Configuration

Files

/etc/vimiv/vimivrc, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vimiv/vimivrc, ~/.vimiv/vimivrc

/etc/vimiv/keys.conf, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vimiv/keys.conf, ~/.vimiv/keys.conf

Description

Vimiv is configured via two files:

  • the vimivrc for basic configuration
  • the keys.conf for keybindings

Per default these files are installed to /etc/vimiv/. It is considered best practice to copy them to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vimiv/ and configure the copied files.

Settings

Settings are configured in the vimivrc file. This file is separated into four sections:

  • GENERAL
  • LIBRARY
  • EDIT
  • ALIASES

The first three sections group settings, the fourth is used to define aliases. What each setting means and what values are possible is explained below:

GENERAL

Setting Value Default Description
start_fullscreen Bool no If yes, start fullscreen.
start_slideshow Bool no If yes, start slideshow at startup.
slideshow_delay Float 2.0 Specify the delay for the slideshow.
shuffle Bool no If yes, shuffle the images in the filelist randomly.
display_bar Bool yes If yes, show the statusbar at the bottom. Else hide it.Note that error messages are still displayed, even if the statusbar is hidden.
default_thumbsize Tuple (128,128) Size for the thumbnails in the form of (x, y).
geometry String 800x600 String in the form of “WIDTHxHEIGHT” specifying the default size for the window. Note that not all window managers respect this setting.
recursive Bool no If yes, search the given directory recursively for images at startup.
rescale_svg Bool yes If yes, rescale vector graphics automatically by reloading the image. Otherwise simply zoom as if they were a normal image.
overzoom Float 1.0 Float defining the maximum amount to scale images up by trying to fit the window when first loading the image.
search_case_sensitive Bool yes If yes, search case sensitively. Ignore case otherwise.
incsearch Bool yes If yes, search incrementally when typing.
copy_to_primary Bool no If yes, copy to primary selection instead of clipboard.
commandline_padding Int 6 Padding to use in the command line and statusbar.
thumb_padding Int 10 Padding to use between thumbnails. Note: Additionally to the padding column spacing gets updated dynamically to best fit the current window width.
completion_height Int 200 Height of the completion menu when showing command line completions.
play_animations Bool yes If yes, animated gif are played. Otherwise stay at the first/current frame.

LIBRARY

Setting Value Default Description
start_show_library Bool no If yes, always show library at start-up.
library_width Int 300 Default width of the library when an image is open.
expand_lib Bool yes If yes, automatically expand the library to full window size if no image is open.
border_width Int 0 Width of the border separating library and image.
markup String <span foreground=”#875FFF”> Markup used to highlight search results. This must be a correct markup opening in the form of one <span …> element as it gets closed with </span>
show_hidden Bool no If yes, show hidden files in the library and open hidden images.
desktop_start_dir String ~ The directory in which vimiv should start if opened via the .desktop file.
file_check_amount Int 30 The amount of files vimiv should check in a directory for whether they are images or not. This affects the size column of directories in the library. As soon as this number is reached, checks are stopped and a + is appended, e.g. 30+. A higher number increases precision and information at the cost of speed.
tilde_in_statusbar Bool yes If yes, collapse $HOME to ~ in the statusbar in the library.

EDIT

Setting Value Default Description
autosave_images Bool yes If yes, automatically save rotated/flipped images to disk. Otherwise to keep changes :w must be called explicitly.

ALIASES

It is possible to configure aliases for the command line in this section. An alias is defined in the form of:

aliasname: command

See also: the alias command.

Keybindings

Keybindings are defined in the keys.conf file. Similar to the vimivrc, this file is split up into sections:

  • IMAGE: Keybindings defined here apply in image mode.
  • THUMBNAIL: Keybindings defined here apply in thumbnail mode.
  • LIBRARY: Keybindings defined here apply in library mode.
  • MANIPULATE: Keybindings defined here apply in manipulate mode.
  • COMMAND: Keybindings defined here apply in the command line.

Keybindings are defined in the form of:

keyname: command [arguments]

keyname has to be a valid key symbol like “a” or “b”, but also e.g. “colon” for “:”. A useful tool in X to check for these names interactively is xev.

Supported modifiers are:

  • Shift via Shift+keyname
  • Control via ^keyname
  • Alt via Alt+keyname

command [arguments] has to be a valid vimiv command with correct arguments. For a complete list of commands with explanations check the commands documentation.

Mouse bindings are defined in the same form. Simply use “Button” and the corresponding number like “Button1” as keyname.