GTK+ 2.16 supports showing icons inside a #GtkEntry, similar to SexyIconEntry. Porting from SexyIconEntry to GtkEntry is relatively straightforward. The main difference between the two APIs is that SexyIconEntry uses #GtkImage widgets in a somewhat awkward way as storage vehicles for icons, while GtkEntry allows to specify icons via pixbufs, stock ids, icon names or #GIcons. So, if your code uses e.g.: image = gtk_image_new_from_stock (GTK_STOCK_NEW, GTK_ICON_SIZE_MENU); sexy_icon_entry_set_icon (entry, SEXY_ICON_ENTRY_PRIMARY, image); you can get rid of the @image, and directly write: gtk_entry_set_icon_from_stock (entry, GTK_ICON_ENTRY_PRIMARY, GTK_STOCK_NEW); Another difference is that SexyIconEntry offers manual control of the icon prelighting, via sexy_icon_entry_set_icon_highlight(). #GtkEntry prelights automatically when appropriate, depending on whether the icon is activatable and sensitive. You should make sure that your icons are properly marked as activatable or nonactivatable and sensitive or insensitive: Sensitive, but non-activatable icons are good for purely informational purposes. Icons should be marked as insensitive if the function that they trigger is currently not available. GtkEntry has no direct equivalent of the special-purpose function sexy_icon_entry_add_clear_button(). If you need this functionality, the following code works: static void icon_pressed_cb (GtkEntry *entry, gint position, GdkEventButton *event, gpointer data) { if (position == GTK_ENTRY_ICON_SECONDARY) gtk_entry_set_text (entry, ""); } static void text_changed_cb (GtkEntry *entry, GParamSpec *pspec, GtkWidget *button) { gboolean has_text; has_text = gtk_entry_get_text_length (entry) > 0; gtk_entry_set_icon_sensitive (entry, GTK_ENTRY_ICON_SECONDARY, has_text); } /* ... */ /* Set up the clear icon */ gtk_entry_set_icon_from_stock (GTK_ENTRY (entry), GTK_ENTRY_ICON_SECONDARY, GTK_STOCK_CLEAR); g_signal_connect (entry, "icon-pressed", G_CALLBACK (icon_pressed_cb), NULL); g_signal_connect (entry, "notify::text", G_CALLBACK (text_changed_cb), find_button); /* ... */