xfce-appfinder does not see Open Office either; I could add it manually, I guess, but this is a pretty common app--having it added to the menu automatically would make xfce4 more usable system: mandrake 10.1 official w/KDE; mandrake installs OpenOffice to the following locations: [steve@localhost steve]$ find /usr -iname 'openoffice*' /usr/share/doc/OpenOffice.org-1.1.3 /usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/scalable/apps/openoffice.svgz /usr/share/mime-info/OpenOffice.org Draw.keys /usr/share/mime-info/OpenOffice.org Impress.keys /usr/share/mime-info/OpenOffice.org Calc.keys /usr/share/mime-info/OpenOffice.org Math.keys /usr/share/mime-info/OpenOffice.org Writer.keys /usr/share/application-registry/OpenOffice.org Draw.applications /usr/share/application-registry/OpenOffice.org Impress.applications /usr/share/application-registry/OpenOffice.org Calc.applications /usr/share/application-registry/OpenOffice.org Math.applications /usr/share/application-registry/OpenOffice.org Writer.applications /usr/share/applnk/OpenOffice.org /usr/share/applnk-mdk/Office/Drawing/OpenOffice.org Draw.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk/Office/Presentations/OpenOffice.org Impress.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk/Office/Spreadsheets/OpenOffice.org Calc.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk/Office/Wordprocessors/OpenOffice.org Math.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk/Office/Wordprocessors/OpenOffice.org Writer.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk-simplified/Use Office Tools/Use More Office Tools/Drawing/OpenOffice.org Draw.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk-simplified/Use Office Tools/Use More Office Tools/Presentations/OpenOffice.org Impress.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk-simplified/Use Office Tools/Use More Office Tools/Spreadsheets/OpenOffice.org Calc.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk-simplified/Use Office Tools/Use More Office Tools/Wordprocessors/OpenOffice.org Math.desktop /usr/share/applnk-mdk-simplified/Use Office Tools/Use More Office Tools/Wordprocessors/OpenOffice.org Writer.desktop /usr/share/gnome/apps/OpenOffice.org /usr/lib/menu/OpenOffice.org /usr/lib/openoffice /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/data/org/openoffice /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/schema/org/openoffice /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/res/en-US/org/openoffice
it looks like mandrake installs the .desktop files to a nonstandard location, specific to mandrake. i'm sorry, but i'm not introducing distro-specific hacks into the search path. if someone wants to make official mandrake packages for xfce, they'll have to patch it to add their menu files.