Plasma/Tips
< Plasma
This page aims to list common tweaks a user might make to setup a nice KDE Plasma5 desktop.
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
- System Settings > Startup & Shutdown
Desktop
-
Always Hide System Tray Notification Icons
- Right Click the “Expand System Tray Triangle” > System Tray Settings.
- Entries Tab > Networks > Visibility: Hidden
- Right Click the “Expand System Tray Triangle” > System Tray Settings.
-
Disable Icon in System Tray
- Right Click the “Expand System Tray Triangle” > System Tray Settings.
- General Tab > Extra Items > Uncheck: Clipboard, Battery
- Right Click the “Expand System Tray Triangle” > System Tray Settings.
-
Don’t sort windows in Taskbar
- Right Click a Task > Task Manager Settings
- General Tab > Sorting: Manual
- General Tab > Uncheck: Keep Launchers Separate
- Right Click a Task > Task Manager Settings
-
Hide windows from other Desktops in Taskbar
- Right Click a Task > Task Manager Settings
- General Tab > Filters > Check: Current Desktop
- Right Click a Task > Task Manager Settings
-
Pin Apps to Taskbar
- Launch App
- Right Click app in Taskbar > Check: Show Launcher When Not Running
- Launch App
-
Hide audio indicator in window list
- Right Click a Task > Task Manager Settings
- General Tab > Uncheck: Mark applications that play audio
- Right Click a Task > Task Manager Settings
-
Disable Top Left “Hot Corner”
- System Settings > Desktop Behaviour
- Screen Edges Tab > Top Left: No Action
- System Settings > Desktop Behaviour
-
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
- System Settings > Desktop Behaviour
-
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
- Right Click the desktop wallpaper > Desktop/Folder View Settings
-
Disable bouncing cursor when apps open
- System Settings > Applications
- Change "Bouncing" Cursor to "No Feedback"
- System Settings > Applications
-
Disable focus stealing prevention
- System Settings > Window Management
- Window Behaviour Tab > Focus Stealing Prevention: None
- System Settings > Window Management
-
“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.
- System Settings > Window Management
-
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
- 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.
-
Disable Lock Screen
- System Settings > Desktop Behaviour > Screen Locking Tab
- Uncheck: Lock screen automatically after __ min
- Uncheck: Lock screen on resume
- System Settings > Desktop Behaviour > Screen Locking Tab
-
Disable Logout/Shutdown Confirmation
- System Settings > Startup and Shutdown
- Desktop Session Tab > Uncheck: Confirm Logout
- System Settings > Startup and Shutdown
-
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.
- System Settings > Shortcuts > Global Keyboard Shortcuts Tab
-
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 toMeta+Tab
- Layout mode: "Natural" => "Flexible Grid"
- System Settings > Desktop Behavior
-
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
- We need to set
Windows/Meta Key
-
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.
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
- We need to set
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
- System Settings > Startup and Shutdown
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 5.13
- <= Plasma 5.12
- System Settings > Input Devices
- Mouse Tab > Icons: Double Click to open files and folders
- <= Plasma 5.12
-
Browse (.zip / .tar.gz / .rar) with Dolphin
- ☰ Control > Configure Dolphin
- Navigation Tab > Check: Open archives as folder
- ☰ Control > Configure Dolphin
-
Show Terminal Panel
- ☰ Control > Panels > Terminal (F4)
- ☰ Control > Panels > Terminal (F4)
-
Paste into Terminal Panel
- ☰ Control > Configure Shortcuts
- Paste > Set Alternative (Defaulted to Shift+Insert) as “None”
- ☰ Control > Configure Shortcuts
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
- Breeze
-
Enable Hardware Acceleration
- 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. - > Origional Article
- Go to
chrome://flags#ignore-gpu-blacklist
, search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome.
- If you notice tearing while playing video, check
-
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.
- Since Chrome v64, Chrome now uses native notifications. If you prefer Chrome's however, you can still use them.
Firefox
-
Use the KDE File selector dialog
- Make sure you have the
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
- Make sure you have the
-
Install privacy addons
-
Open New Tab page on startup
- Type
about:newtab
into the addressbar, do not press enter. - Select
about:newtab
and drag it onto the Home button.
- Type
-
Leaner New Tab page
- ☰ > Preferences > Home
- Uncheck: "Web Search"
- Uncheck: "Recommended by Pocket"
- Uncheck: "Highlights"
- Under "Top Sites" change to "4 rows"
- ☰ > Preferences > Home
-
Show bookmarks toolbar only on New Tab page
- ☰ > Customize
- Toolbars > Check: Bookmarks Toolbar
- Go to
~/.mozilla/firefox/
then openab1c2d.default
or whatever the folder name is. - Create
chrome/userChrome.css
if it does not exist. - Then paste the following CSS into
userChrome.css
. - Restart firefox
- ☰ > Customize
-
Remove 3px padding above tabs with Compact density
- Manjaro's Breath GTK theme has close buttons that are 32px tall, while "Compact" is a 29px tall area. So we need to crop 3px.
- Go to
~/.mozilla/firefox/
then openab1c2d.default
or whatever the folder name is. - Create
chrome/userChrome.css
if it does not exist. - Then paste the following CSS into
userChrome.css
. - Restart firefox
#titlebar-buttonbox { margin-top: -3px; }
- Manjaro's Breath GTK theme has close buttons that are 32px tall, while "Compact" is a 29px tall area. So we need to crop 3px.
-
Remove left tabbar padding when not maximized
- Go to
~/.mozilla/firefox/
then openab1c2d.default
or whatever the folder name is. - Create
chrome/userChrome.css
if it does not exist. - Then paste the following CSS into
userChrome.css
. - Restart firefox
.titlebar-placeholder[type="pre-tabs"] { display: none; }
- Go to
-
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"
- ☰ > Customize
-
Disable Pocket
- Go to
about:config
- Search for
extensions.pocket.enabled
and set it tofalse
- Go to
-
Disable
Ctrl+Tab
's recently used order- Go to
about:config
- Search for
browser.ctrlTab.recentlyUsedOrder
and set it tofalse
- Go to
-
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.
- Install Mozilla's Multi-Account Containers extension
-
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 sor kde/new
works. - Note: Use lowercase
%s
in searches likehttps://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s
- Create a new Bookmark with:
-
First click UrlBar selects all + double click selects word
- Go to
about:config
- Search for
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll
and set it totrue
- Search for
browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll
and set it tofalse
- Go to
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"
- Styles > Manage Styles
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
- Steam > Friends > View Friends List
-
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
- Steam > Friends > View Friends List
-
Never Show Advertisement Popups
- Steam > Settings > Interface Tab
- Uncheck: Notify me about additions to my games and other releases
- Steam > Settings > Interface Tab
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
- Tools > Preferences
-
Don’t fade between songs
- Playback Tab > Uncheck: Fade out when stopping a track
- Playback Tab > Uncheck: Cross-fade when changing tracks manually
- Playback Tab > Uncheck: Fade out when stopping a track
-
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
- Behaviour > Using the menu to add a song will: 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
- System Settings > Colors
Note that this list is manually kept in sync with https://zren.github.io/kde/#configuration using a script. — Zren