise", "RequestFocusOnAppRaise",
"RaiseOnFocus", "RaiseOnClickClient", "FocusChangesWorkspace",
"FocusOnMap", "FocusOnMapTransient", "FocusOnMapTransientActive",
"MapInactiveOnTop".
All non-Custom focus modes override these ten options.
Apart from the mouse, icewm supports changing input focus in two ways
by keyboard. By pressing "Alt+Esc" or "Alt+Shift+Esc", input focus is
immediately changed to the next or previous window, which will be
raised to make it fully visible. The other method involves the quick
switch.
QUICK SWITCH
The QuickSwitch is a means to quickly and interactively change the
input focus to another window. It is activated by pressing the
"Alt+Tab" or "Alt+Shift+Tab" key combination. A window pops up in the
centre of the screen with a list of windows to choose from. A narrow
band indicates a selection: the candidate window that will be activated
to receive input focus when the Alt key is released.
The selection can be changed by repeatedly pressing the Tab key, while
keeping the Alt key down. If a Shift key is also down, the direction of
traversal is reversed. Or use the scroll wheel of the mouse. Or use
one of the digit keys to select the corresponding window from the list.
Arrow keys are also supported, as well as the Home and End key.
To make a selected window the active window, just release the Alt key,
or hit the Return key, or click on it. To cancel the QuickSwitch,
press Escape or click outside of the QuickSwitch window.
A selected window can be closed by Delete, "Alt+F4", or the middle
mouse button. While the QuickSwitch window is up, one can still change
workspace with the usual workspace hotkeys.
The QuickSwitch has two distinct modes: vertical and horizontal. The
window list can include all windows or be limited to the current
workspace. There is an option to raise the selected candidate. See the
many preferences available for the QuickSwitch.
WINDOW PLACEMENT
A second important task of a window manager is to place new windows on
the screen. By default icewm chooses a placement with minimal overlap,
but this is determined by the "SmartPlacement" option in the
preferences file. If "SmartPlacement" is turned off then windows are
placed in sequence from left to right and top to bottom. One can also
turn on "ManualPlacement". Then new windows appear initially in the
top left corner and the mouse cursor changes into a fist. By moving
the fist cursor to a suitable location and clicking the new window will
appear at the mouse click location.
WINDOW LAYERS
Windows can overlap. Which window appears on top is determined by
three features. Newer windows appear over older windows. By clicking
on a window it is raised to the top. But both are overruled by the
window layer. Windows can be placed in different layers via the Layers
menu. Click with the right mouse button on the window frame and select
Layer. From there choose one of seven window layers. These are
ordered from higher to lower. Windows in higher layers appear over
windows in lower layers.
There are 16 layers in total, but most are seldom or never used. They
are numbered from zero for the lowest layer to fifteen for the topmost.
Their names with their layer number are: Desktop (0), Below (2), Normal
(4), OnTop (6), Dock (8), AboveDock (10), Menu (12), Fullscreen (14)
and AboveAll (15). By default every window appears in the Normal layer.
Then Below and OnTop are used frequently to position windows below or
above most others. Icewm menus appear in the Menu layer and the
Fullscreen layer is reserved for windows in the fullscreen mode. The
default layer for each application can be set with a winoption.
Windows placed in the Dock layer can be set to be always visible by
setting the "LimitByDockLayer" preference to 1. Then other windows are
preferably not placed over such windows, unless they have explicit
positioning information to do so. Maximized windows also don't overlap
with these DockLayer windows. The DoNotCover winoption is similar.
DOCKED APPLICATIONS
Icewm has native support for Window Maker dockapps. It has a Dock
container called DockApps, which appears automatically when dockapps
are started. The position and layer of this container are controlled by
the "DockApps" preference. It is a space separated list of keywords.
The keywords "right, left, center, down, high" control the position,
while "above, dock, ontop, normal, below, desktop" set the layer. When
DockApps is set to the empty string, support for dockapps is disabled.
The dockapps in the container can be controlled using the mouse when
the Ctrl key is pressed down. Drag with the left mouse button, close
with the middle mouse button, select a menu with the right mouse button
and rotate with the scroll wheel.
If maximizing a window should not overlap the DockApps container, put
it in the dock layer and set the preference LimitByDockLayer=1.
TABBED WINDOWS
A window frame may contain multiple client windows. Only one client can
be visible, while the others are hidden. This is called tabbing. This
can be helpful to reduce the number of visible windows. To create a
tab, drag the title bar with the middle mouse button, while holding
down a shift key, onto the title bar of another frame. The two title
bars will start to flash to indicate that they can merge. Release the
mouse button to merge the client of the upper window to the lower
frame. Now the lower frame will have multiple clients, called tabs.
The title bar will show a vertical bar with triple dots to indicate
this. To change the current tab either:
• Click on the triple dots next to the vertical bar.
• Use "KeyWinNext=Alt+F6" to select the next tab.
• Use "KeyWinPrev=Alt+Shift+F6" for the previous tab.
• Use the QuickSwitch.
• Use the window list window.
• Use a submenu in the window menu.
To change the mouse binding for creating tabs, modify
MouseWinTabbing="Shift+Pointer_Button2". Another useful setting is
MouseWinTabbing="Pointer_Button1".
"Alt+F4" closes all tabs. To close just the active tab add to "keys":
key "Ctrl+Shift+F4" icesh -f close
To move the active tab to its own window frame by key, add to "keys":
key "Alt+u" icesh -f untab
To open all chrome windows in the same frame add this to "winoptions":
google-chrome.frame: chrome
WORKSPACES
icewm supports multiple virtual desktops called workspaces. A
workspace is like a screen where a subset of all application windows
are mapped. Thanks to multiple workspaces we can more easily manage a
large number of applications. The number of workspaces and their names
are configurable in the preferences file through the "WorkspaceNames"
option. By default four workspaces are created with the names 1, 2, 3
and 4 thus:
WorkspaceNames=" 1 ", " 2 ", " 3 ", " 4 "
This syntax is typical for icewm options that receive multiple values.
It is a list of comma-separated values each of which can be quoted.
The workspaces are visible on the toolbar. One can switch to a
different workspace by pressing the workspace button in the toolbar,
but after becoming familiar with the 'keyboard shortcuts' below one
will want to use a hotkey to choose a workspace. If the "EdgeSwitch"
options is enabled in the preferences file (with sub-options
"HorizontalEdgeSwitch" and "VerticalEdgeSwitch") then one can move to
the next or previous workspace by moving the mouse to the edge of the
screen. The "ContinuousEdgeSwitch" option enables continuous movement
to subsequent workspaces. The "EdgeSwitchDelay" option says how long
to wait before a change of workspace occurs.
To move an application window to a different workspace one can use a
keyboard shortcut. Another option is to select the Move To submenu in
the window menu of the window frame.
DRAG AND DROP
The task bar supports drag and drop operations. When a drag is in
progress, the destination window can be activated by hovering the drag
icon over the task button for that window. Alternatively, the current
workspace can be changed by hovering the drag icon over the desired
workspace button. When edge switching is enabled, the current
workspace can also be changed by bringing the drag icon to the screen
edge.
ADDRESS BAR
The task bar contains a command-line prompt called the address bar, if
EnableAddressBar=1. It is always shown when ShowAddressBar=1, otherwise
it is activated by KeySysAddressBar="Alt+Ctrl+space". In it a shell
command can be typed. On Enter it is executed by the
AddressBarCommand="/bin/sh". On Control+Enter this command is executed
in a new terminal as given by TerminalCommand. Escape cancels editing
the address bar command.
Commands are executed relative to the working directory of icewm. This
is shown by "pwd". Change it with "cd". Without argument "cd" defaults
to the home directory. With one argument it is changed. This argument
is expanded when it starts with a dollar or tilde. When it is equal to
"-", it reverts to the previous directory.
The address bar has a history that is navigable by Up and Down. This
history is saved in a file ahistory in your icewm directory and
restored when icewm starts.
Completion is supported using Tab or Ctrl+I. The leading command is
completed from directories in your PATH, while file arguments are
expanded from the location in the file system. In addition usernames
and environment variables can also be expanded. For example, "echo
$TMP" and Tab may expand to "echo $TMPDIR" and "echo ~ro" and Tab may
expand to "echo ~root".
The address bar implements cut/copy/paste and these editing operations:
Ctrl+a: select all
Ctrl+backslash: deselect all
Ctrl+u: delete selected or to line start
Ctrl+v: paste selected
Ctrl+w: delete selected or previous word
Ctrl+x: cut selection
Ctrl+c: copy selection
Ctrl+i: completion
Ctrl+Left: back a word
Ctrl+Right: forward a word
Ctrl+Shift+Backspace: delete to beginning
Ctrl+Shift+Delete: delete to end
Ctrl+Delete: delete word
Ctrl+Backspace: delete previous word
Shift+Delete: cut selection
Shift+Insert: paste selected
Tab: completion
Left: move cursor left
Right: move cursor right
Home: move cursor to line start
End: move cursor to line end
Delete: delete next character
Backspace: delete previous character
WINDOW LIST
The window list window shows a list of all workspaces. For each
workspace it shows the window titles of the windows that are mapped on
it. The bottom entry reads "All Workspaces". It holds the sticky
windows. These windows are mapped in all workspaces.
The window list window is normally hidden. Choose one of the following
four methods to make it visible:
• Select the bottom window list menu entry.
• Press the "KeySysWindowList=Ctrl+Alt+Esc" key.
• Press the right Windows key if "Win95Keys=1"
• Press the "DesktopWinListButton=2" mouse button in the root window.
• Press the middle mouse button in a workspace button on the task
bar.
A single-click on a window entry selects it. A group of windows can be
selected by "Shift+Pointer_Button1" or by dragging with the left mouse
button. Use "Ctrl+Pointer_Button1" to individually select windows in a
multi-selection. A right mouse click over a selection will popup the
system menu for this selection. To close the selected windows, press
"Delete". Press "Shift+Delete" to forcefully kill them. Right mouse
click below the sticky windows for a menu with window arranging
actions.
Double-click on a workspace to switch to it. Double-click on a window
to activate it. Or navigate by arrow keys and press Enter. The space
bar toggles a selection of a window. "Ctrl+a" and "Ctrl+/" will select
the entire list of windows. "Ctrl+\\" deselects everything. Press the
first letter of a window title to navigate to it and select it. If
titles of multiple windows start with the same letter then repeatedly
pressing the first letter cycles over those windows. "Home" selects
the first entry and "End" the last. "PageUp" and "PageDown" move up or
down by ten entries. Combine this with the "Shift" key to extend a
selection over the range of motion.
SYSTEM DIALOG
The system dialog offers quick access to a set of general controls. It
can lock the screen, suspend the system, logout or cancel a pending
logout, reboot the system, shutdown the system, show the window list,
restart icewm, show the about dialog, reload the winoptions file or the
keys file. It is activated by KeySysDialog="Ctrl+Alt+Del". To cancel
it, hit the Escape key.
MAILBOX MONITORING
The task bar can show one or more icons to reflect the status of a
mailbox. The mailbox can be a local file or a remote POP or IMAP
account. For this a couple of options must be set. First,
TaskBarShowMailboxStatus must be enabled, which it is by default. Then
the location of the mailbox must be set. Icewm first looks for
MailBoxPath in preferences. If this is unset, it looks at the
environment variables "MAILPATH" and "MAIL". MailBoxPath may contain a
space-separated list of mailboxes, while "MAILPATH" may contain a
colon-separated list of mailboxes. If a mailbox starts with a slash
"/", then it is a local file, otherwise a URL. These are six examples
of possible mailboxes:
file:///var/spool/mail/captnmark
file:///home/captnmark/Maildir/
pop3://markus:%2f%40%3a@maol.ch/
pop3s://markus:password@pop.gmail.com/
imap://mathias@localhost/INBOX.Maillisten.icewm-user
imaps://mathias:password@imap.gmail.com/INBOX
The POP3S and IMAPS schemes use "openssl" for TLS/SSL encryption. Note
that for IceWM to access Gmail you must first configure your Gmail
account to enable POP3 or IMAP access. Make sure you have secure file
permissions on your IceWM preferences file and the directory that
contains it.
Reserved characters in the password, 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, to hex-encode
"!p@a%s&s~" use this Perl snippet:
perl -e 'foreach(split("", $ARGV[0])) { printf "%%%02x", ord($_); };
print "\n";' '!p@a%s&s~'
Which will print:
%21%40%23%24%25%5e%26%2a%7e
This is the hex-encoded password. However, it is unwise to store a
password in your preferences. Consider a wallet extension for IceWM.
IceWM will check a mailbox periodically. The period in seconds can be
set by the MailCheckDelay option, which is 30 seconds by default.
Whenever new mail arrives, the mailbox icon will be highlighted. The
color will indicate if the mail has been read or not. Hovering the
mouse over the mailbox icon will show a tooltip with more details. A
command can be also be run on new mail. Set the NewMailCommand option.
Its environment will have these variables set by IceWM:
ICEWM_MAILBOX
The mailbox index number of MailBoxPath starting from 1.
ICEWM_COUNT
The total number of messages in this mailbox.
ICEWM_UNREAD
The number of unread messages in this mailbox.
KEYBOARD LAYOUT SWITCHING
To control keyboard layouts on the task bar, define in preferences the
option KeyboardLayouts to a comma-separated list of your preferred
keyboard layouts. For example:
KeyboardLayouts = "de", "fr", "jp"
A keyboard layout can simply be a name. Usually this is a two-letter
country code. See the directory /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols for a list
of available keyboard layouts for your system. If it is enclosed in
double quotes, it can also be a space-separated list of command-line
arguments to an invocation of the "setxkbmap" program.
The first layout is the default. It will be installed when icewm
starts. The task bar will show the current keyboard layout. If an icon
can be found for the first two letters of the layout, then that icon
will be shown. Otherwise the first two letters of the name of the
layout will be shown.
Click on the current keyboard layout to cycle through all the available
keyboard layouts, or use the KeySysKeyboardNext key. Click with the
right mouse button to open a menu of all available keyboard layouts.
It is also possible to configure a default keyboard layout for each
program individually in the icewm-winoptions(5) file. Whenever such a
program receives input focus, icewm will install this configured
keyboard layout automatically. The keyboard status on the task bar will
be updated to reflect this.
Please note that for keyboard layout switching to work, the "setxkbmap"
program must be installed. To see your current keyboard layout
settings, do "setxkbmap -query".
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
icewm supports a large number of hotkeys to activate some behaviour
with a single key combination. These are all configurable in the
preferences file. Here we give their preferences name, followed by
their default value in double quotes, and a short descriptions of their
effect.
Note that all use one or more key modifiers. Icewm supports the
following modifiers: Alt, AltGr, Ctrl, Hyper, Meta, Shift, Super.
Setting ModSuperIsCtrlAlt=1 makes the Super modifier an alias for
Ctrl+Alt.
KeyWinRaise="Alt+F1"
Raises the window that currently has input focus.
KeyWinOccupyAll="Alt+F2"
Makes the active window occupy all workspaces.
KeyWinLower="Alt+F3"
Lowers the window that currently has input focus.
KeyWinClose="Alt+F4"
Closes the active window.
KeyWinRestore="Alt+F5"
Restores the active window to its visible state.
KeyWinNext="Alt+F6"
Switches focus to the next window.
KeyWinPrev="Alt+Shift+F6"
Switches focus to the previous window.
KeyWinMove="Alt+F7"
Starts movement of the active window.
KeyWinSize="Alt+F8"
Starts resizing of the active window.
KeyWinMinimize="Alt+F9"
Iconifies the active window.
KeyWinMaximize="Alt+F10"
Maximizes the active window with borders.
KeyWinMaximizeVert="Alt+Shift+F10"
Maximizes the active window vertically.
KeyWinMaximizeHoriz="undefined"
Maximizes the active window horizontally.
KeyWinFullscreen="Alt+F11"
Maximizes the active window without borders.
KeyWinRollup="Alt+F12"
Rolls up the active window.
KeyWinHide="Alt+Shift+F12"
Hides the active window.
KeyWinMenu="Alt+space"
Posts the window menu.
KeyWinArrangeNW="Ctrl+Alt+KP_7"
Moves the active window to the top left corner of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeN="Ctrl+Alt+KP_8"
Moves the active window to the top middle of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeNE="Ctrl+Alt+KP_9"
Moves the active window to the top right of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeE="Ctrl+Alt+KP_6"
Moves the active window to the middle right of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeSE="Ctrl+Alt+KP_3"
Moves the active window to the bottom right of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeS="Ctrl+Alt+KP_2"
Moves the active window to the bottom middle of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeSW="Ctrl+Alt+KP_1"
Moves the active window to the bottom left of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeW="Ctrl+Alt+KP_4"
Moves the active window to the middle left of the screen.
KeyWinArrangeC="Ctrl+Alt+KP_5"
Moves the active window to the center of the screen.
KeyWinTileLeft=""
Let the active window occupy the left half of the screen.
KeyWinTileRight=""
Let the active window occupy the right half of the screen.
KeyWinTileTop=""
Let the active window occupy the top half of the screen.
KeyWinTileBottom=""
Let the active window occupy the bottom half of the screen.
KeyWinTileTopLeft=""
Let the active window occupy the top left quarter of the screen.
KeyWinTileTopRight=""
Let the active window occupy the top right quarter of the screen.
KeyWinTileBottomLeft=""
Let the active window occupy the bottom left quarter of the screen.
KeyWinTileBottomRight=""
Let the active window occupy the bottom right quarter of the
screen.
KeyWinTileCenter=""
Let the active window occupy the center quarter of the screen.
KeyWinSmartPlace="Ctrl+Alt+Shift+KP_5"
Smart place the active window.
KeySysWinMenu="Shift+Esc"
Posts the system window menu.
KeySysWinNext="Alt+Esc"
Give focus to the next window and raise it.
KeySysWinPrev="Alt+Shift+Esc"
Give focus to the previous window and raise it.
KeySysDialog="Ctrl+Alt+Del"
Opens the IceWM system dialog in the center of the screen.
KeySysMenu="Ctrl+Esc"
Activates the IceWM root menu in the lower left corner.
KeySysWindowList="Alt+Ctrl+Esc"
Opens the IceWM system window list in the center of the screen.
KeySysAddressBar="Alt+Ctrl+space"
Opens the address bar in the task bar where a command can be typed.
KeySysWorkspacePrev="Alt+Ctrl+Left"
Goes one workspace to the left.
KeySysWorkspaceNext="Alt+Ctrl+Right"
Goes one workspace to the right.
KeySysWorkspaceLast="Alt+Ctrl+Down"
Goes to the previous workspace.
KeySysWorkspacePrevTakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+Left"
Takes the active window one workspace to the left.
KeySysWorkspaceNextTakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+Right"
Takes the active window one workspace to the right.
KeySysWorkspaceLastTakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+Down"
Takes the active window to the previous workspace.
KeySysWorkspace1="Alt+Ctrl+1"
Goes to workspace 1.
KeySysWorkspace2="Alt+Ctrl+2"
Goes to workspace 2.
KeySysWorkspace3="Alt+Ctrl+3"
Goes to workspace 3.
KeySysWorkspace4="Alt+Ctrl+4"
Goes to workspace 4.
KeySysWorkspace5="Alt+Ctrl+5"
Goes to workspace 5.
KeySysWorkspace6="Alt+Ctrl+6"
Goes to workspace 6.
KeySysWorkspace7="Alt+Ctrl+7"
Goes to workspace 7.
KeySysWorkspace8="Alt+Ctrl+8"
Goes to workspace 8.
KeySysWorkspace9="Alt+Ctrl+9"
Goes to workspace 9.
KeySysWorkspace10="Alt+Ctrl+0"
Goes to workspace 10.
KeySysWorkspace11="Alt+Ctrl+minus"
Goes to workspace 11.
KeySysWorkspace12="Alt+Ctrl+equal"
Goes to workspace 12.
KeySysWorkspace1TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+1"
Takes the active window to workspace 1.
KeySysWorkspace2TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+2"
Takes the active window to workspace 2.
KeySysWorkspace3TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+3"
Takes the active window to workspace 3.
KeySysWorkspace4TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+4"
Takes the active window to workspace 4.
KeySysWorkspace5TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+5"
Takes the active window to workspace 5.
KeySysWorkspace6TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+6"
Takes the active window to workspace 6.
KeySysWorkspace7TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+7"
Takes the active window to workspace 7.
KeySysWorkspace8TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+8"
Takes the active window to workspace 8.
KeySysWorkspace9TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+9"
Takes the active window to workspace 9.
KeySysWorkspace10TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+0"
Takes the active window to workspace 10.
KeySysWorkspace11TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+minus"
Takes the active window to workspace 11.
KeySysWorkspace12TakeWin="Alt+Ctrl+Shift+equal"
Takes the active window to workspace 12.
KeySysTileVertical="Alt+Shift+F2"
Tiles all windows from left to right maximized vertically.
KeySysTileHorizontal="Alt+Shift+F3"
Tiles all windows from top to bottom maximized horizontally.
KeySysCascade="Alt+Shift+F4"
Makes a horizontal cascade of all windows which are maximized
vertically.
KeySysArrange="Alt+Shift+F5"
Rearranges the windows.
KeySysUndoArrange="Alt+Shift+F7"
Undoes arrangement.
KeySysArrangeIcons="Alt+Shift+F8"
Rearranges icons.
KeySysMinimizeAll="Alt+Shift+F9"
Minimizes all windows.
KeySysHideAll="Alt+Shift+F11"
Hides all windows.
KeySysShowDesktop="Alt+Ctrl+d"
Unmaps all windows to show the desktop.
KeySysCollapseTaskBar="Alt+Ctrl+h"
Hides the task bar.
KeyTaskBarSwitchNext="undefined"
Switches to the next window in the task bar.
KeyTaskBarSwitchPrev="undefined"
Switches to the previous window in the task bar.
KeyTaskBarMoveNext="undefined"
Moves the task bar button of the current window right.
KeyTaskBarMovePrev="undefined"
Moves the task bar button of the current window left.
KeySysWinListMenu="undefined"
Shows the window list menu.
KeySysKeyboardNext="undefined"
Switch to the next keyboard layout in the KeyboardLayouts list.
KeySysSwitchNext="Alt+Tab"
Opens the "QuickSwitch" popup (see "INPUT FOCUS") and/or moves the
selector in the "QuickSwitch" popup.
KeySysSwitchLast="Alt+Shift+Tab"
Works like "KeySysSwitchNext" but moving in the opposite direction.
KeySysSwitchClass="Alt+grave"
Is like "KeySysSwitchNext" but only for windows with the same
WM_CLASS property as the currently focused window.
MOUSE BINDINGS
You can control windows by a modified mouse button press:
MouseWinMove="Alt+Pointer_Button1"
Moves the window under the mouse over the screen.
MouseWinSize="Alt+Pointer_Button3"
Resizes the window. Keep the key and button pressed. To enlarge
the window move the mouse button away from the center. To shrink
it move towards the centre.
MouseWinRaise="Ctrl+Alt+Pointer_Button1"
Raises the window under the mouse.
MouseWinLower="Ctrl+Alt+Pointer_Button1"
Lowers the window under the mouse. If this is equal to
"MouseWinRaise" and the window can be raised then "MouseWinRaise"
takes preference over "MouseWinLower".
MouseWinTabbing="Shift+Pointer_Button2"
Mouse binding to create tabs. Drag the title bar with this button
over another title bar. When they start to flash, release the
button to merge the frame tabs.
The title frame of a window also listens for mouse clicks. A left
double-click maximizes the window ("TitleBarMaximizeButton=1"). When
Shift is also pressed it only maximizes vertically. Press Alt+Shift to
maximize horizontally.
Middle double-clicking rolls up the window ("TitleBarRollupButton=2").
Also press Shift to maximize horizontally. If TitleBarRollupButton is
either 4 or 5 then the scroll wheel controls rolling up or down.
Press a mouse button on the title bar and drag it to move the window.
To drag a maximized window, keep the Shift key down. A
"Alt+Pointer_Button1" click in the title bar lowers the window.
When the mouse is on the window frame then a left click raises the
window. Dragging with the left button down resizes the window.
Clicking the right button pops up the context menu. Dragging with the
right button moves the window.
Double-clicking on the frame border (or corner) maximizes just that
side of the window. Another double-click restores that side.
Double-clicking on the border can also undo a maximization in that
dimension.
Clicking on the desktop activates a menu. The middle button shows the
window list ("DesktopWinListButton=2"). The right button shows the
root menu ("DesktopMenuButton=3"). If you press "Ctrl+Alt" then the
mouse wheel will focus all applications in turn.
SIGNALS
icewm supports the following signals:
SIGHUP
icewm will restart itself. It is a way to reload the configuration.
SIGINT, SIGTERM
icewm will cease to manage application windows and terminate.
SIGQUIT
icewm will initiate the logout procedure. If a "LogoutCommand"
preferences option was configured it will be executed.
SIGUSR2
Toggle the logging of X11 events, if "logevents" was configured.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
ICEWM_PRIVCFG
The directory for user private configuration files. When this
environment variable is not specified, the default directory is
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm when that directory exists, otherwise the
default value is $HOME/.icewm.
DISPLAY
The name of the X11 server. See Xorg(1) or Xserver(1). This value
can be overridden by the --display option.
MAILPATH, MAIL
Gives the location of your mailbox. If the schema is omitted the
local "file" schema is assumed. This is used by the mailbox applet
in the task bar to show the status of your mailbox. If the
"MailBoxPath" option in the preferences file is set, then that one
takes precedence.
FILES
CONFIGURATION DIRECTORIES
icewm looks for configuration files in the following directories, in
the given order, until it finds one:
$ICEWM_PRIVCFG/
Contains user-specific configurations. When ICEWM_PRIVCFG is
specified, this directory takes precedence over
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm and $HOME/.icewm.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/icewm/
Contains user-specific configurations. When this directory exists
it take precedence over $HOME/.icewm.
$HOME/.icewm/
Contains user-specific configurations. This is the historical
default directory.
/usr/local/etc/icewm/
Contains system-wide customized defaults. Please note that your
local installation may have been configured to use a different
system location. The output of "icewm --directories" will show
this location.
/usr/local/share/icewm/
Default local installation settings.
CONFIGURATION FILES
env icewm-session(1) loads additional environment variables from the
file env. Each line is subjected to POSIX shell expansion by
wordexp(3). Comment lines starting by a hash-sign ("#") are
ignored. icewm-session(1) will load those expanded lines that
contain a name, followed by an equals sign, followed by the value
(which may be empty).
See icewm-env(5).
focus_mode
Defines the initial value for "FocusMode". Its default value is
"FocusMode=1" (Click-to-focus). This can be changed via the menu.
icewm will save the Focus menu choice in this file.
See icewm-focus_mode(5).
keys
Global keybindings to launch applications, which need not be window
manager related. Each non-empty line starts with the word "key".
After one or more spaces follows a double-quoted string of the
bound X11 key combination like "Alt+Ctrl+Shift+X". Then after at
least one space follows a shell command-line that will be executed
by icewm whenever this key combination is pressed. For example,
the following line creates a hotkey to reload the icewm
configuration:
key "Ctrl+Shift+r" icesh restart
See icewm-keys(5).
menu
A menu of applications; usually customized by the user. icewm
provides the icewm-menu-fdo(1) program to generate a default menu.
Similar programs are xdg_menu(1), mmaker(1) (MenuMaker),
xde-menu(1), xdgmenumaker(1).
See icewm-menu(5).
preferences
Contains general settings like paths, colors and fonts, but also
options to control the icewm focus behaviour and the applets that
are started in the task bar. The icewm installation will provide a
default preferences file, which can be copied to the icewm user
configuration directory and modified.
See icewm-preferences(5).
prefoverride
Settings which override the settings from a theme. Some of the
icewm configuration options from the preferences file that control
the look-and-feel may be overridden by the theme, if the theme
designer thinks this is desirable. However, this prefoverride file
will again override this for a few specific options of your
choosing. It is safe to leave this file empty initially.
See icewm-prefoverride(5).
programs
An automatically generated menu of applications. This could be
used by wmconfig(1), menu or similar programs to give easy access
to all the desktop applications that are installed on the system.
See icewm-programs(5).
theme
This file contains the name of the default theme. On startup icewm
reads this file to obtain the theme name, unless icewm was started
with the --theme option. Whenever a different theme is selected
from the icewm Menu then the theme file is overwritten with the
name of the selected theme. This theme file contains the keyword
"Theme", followed by an equals sign, followed by a double-quoted
string with the theme name. The theme name is the name of the
theme directory, followed by a slash, followed by the theme file.
Usually the theme file is just default.theme, but a theme may have
alternatives. Alternatives are small tweaks of a theme. These are
specified in their own .theme file, which replaces default.theme.
If no theme file exists then icewm will use as default
"Theme="icedesert/default.theme"".
See icewm-theme(5).
toolbar
Contains names of quick to launch applications with icons for the
task bar. Each non-empty non-comment line starts with the keyword
prog. After one or more spaces follows a name, which is displayed
in a tool tip whenever the mouse cursor hovers over the toolbar
icon. This name may be a double quoted string. Then follows the
bare name of the icon to use without extensions. This icon will be
shown in the toolbar. The last component is a shell command-line
that will be executed whenever the user presses the icon in the
toolbar. For example, the following line in toolbar will create a
button with tool tip "Mozilla Firefox" with the firefox icon that
launches firefox(1) when clicked:
prog "Mozilla Firefox" firefox /usr/bin/firefox --private-window
See icewm-toolbar(5).
winoptions
Contains settings to control window appearance and behaviour that
are specific to applications or groups of applications. Options
can control the border, whether it appears on the task bar, the
window list, the system tray and the workspaces. Also its layer,
geometry, whether it can be moved, resized and closed.
See icewm-winoptions(5).
startup
Contains commands to be executed on icewm startup. This is an
executable script with commands to tweak X11 settings and launch
some applications that need to be active whenever icewm is started.
It is run by icewm-session(1) when icewm starts.
See icewm-startup(5).
shutdown
Contains commands to be executed on icewm shutdown. This is an
executable script with commands to be executed in the last stage of
icewm termination. Typically they may undo some of the effects of
the startup script. It is run by icewm-session(1) when icewm
terminates.
See icewm-shutdown(5).
CONFIGURATION SUBDIRECTORIES
cursors
May contain cursor icons in the XPM image format. These overrule
cursors provided by a theme. There are 3 direction cursors:
left.xpm, right.xpm, move.xpm, 8 resize cursors: sizeR.xpm,
sizeTR.xpm, sizeT.xpm, sizeTL.xpm, sizeL.xpm, sizeBL.xpm,
sizeB.xpm, sizeBR.xpm, and 4 scroll cursors: scrollL.xpm,
scrollR.xpm, scrollU.xpm, and scrollD.xpm.
By default an XPM header defines four dimensions: width, height,
colors and chars-per-pixel. For cursors this must be extended to
six. The last two are the x-hotspot and the y-hotspot. These define
which point in the XPM image is the sensitive point for the mouse
pointer.
Instead of XPM images, a theme may use Xcursor files instead.
These then don't have a filename extension.
When a theme doesn't define a cursor, icewm falls back to the
system cursor themes for Xcursor, if they are installed. This is
configurable by the following environment variables:
XCURSOR_PATH
Where to look for themed cursors.
XCURSOR_SIZE
The cursor size in pixels.
XCURSOR_THEME
The name of the cursor theme.
The last two can also be set as an X-resource:
Xcursor.size: 24
Xcursor.theme: whiteglass
Otherwise core X11 cursors are used.
icons
Contains icons for applications and keyboard layouts. These can be
in XPM, PNG or SVG format. The filename of an application icon may
follow a specific naming pattern, like app_32x32.xpm. They start
with a base name, which usually is just a single word. Then
follows an underscore, followed by a size specification, as in
"SIZExSIZE". This is followed by a dot and the file extension,
where the extension denotes the icon image format. Common sizes
are 16, 32 and 48. This depends on the respective "IconSize"
preferences options.
ledclock
Pictures of digits for the LED clock which is displayed in the
bottom-right corner of the task bar. These can be seen when the
"TaskBarShowClock" and "TaskBarClockLeds" options are both set to
1.
mailbox
Icons that are used to display different states of the mailbox
applet in the task bar. There are five states and each has its own
icon: mail.xpm, newmail.xpm, unreadmail.xpm, nomail.xpm,
errmail.xpm.
sounds
Audio files that are played by icesound(1) on GUI events. These
are: startup.wav, shutdown.wav, restart.wav, launchApp.wav,
workspaceChange.wav, windowOpen.wav, windowClose.wav,
dialogOpen.wav, dialogClose.wav, windowMax.wav, windowRestore.wav,
windowMin.wav, windowHide.wav, windowRollup.wav, windowMoved.wav,
windowSized.wav, windowLower.wav.
taskbar
Pictures to customize the look of the task bar. These include:
taskbarbg.xpm, taskbuttonactive.xpm, taskbuttonbg.xpm,
taskbuttonminimized.xpm, toolbuttonbg.xpm,
workspacebuttonactive.xpm, workspacebuttonbg.xpm.
themes
A directory to store themes. Each theme is stored in its own
sub-directory in the themes directory. A theme contains at least a
default.theme file, and optionally theme alternatives which are
additional files that have a .theme file name extension and that
contain tweaks of the default.theme file. How to create a theme is
explained in the IceWM Theme Creation Howto.
workspace
If "PagerShowPreview" is disabled, icewm looks in the "workspace"
directory for images to draw on a workspace button. The image
filename should have the name of the workspace. The image extension
is optional.
OPACITY
IceWM supports window opacity and transparency in connection with an
external compositor like compton(1) or picom(1). If a client window
sets the "_NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY" property on its window, then icewm
will copy this to the outer frame window, where the compositor will
read it and adjust the opacity accordingly.
The opacity can also be set in the icewm-winoptions(5) file. icesh(1)
can control the opacity level of running applications.
The _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE properties that icewm sets on its windows are
DIALOG, NOTIFICATION, POPUP_MENU and TOOLTIP. The output of "icesh
windows" shows their WM_CLASS values. These can be helpful to configure
compton.
EXAMPLES
Examples of the above configuration files can be found in the default
installation path or in the system-wide defaults. See the output of
"icewm --directories" for their locations.
CONFORMING TO
ICCCM 2.0: partial. NetWM/EWMH: extensive. See the file COMPLIANCE in
the distribution for full details.
SEE ALSO
icehelp(1), icesh(1), icesound(1), icewm-env(5), icewm-focus_mode(5),
icewm-keys(5), icewm-menu(5), icewm-menu-fdo(1), icewm-menu-xrandr(1),
icewm-preferences(5), icewm-prefoverride(5), icewm-programs(5),
icewm-session(1), icewm-set-gnomewm(1), icewm-shutdown(5),
icewm-startup(5), icewm-theme(5), icewm-toolbar(5),
icewm-winoptions(5), icewmbg(1), icewmhint(1), setxkbmap(1), Xorg(1),
Xserver(1), xinit(1), xprop(1), xwininfo(1), wmctrl(1).
BUGS
Please report bugs at <https://github.com/bbidulock/icewm/issues>.
AUTHOR
Brian Bidulock <mailto:bidulock@openss7.org>.
See --copying for full copyright notice and copying permissions.
LICENSE
IceWM is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License. See
the COPYING file in the distribution or use the --copying flag to
display copying permissions.
icewm 3.9.0 2025-08-31 ICEWM(1)
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