Nautilus Actions : FAQ

Note: Updated for release 0.99.

This page put together all the problems that users can encounter when using nautilus-actions.

• After installing Nautilus-actions v0.99, I can't find how to start Nact and no "Manage Actions" item appears in Nautilus ?
• I've just upgraded to v0.99, and all my old configs have disappeared...
• I can't find the way to set several file patterns in the appearance conditions section in NACT ?
• When I run NACT v0.7, I have the message KeyError: 'LANG' and the program stops
• I've just upgraded nautilus-actions to version 0.6 with the rpm packages, but when I try to launch Nact, via the New Action... item in the contextual menu of Nautilus, nothing appears ?
• I've just installed nautilus-actions, but nothing appears in the contextual menu of Nautilus ?
• I run NACT v0.4 to edit my own configs, but no config are saved ?
• I want my program to open a file with %f or %m pattern but it doesn't open it or it tries to find it in my home folder ?

After installing Nautilus-actions v0.99, I can't find how to start Nact and no "Manage Actions" item appears in Nautilus ?

Now, Nautilus-actions manages its configs via GConf. After you have installed it on your system, you should have one item installed : "Manage Actions", which replaced the previous "New Actions..." item.

If it is not the case, first, try to simply restart Nautilus in order it loads the new Nautilus-actions extensions :

nautilus -q

There is a great chance that nothing appears yet. If so, log out from your Gnome session and log in again, thus GConf can load the new defaut schema added after you've installed the package.

Now you should have a "Manage Actions" item in Nautilus. If it is still not the case, then maybe the installation process failed to add it in your GConf database.

If so, run Nact from the command line (terminal) :

nautilus-actions-config

or from the Gnome menu Desktop->Preferences->More Preferences->Nautilus Actions Configuration.

Then click on the "Import/Export" button. The "Import/Export" dialog should appear. Select "Import new configurations", click the "Browse" button and select the file /etc/gconf/schemas/config_newaction.schemas. To finish, click "OK" and the new "Manage Actions" config should appears, at last :)

Import "Manage Actions" config

I've just upgraded to v0.99, and all my old configs have disappeared...

This is because now, Nautilus-actions manages its config via GConf and no more throught xml config files. Amongst other things, it is to improve performance, since it is no more needed to parse each config file, each time you right click in Nautilus, and it also improves its integration in Gnome.

But, anyway, there is a simple means to get back all your old prefered config with a few clicks.

First, start Nact. To do so, you have several possibilities :

• Right click anywhere in Nautilus and select the "Manage Actions" item.
• Open the Gnome menu Desktop->Preferences->More Preferences->Nautilus Actions Configuration.
• Run nautilus-actions-config from the command line or throught the "Run" dialog of Gnome

Then, once the main Nact dialog appears, click the "Import/Export" button. In the "Import/Export" dialog, select "Import new configurations", and check the option "Import all my old configs". Click "OK" and all your old config should be back in the list.

Import old configs

I can't find the way to set several file patterns in the appearance conditions section in NACT ?

First, you must have at least Nautilus-actions version 0.7 to have this feature. If it is the case, just add all your patterns separated by a semi-colon (;) in the File Patterns field.

For example, if you want to select several images format, use :

*.jpg ; *.jpeg ; *.png ; *.gif

When I run NACT v0.7, I have the message KeyError: 'LANG' and the program stops

The exact message should be something like this :

$ nautilus-actions-config
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/nautilus-actions-config", line 1239, in ?
app = NACTMainWindow ()
File "/usr/bin/nautilus-actions-config", line 666, in __init__
self.config_reader = ConfigReader ()
File "/usr/bin/nautilus-actions-config", line 293, in __init__
ConfigParser.__init__ (self)
File "/usr/bin/nautilus-actions-config", line 267, in __init__
self.lang = os.environ["LANG"][:2]
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/UserDict.py", line 17, in __getitem__
def __getitem__(self, key): return self.data[key]
KeyError: 'LANG'

This is a known bug that is fixed in version 0.7.1. If you don't want to upgrade, you can work around it by setting your $LANG environnement variable to a correct value.
To set it system-wide, use this command :

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

To set it just for Nact, launch it like this :

LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 nautilus-actions-config

I've just upgraded nautilus-actions to version 0.6 with the rpm packages, but when I try to launch Nact, via the New Action... item in the contextual menu of Nautilus, nothing appears ?

In version 0.6, the Nact executable has been renamed from nact to nautilus-actions-config.

By default the rpm package don't replace the config files and so nautilus still try to run nact.

To fix the problem, run nautilus-actions-config as root and edit the newaction config to change the path of the Nact executable to /usr/bin/nautilus-actions-config.

I've just installed nautilus-actions, but nothing appears in the contextual menu of Nautilus ?

After installation, you must restart Nautilus in order it can take care of the new extension. To do this, run this command :

nautilus -q

By default, nautilus-actions has no config files installed with it. You create on by hand and put it in /usr/share/nautilus-actions for system wide config or in your home dir in ~/.nautilus-actions
You can also use the graphical configuration tool which is distributed with it. To use this config tool, start the NACT program :

nact

You can find a menu entry in Gnome menu : Desktop->Preferences->Advanced Preferences or in nautilus contextual menu, you should have an Add Action... entry.

Note : Since 0.4 version, if you run it as normal user, you will edit your personal config and if you run it as root, you will edit system-wide config.

Note 2: For Fedora users who installed the RPM packages, you can launch the root version of NACT from your user account by running nact_root or using the Gnome menu : Desktop->System Settings->More System Settings.

I run NACT v0.4 to edit my own configs, but no config are saved ?

This is a bug of this release, nact doesn't create the per user directory if it doesn't exist (see Bug #59).

To fix this, simply create manually the folder in your home dir :

mkdir ~/.nautilus-actions

I want my program to open a file with %f or %m pattern but it doesn't open it or it tries to find it in my home folder ?

The problem comes from the fact that nautilus doesn't launch your
program from the current folder you are in in nautilus but from your
home folder unlike when you try from a terminal for example.
You have to specify that you want the current folder attached to the filename with the %d pattern like this :

%d/%f

If you have the same problem but using %m, then in 0.4 version, you have the equivalent with fullpath added to each files : %M.