Arch/Sway: Manually Hacking the GTK File Chooser for Ultimate Workflow Speed Forget click-heavy file managers. If you live in the terminal on Arch and Sway, your GTK dialogs should fly.

👋 Hey everyone,

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re like me: a dedicated minimalist running Arch Linux, probably under the tight, efficient control of Sway or another tiling window manager. We optimize everything. We tune our terminals, perfect our keybindings, and craft flawless configuration files. Yet, there’s one tiny, ubiquitous element that constantly breaks the flow: the GTK File Chooser Dialog.

That pop-up window, essential for saving files in Firefox or opening a project in a GTK-based IDE, often feels clunky. Why should I spend five seconds clicking through a deep directory structure when I can teleport there in my terminal? This week, I decided to apply my minimalist, configuration-file-first philosophy to this dialogue, specifically by mastering the Bookmarks feature to eliminate those wasted seconds.

My Goal This Week 🎯

My goal was simple: to make file navigation in GTK applications instant by permanently pinning my most-used project directories, config folders (.config, .local/share), and work locations directly to the “Places” sidebar of the file chooser. I wanted to achieve this without installing or running a full desktop environment’s bulky settings panel (like GNOME Settings or LXAppearance). The only way? Go straight to the source: the configuration files.

The Process & The Code 👨‍💻

The beautiful thing about GTK applications, even when running in a standalone Wayland compositor like Sway, is that they rely on standard configuration paths. I knew my bookmarks had to be stored in my home directory’s config space.

After a quick search (and some personal experience), I confirmed the existence of the holy grail: the bookmarks file inside the gtk-3.0 directory.

Step 1: Locating and Opening the Bookmarks File

I started by ensuring the file existed. If it doesn’t, you can simply create it.

# Navigate to the GTK configuration directory
cd ~/.config/gtk-3.0/

# Create or open the bookmarks file
nano bookmarks

Step 2: Understanding the URI Format

The bookmarks file is a plain text file, but it doesn’t just take simple paths like /home/murat/projects. It requires the File URI Scheme format, starting with file:///.

  • A standard path: /home/murat/projects/my-latest-repo
  • The required URI format: file:///home/murat/projects/my-latest-repo

Step 3: Adding My Essential Project Folders

I meticulously listed every deep directory I frequently need to access. I highly recommend spending five minutes compiling your personal list of “Teleport Destinations.”

Here is a snippet of my actual bookmarks file:

file:///home/murat/git/personal/dotfiles
file:///home/murat/Documents/Invoices-2024
file:///home/murat/VirtualMachines/KVM-Images
file:///home/murat/Apps
file:///home/murat/.config/sway
file:///home/murat/.local/share/fonts
file:///media/storage/backups

Notice that I added both local directories (/home/murat/...) and a mounted external drive directory (/media/storage/backups). The GTK File Chooser instantly reads these paths and pins them neatly under “Other Locations” or with the existing “Places” list on the sidebar.

Step 4: Fine-Tuning Display Settings

While the bookmarks file handles the shortcuts, I also wanted to manage some of the file list display settings shown in the second screenshot (like “Sort Folders before Files”).

These general display preferences are typically managed by the dconf system, which GTK uses. Even without a full DE, you can adjust these settings from the command line using the gsettings utility.

  • Sort Folders Before Files: This makes the dialogue instantly readable, just like a good file manager.

    gsettings set org.gtk.Settings.FileChooser sort-directories-first true

  • Showing Hidden Files: I always want to see my dotfiles, so this setting is crucial for a power user.

    gsettings set org.gtk.Settings.FileChooser show-hidden true

These simple terminal commands are the equivalent of clicking those checkboxes in the GUI, but they are permanent, system-wide, and align perfectly with a config-first workflow.

Hitting The Wall 🧱

My biggest challenge wasn’t the how, but the persistence of the settings. Initially, I kept changing the bookmarks file, but the changes weren’t immediately reflected in applications that were already open. For example, if I was already composing an email in Thunderbird (a GTK application) and added new paths, the “Attach File” dialog wouldn’t update until I completely restarted Thunderbird.

This is a common “gotcha” in Linux: applications often read config files only once on startup. I learned to treat the bookmarks file like a .bashrc or sway/config: edit it, save it, and then restart the target application to see the changes applied. The dialogue itself isn’t dynamic in real-time. This frustration taught me a valuable lesson about application lifecycle management in a minimal environment.

The Breakthrough Moment ✨

The true breakthrough wasn’t the successful edit; it was the immediate change in my daily flow. Once my project directories were pinned, saving a screenshot, opening a file for editing, or uploading a document became a two-click action (often achievable just by pressing a number key corresponding to the item in the list if the dialogue supports it).

The time saved isn’t just a few seconds per action; it’s the mental context switch that disappears. I no longer have to navigate away from my terminal mindset to visually hunt through a GUI. My most crucial locations are right there, ready for instant selection, making the GTK File Chooser an extension of my fast, terminal-based workflow, not an interruption to it.

📚 Recommended Resource

If you’re diving this deep into customizing core components of your Linux desktop, you need a solid foundational understanding of how all these parts—GTK, Wayland, and Linux architecture—actually interact. I highly recommend “The Linux Programming Interface” by Michael Kerrisk. This massive, comprehensive book acts as the definitive user manual for the Linux kernel and glibc. Understanding why GTK uses a plain text file in ~/.config and how system calls manage file I/O will elevate your Arch/Sway customization from guesswork to informed engineering. It’s an investment that pays dividends for any serious Linux user. Amazon

Key Takeaways 📚

  1. 💡 Config is King: Even in a visual interface like the GTK File Chooser, the ultimate control lies in plain text configuration files. Directly editing ~/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks is the fastest, most predictable way to manage your shortcuts.
  2. ⚙️ Use URIs: Remember that the bookmarks file requires the full file:/// URI format, not just a standard Unix path. This is a small but critical detail for successful configuration.
  3. 📚 Restart to Apply: Be aware that GTK applications read configuration settings (bookmarks, themes, etc.) only upon launch. Always close and restart the target application (Firefox, Thunar, etc.) after modifying your configuration files.

Thanks for Following ☕

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What are the three most critical, deep-nested folders you’ve pinned to your GTK Bookmarks file for maximum efficiency?