# Thunar

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This article is about the file manager. For the god after which the program is named, see [Thor](/source/Thor).

**Thunar** is a [file manager](/source/File_manager) for [Linux](/source/Linux) and other [Unix-like](/source/Unix-like) systems, initially written using the [GTK+ 2](/source/GTK%2B) toolkit and later ported to the [GTK+ 3](/source/GTK%2B_3) toolkit. It started to ship with [Xfce](/source/Xfce) in version 4.4 RC1 and later. Thunar is developed by Benedikt Meurer, and was originally intended to replace XFFM, Xfce's previous file manager. It was initially called Filer but was changed to Thunar due to a name clash.[1]

Thunar is designed to start up faster and be more responsive than some other Linux file managers, such as [GNOME Files](/source/GNOME_Files) and [Konqueror](/source/Konqueror).[2] Accessibility is accomplished using [GNOME Accessibility Toolkit](/source/Accessibility_Toolkit). Like the rest of Xfce, Thunar is designed to comply with standards, such as those stated at [freedesktop.org](/source/Freedesktop.org). Thunar is simple and lightweight by design, but its functionality can be extended through various plugins.

Thunar is named after the [Old Saxon](/source/Old_Saxon) name of [Thor](/source/Thor), the god of thunder in [Norse mythology](/source/Norse_mythology), and uses [Mjölnir](/source/Mj%C3%B6lnir), Thor's hammer, as its icon.[citation needed]

## Interface

The Thunar interface was developed prior to the coding of its core. A minimally functional software [mockup](/source/Mockup) was built in [Python](/source/Python_(programming_language)). Features were added and UI elements changed iteratively to react to test user input.[citation needed]

## Features

Thunar ships with a plugin that provides bulk renaming capabilities. The Bulk Renamer window can also be used independently of the Thunar application.[3]

Another feature that expands on Thunar's builtin functions is the ability to create Custom Actions. These are user-configurable items such as scripts or external programs, that can be called from within Thunar, for instance to perform certain tasks on the selected files or directories.[4]

## API

Thunar provides an [API](/source/Application_programming_interface) for third-party developers:[citation needed]

- The "thunar-vfs" is a cross-platform API for high-level file system operations. This is [deprecated](/source/Deprecation) for the 1.2.0 release in favor of the native [GVfs](/source/GVfs).
- The "thunarx" is a library for building extensions to the file manager itself.
- Lacking is an API to resolve folder symbolic links properly to "open the parent folder", not the symbolic link's folder.

Thunar can also be extended by writing scripts to be placed in the context menu for various file types.[citation needed]

## References

1. ["Thunar File Manager"](http://www.home.unix-ag.org/bmeurer/projects/thunar/), April 2015

1. [Thunar Memory Usage](http://thunar.xfce.org/pwiki/articles/memory_usage) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120418135505/http://thunar.xfce.org/pwiki/articles/memory_usage) 2012-04-18 at the Wayback Machine

1. Wallen, Jack (2009-07-22). ["Bulk renaming made easy with Thunar bulk renamer - gHacks Tech News"](https://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/22/bulk-renaming-made-easy-with-thunar-bulk-renamer/). *[Ghacks](/source/Ghacks)*. Retrieved 2025-03-29.

1. Wallen, Jack (2009-05-16). ["Create custom actions with the Thunar file manager - gHacks Tech News"](https://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/16/create-custom-actions-with-the-thunar-file-manager/). *[Ghacks](/source/Ghacks)*. Retrieved 2025-03-29.

## External links

- [Official website](https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/thunar/start)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thunar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.