Plasma/Tips

This page aims to list common tweaks a user might make to setup a nice KDE Plasma5 desktop.

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Autostarted Apps

• Disable restoring session on Login (restarting apps open during Logout)

  System Settings → Startup & Shutdown
  

  Desktop Session Tab → On Login: Check Start with an empty session
  

Desktop

• Hide the ☰ button in the top corner

  Right Click the desktop wallpaper → Desktop/Folder View Settings
  

  Tweaks Tab → Uncheck: Show the desktop toolbox
  

• Hide the ☰ button in the panel on the bottom right

  Right Click the ☰ button → Lock Widgets.
  

• Always Hide System Tray Notification Icons

  Right Click the “Expand System Tray Triangle” → System Tray Settings.
  

  Entries Tab → Networks → Visibility: Hidden
  

• Disable Icon in System Tray

  Right Click the “Expand System Tray Triangle” → System Tray Settings.
  

  General Tab → Extra Items → Uncheck: Clipboard, Battery
  

• Classic “Start” Menu

  While the widgets are unlocked
  

  Right Click the “Start” menu → Alternatives → Application Menu
  

• Don’t sort windows in Taskbar

  Right Click the empty area on the taskbar next to the tasks → Task Manager Settings
  

  General Tab → Sorting: Manual
  

  General Tab → Uncheck: Keep Launchers Separate
  

• Hide windows from other Desktops in Taskbar

  Right Click a Task → Task Manager Settings
  

  General Tab → Filters → Check: Current Desktop
  

• Pin Apps to Taskbar

  Launch App
  

  Right Click app in Taskbar → Check: Show Launcher When Not Running
  

• Hide audio indicator in window list

  Right Click a Task → Task Manager Settings
  

  General Tab → Uncheck: Mark applications that play audio
  

• Disable Middle-Click Paste Notes Widget

  Right Click Desktop Wallpaper → Configure Desktop
  

  Mouse Actions Tab → Press the Delete icon next to the Middle-Button row.
  

• Lock Widgets

  Plasma 5.18 and above has hidden the "lock widgets" toggle. It's very easy to enter "edit mode" with a long press. If you want to get the old locked mode behavior, run the following command:
  

    qdbus org.kde.plasmashell /PlasmaShell evaluateScript 'lockCorona(!locked)'
  

  If you want an easier way to toggle locking widgets in Plasma 5.18, install Win7ShowDesktop widget which has a "Lock Widgets" toggle in it's right click menu.
  

• Disable Top Left “Hot Corner”

  System Settings → Desktop Behaviour
  

  Screen Edges Tab → Top Left: No Action
  

• Bind Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right to Switch Desktop

  System Settings → Desktop Behaviour
  

  Virtual Desktops Tab → Switching → Shortcuts
  

  Switch One Desktop Left: Ctrl+Alt+Left
  

  Switch One Desktop Right: Ctrl+Alt+Right
  

  Switch To Desktop 1, 2, …: None
  

• Disable Switch Desktop when scrolling over desktop wallpaper

  Right Click the desktop wallpaper → Desktop/Folder View Settings
  

  Mouse Actions Tab → Remove: Vertical Scroll → Switch Desktop
  

• Disable bouncing cursor when apps open

  System Settings → Applications
  

  Change "Bouncing" Cursor to "No Feedback"
  

• Disable focus stealing prevention

  System Settings → Window Management
  

  Window Behaviour Tab → Focus Stealing Prevention: None
  

• Fix Alt+Click in certain games/software

  Note: Plasma 5.20 has changed the default to Meta+Click+Drag, but these instructions are the same for changing back to Alt+Click+Drag.
  

  Alt+Click+Drag was a standard keybinding for moving a window in Linux. It tends to conflict with software designed for Windows like Games, Inkscape and Blender. To fix, we'll change it to Meta+Click+Drag.
  

  System Settings → Window Management
  

  Window Actions Tab → Inner Window, Titlebar, Frame → Modifier Key: Meta
  

  OR set Left button: "Nothing" to disable it completely.
  

• “Normal” Alt+Tab popup

  System Settings → Window Management
  

  Task Switcher Tab → Click the "star icon"
  

  Install "Thumbnail Grid", then close the installer window.
  

  Select "Thumbnail Grid" in the dropdown.
  

• Show Alt+Tab popup as fast as possible

  Normally it will wait 90 milliseconds before trying to show the popup. This makes quick switches faster since it doesn't need to draw anything.
  

  We need to set DelayTime=0 under the group [TabBox] in the file ~/.config/kwinrc, then reload kwin.
  

  It's easier to use these commmands than doing it by hand.
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group TabBox --key DelayTime 0
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

  You can also disable the highlight window effect by going to:
  

  System Settings → Window Management → Task Switcher Tab
  

  Uncheck: Show selected window
  

• Disable Lock Screen

  System Settings → Desktop Behaviour → Screen Locking Tab
  

  Uncheck: Lock screen automatically after __ min
  

  Uncheck: Lock screen on resume
  

• Disable Logout/Shutdown Confirmation

  System Settings → Startup and Shutdown
  

  Desktop Session Tab → Uncheck: Confirm Logout
  

• Windows Keybindings for moving windows

  System Settings → Shortcuts → Global Keyboard Shortcuts Tab
  

  KWin → Show Desktop: Win+M
  

  KWin → Maximize Window: Win+Up
  

  KWin → Minimize Window: Win+Down
  

  KWin → Quick Tile Window to the Left: Win+Left
  

  KWin → Quick Tile Window to the Right: Win+Right
  

  To open the “Start Menu” with the Windows key see the section below.
  

• Present all windows with Win+Tab

  System Settings → Desktop Behavior
  

  Desktop Effects Tab → Check Present Windows
  

  Click the Gear Icon → Change the Ctrl+F10 shortcut to Meta+Tab
  

  Layout mode: "Natural" → "Flexible Grid"
  

• Change titlebar height

  System Settings → Fonts
  

  Window title → Edit Font Size
  

• Hide titlebars when maximized (like Ubuntu)

  We need to set BorderlessMaximizedWindows=true under the group [Windows] in the file ~/.config/kwinrc, then reload kwin.
  

  It's easier to use these commmands than doing it by hand.
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group Windows --key BorderlessMaximizedWindows true
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

• Launch app with discrete GPU

  Also known as using prime-run (PRIME wiki) or using the DRI_PRIME=1 environment variable.
  

  Open Application Launcher → Right Click app
  

  Application Tab → Advanced Options
  

  Discrete GPU → Check: Run using dedicated graphics card
  

Windows/Meta Key

• Open “Start Menu” with Windows/Meta key

  Feature has been added by default since Plasma 5.8.
  

  If it's not working, make sure your "Start Menu" widget has a global shortcut like Alt+F1 set (you can't assign it directly to Meta, but it will open with Meta if another shortcut is assigned).
  

  Right Click the KDE Icon → Application Menu Settings
  

  Keyboard Shortcuts Tab → Shortcut: Alt+F1
  

  Latte Dock
  

  If you're using Latte Dock, you will need to run the following commands mentioned in it's Wiki.
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group ModifierOnlyShortcuts --key Meta "org.kde.lattedock,/Latte,org.kde.LatteDock,activateLauncherMenu"
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

  If you wish to revert what the Meta key opens because you changed it to open KRunner or a Latte Dock widget, run the following:
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group ModifierOnlyShortcuts --key Meta "org.kde.plasmashell,/PlasmaShell,org.kde.PlasmaShell,activateLauncherMenu"
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

• Do not open the "Start Menu" with Windows/Meta key

  We need to set Meta= under the group [ModifierOnlyShortcuts] in the file ~/.config/kwinrc, then reload kwin.
  

  It's easier to use these commmands than doing it by hand.
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group ModifierOnlyShortcuts --key Meta ""
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

• Open KRunner with Windows/Meta key

  We need to set Meta= under the group [ModifierOnlyShortcuts] in the file ~/.config/kwinrc, then reload kwin.
  

  It's easier to use these commmands than doing it by hand.
  

  Plasma 5.18 and above:
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group ModifierOnlyShortcuts --key Meta "org.kde.kglobalaccel,/component/krunner_desktop,org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component,invokeShortcut,_launch"
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

  Plasma 5.17 and below:
  

  kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group ModifierOnlyShortcuts --key Meta "org.kde.kglobalaccel,/component/krunner,org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component,invokeShortcut,run command"
  qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
  

Login Screen (SDDM) / Lock Screen

• Change Login Screen Wallpaper

  System Settings → Startup and Shutdown
  

  Login Screen (SDDM) Tab → Background → Load From File
  

  We should also change the lock screen.
  

  System Settings → Desktop Bahviour
  

  Screen Locking Tab → Wallpaper → Wallpaper Type: Image
  

Dolphin (File Manager)

• Double Click to open files

  Plasma 5.13
  

  System Settings → Desktop Behavior → Workspace
  

  Click Behavior: Double Click to open files and folders
  

  <= Plasma 5.12
  

  System Settings → Input Devices
  

  Mouse Tab → Icons: Double Click to open files and folders
  

• Always Show Hidden Files

  ☰ Control → Adjust View Properties
  

  Check: Show hidden files
  

  Apply view properties to: All Folders
  

  Check: Use these view properties as default
  

• Browse (.zip / .tar.gz / .rar) with Dolphin

  ☰ Control → Configure Dolphin
  

  Navigation Tab → Check: Open archives as folder
  

• Clean up Context Menu (Right Click Menu)

  ☰ Control → Configure Dolphin
  

  Services Tab → Uncheck: “Copy To”, “Delete”, “File to activity”, “Send as Email”, “Send to IM”, “Send via Bluetooth”, “Send via KDE Connect”
  

• Show Terminal Panel

  ☰ Control → Panels → Terminal (F4)
  

• Paste into Terminal Panel

  ☰ Control → Configure Shortcuts
  

  Paste → Set Alternative (Defaulted to Shift+Insert) as “None”
  

• Disable File Indexing (Baloo)

  Some user may want to disable the indexing when:
  

  For some users, the baloo_file process can slow down the system.
  

  The ~/.local/share/baloo/index can use over a Gigabyte of space.
  

  Run balooctl indexSize to break the database usage down.
  

  System Settings → Search
  

  Uncheck: Enable File Search
  

LibreOffice Writer

• Save as .docx by default

  Tools → Options
  

  Load/Save → General
  

  Always save as: "Word 2007-2019 (*.docx)"
  

  LibreOffice wiki

LibreOffice Calc

• Set Default Font Size/Family/CellPadding

  Styles → Manage Styles
  

  Right click Default → Modify
  

  Font → Family: Noto Sans (Office uses Carlito/Calibri)
  

  Font → Size: 12 (Office uses 11)
  

  Borders → Padding: 1.00mm
  

  Ok
  

  File → Templates → Save As Template
  

  Name: Default
  

  Category: My Templates
  

  Check "Set as default template"
  

Steam

• Hide “Big Picture”, etc in the System Tray Context Menu

  Steam → Settings → Interface Tab
  

  Set Taskbar Preferences → Only Check: Library, Friends, Exit Steam
  

• Cleanup Friends List

  Steam → Friends → View Friends List
  

  Click on the Cog / Settings Icon
  

  Ignore 'Away' status when sorting friends: On
  

  Compact Favorites Area: On
  

  Compact Friends List: On
  

  Append nickname to friend's name: On
  

  Hide offline friends in custom categories: On
  

• Hide “Friend is playing ____” Notifications

  Steam → Friends → View Friends List
  

  Click on the Cog / Settings Icon
  

  Notifications → Uncheck: When friend joins a game
  

  Notifications → Uncheck: When comes online
  

• Never Show Advertisement Popups

  Steam → Settings → Interface Tab
  

  Uncheck: Notify me about additions to my games and other releases
  

• Startup in Tray

  Find Steam in the App Launcher widget
  

  Right Click Steam → Edit Application
  

  Application Tab → Command: /usr/bin/steam -silent %U
  

  If you added Steam to the autostarted apps, you will need to edit the command there as well.
  

  Relevant bug report.
  

• Close Steam to Tray

  We need to launch steam using STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE=1 steam as mentioned in this bug report, but editing every single game shortcut that Steam generates is a hassel. So we'll set a session environment variable by adding export STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE=1 to ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/path.sh. It's easier to run this commands:
  

  echo 'export STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE=1' >> ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/path.sh
  

  Then logout and back in so that your "panel" is launched with the session variable so that it can pass it to Steam when Steam is launched from the app launcher or desktop shortcut.
  

Clementine

• Clean up UI

  Tools → Preferences
  

  Playback Tab → Uncheck: Show a glowing animation on the current track
  

  Search Tab → Uncheck: DigitallyImported, DropBox, Google Drive, Jazz
  

  Last.fm Tab → Uncheck: Show the “love” amd “ban” buttons
  

  Last.fm Tab → Uncheck: Show the scrobble button
  

• Don’t fade between songs

  Playback Tab → Uncheck: Fade out when stopping a track
  

  Playback Tab → Uncheck: Cross-fade when changing tracks manually
  

• Double Click song should play song now

  Behaviour → Using the menu to add a song will: Always start playing
  

  Behaviour → Double clicking a song will: Replace the playlist + Always start playing
  

Gtk Apps (Gimp/Hexchat/etc)

• Fix white text on white background tooltips

  System Settings → Colors
  

  Uncheck: Apply colors to non-Qt applications
  

VirtualBox

• Prevent Windows/Meta Key from opening the host App Menu

  Run the Virtual Machine.
  

  Press the host key (Right Ctrl)
  

  Press Alt+F3 → More Actions → Special Application Settings
  

  Window Matching Tab → Window class: [Exact Match] virtualbox machine
  

  Appearances & Fixes Tab → Check "Ignore Global Shortcuts"
  

  Change "Do Not Affect" to "Force", then select "Yes".
  

  Note that this also disables Spectable's screenshot global shortcuts while the VM window is focused.

Chrome

• Overlay tabs on top of the title bar

  ⋮ Button → Settings
  

  Appearance → Uncheck: Use system title bar and borders
  

• Match Titlebar with Desktop Theme

  Breeze
  

  Breeze Dark: Chrome Theme
  

• Enable Hardware Acceleration in Chrome

  If you notice tearing while playing video, check chrome://gpu and see if it says hardware acceleration is unavailable. It's very likely that it's just that chrome doesn't recognize that it can use your GPU.
  

  Original Article

  Go to chrome://flags#ignore-gpu-blacklist, search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome.
  

• Don't use native Linux notifications

  Since Chrome v64, Chrome now uses native notifications. If you prefer Chrome's however, you can still use them.
  

  Go to chrome://flags#enable-native-notifications, search for "Enable native notifications", disable it and restart Chrome.
  

Firefox

• Use the KDE File selector dialog

  Make sure you have the xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-kde package installed.
  

  Right click the Firefox launcher in the app launcher → Edit Application
  

  Application tab → Command GTK_USE_PORTAL=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox %u
  

  Press Ctrl+Esc and search to make sure the xdg-desktop-portal-gtk process is not running. If it is, end all xdg- processes.
  

  Restart Firefox
  

• Install privacy addons

  uBlock Origin
  

  Privacy Badger
  

• Enable Middle Click AutoScroll

  ☰ → Preferences → General
  

  Browsing → Check: Use autoscrolling
  

• Open New Tab page on startup

  ☰ → Preferences → Home
  

  Homepage and new windows: Firefox Home
  

  OR Custom Url with about:newtab
  

• Leaner New Tab page

  ☰ → Preferences → Home
  

  Uncheck: "Web Search"
  

  Uncheck: "Recommended by Pocket"
  

  Uncheck: "Highlights"
  

  Under "Top Sites" change to "4 rows"
  

• Leaner toolbar area

  ☰ → Customize
  

  Density → Compact
  

  Drag the Home button from the toolbar into the main area.
  

  Drag the rectangle spacers to remove them as well.
  

  Right click the uBlock Origin icon → "Pin to Overflow Menu"
  

  Right click the "Save to Pocket" icon → "Remove from Address Bar"
  

• Place close button next to tabs / don't use KDE's titlebar.

  ☰ → Customize
  

  Uncheck: "Title Bar"
  

• Disable Pocket

  Go to about:config
  

  Search for extensions.pocket.enabled and set it to false
  

• Enable Hardware Acceleration in Firefox

  If you notice tearing while playing video, check about:support and Ctrl+F to search for HW_COMPOSITING. If it says "blocked by env: Acceleration blocked by platform" then it is not using Hardware Acceleration by default.
  

  We need to go to about:config then set layers.acceleration.force-enabled to true.
  

  Restart firefox, and it should now say "force_enabled by user: Force-enabled by pref" under HW_COMPOSITING in about:support.
  

  -----
  

  Firefox is also working on WebRender, which is "a GPU based 2D rendering engine for the web written in Rust". You can try enabling it by going to about:config and setting gfx.webrender.all to true. Restart firefox, then go to about:support and Ctrl+F for WEBRENDER to make sure it's enabled.
  

• Hide Search Dropdown Footer

  Go to about:config
  

  Search for browser.urlbar.oneOffSearches and set it to false
  

• Disable Ctrl+Tab's recently used order

  Go to about:config
  

  Search for browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder and set it to false
  

• Browse a website as 2nd User without logging out

  Install Mozilla's Multi-Account Containers extension
  

  Right click the extension's icon in the toolbar → Pin it to the overflow menu.
  

  You can easily open a new tab in a specific container by clicking and holding the "Open a new tab" button.
  

• Quickly browse subreddits using custom search engines

  Create a new Bookmark with:
  

  Name: /r/
  

  URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/%S
  

  Keyword: r
  

  Now you can type r kde to visit /r/kde
  

  Note: Uppercase %S will not escape slashes so r kde/new works.
  

  Note: Use lowercase %s in searches like https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s
  

• First click UrlBar selects all + double click selects word

  Go to about:config
  

  Search for browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll and set it to true
  

  Search for browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll and set it to false
  

Firefox (userChrome.css)

A firefox user can change the look of the browser by editing a css file. Checkout /r/FirefoxCSS/ for help.

1. In FireFox v69 and later, we need to go to about:config and change toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to true.
2. Then navigate to ~/.mozilla/firefox/, inside will be a randomly generated folder similar to abcdef12.default which you should enter.
3. Inside the "default" folder, create a new folder called chrome, then create a file called userChrome.css.
4. You can now edit ~/.mozilla/firefox/abcdef12.default/chrome/userChrome.css, and changes will be applied upon restarting Firefox.

• Show bookmarks toolbar only on hover

  ☰ → Customize
  

  Toolbars → Check: Bookmarks Toolbar
  

  Then paste the following CSS into userChrome.css (instructions) and restart firefox.
  

  #PersonalToolbar {
    visibility: collapse !important;
    display: block;
    position: absolute !important;
    z-index: 1;
    width: 100%;
    box-shadow: 0 6px 6px -6px #000;
  }
  #nav-bar:focus-within + #PersonalToolbar,
  #PersonalToolbar:focus-within,
  #PersonalToolbar[customizing="true"],
  #navigator-toolbox:hover #PersonalToolbar {
    visibility: visible !important;
  }
  

• Remove left tabbar padding when not maximized

  Then paste the following CSS into userChrome.css (instructions) and restart firefox.
  

  .titlebar-placeholder[type="pre-tabs"] { display: none; } /* Firefox 64 */
  .titlebar-spacer[type="pre-tabs"] { width: 0 !important; } /* Firefox 65+ */
  

• Cleanup right click menu (aka contextmenu)

  Click on µBlock → Click Settings Icon to open the dashboard
  

  Uncheck: Make use of context menu where appropriate
  

  To hide Firefox's default menu items, this mozilla forum thread mentions we need to edit userChrome.css. So paste the following CSS into userChrome.css (instructions) and restart firefox.
  

  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-openlinkincurrent,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-openlinkinusercontext-menu,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-bookmarklink,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-selectall,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-sendlinktodevice,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-sendpagetodevice,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-sep-sendlinktodevice,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-sep-sendpagetodevice,
  #contentAreaContextMenu #context-viewpartialsource-selection {
    display: none !important;
  }
  

  If you're not a web developer, you can hide "Take a screenshot" by going to about:config
  

  Search for extensions.screenshots.disabled and set it to true
  

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Note that this list is manually kept in sync with https://zren.github.io/kde/#configuration using this script. — Zren