Browser and File Manager Tweaks

I did not like the default Ubuntu Nautilius file manager. Nautilius has a nasty refresh problem: Once you click on a folder, it will not show the content unless you force a refresh by slightly resizing the window. What a pain.

So I installed Thunar instead. You can do that using the Add/Remove Applications feature of Ubuntu. I made it the default file manager by following the instructions given here Or you can use the scripts here

I was hoping that it would change the default file manager even inside Firefox. But sadly it did not. After much googling I realized that I was searching for the wrong information. I should have asked for "file picker" and not "file manager"

Well, to make Firefox use Thunar instead of the earlier Nautilius, I had to start a new window in Firefox and go to the special url called about:config That is a shortcut to reveal some quite advanced configuration inside Firefox. You will get a warning that if you do something wrong, things can go terribly wrong indeed. So be warned and proceed. It will display a huge list of configurable items.

I then searched for this ui.allow_platform_file_picker On clicking it, it will change the value from true to false (Clicking it again will turn it back to true) Make sure that you set that value as false

That's it. Close that window and you'll find that Firefox is now using Thunar.

You have a similar option in Opera too: Go to about:config in opera and search for File Selector. The options are usually hidden. Click on "File Selector" and it will display a value: 0 means auto. Try with 1 or 2 for the other file managers available. One of them should work properly for you.