[SOLVED] KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

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Swerve

[SOLVED] KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

Hi, I have Mint 18.3 with KDE plasma desktop. I've chosen the "Application menu" version from the 3 customization choices for the Dash (or launcher menu, or Start menu, or whatever we call it in KDE). (And actually, now that I say that, is there a way to get more than just the 3 default choices? Not sure if this is associated with a theme, or what. Of the 3 default choices, "Application menu" was the closest to the non-invasive and list structure I wanted, but it's not perfect).

I see that if I right-click on the menu, I can "Edit Applications", and add things to the list, and then presumably to the favorites list. However, when I try to add a directory there (instead of an application), it doesn't seem to work. Not knowing what else to do, I created a new item and called it the directory name, and I give it the "working path" (in advanced tab) to where the directory is, and saved it, but it never shows up in the application menu, and it disappears from the list when I close and reopen the KDE menu editor. I tried to also give my new item a "command" (general tab), which I suspect is a necessary part of this process, but it won't accept a directory there, presumably because it's looking for an actual application to launch.

So is there a way to either 1) add directories to my one-click favorites list there in the Application menu, and/or 2) choose from more Dash choices, one of which will allow this kind of customization?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

I believe those 3 are all that's available for KDE, at least at the moment. The menu directory will only show if you have something valid within it; at least one item with its "Command:" and "Name:" entries filled in. Remember to click save. I think this behavior applies to most traditional menus in Linux.
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Swerve

Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

Termy wrote:I believe those 3 are all that's available for KDE, at least at the moment. The menu directory will only show if you have something valid within it; at least one item with its "Command:" and "Name:" entries filled in. Remember to click save. I think this behavior applies to most traditional menus in Linux.
Thanks a lot for the information. I'm afraid I'm not quite following the bottom line though - are you confirming that I can't put directories there? Or is there a way (or an application) to make an Application menu item have the command to "open this directory"? I'm not sure what's inherently a "valid entry"; I was guessing it has to be an actual application, given the name of the menu, but I was just guessing and don't know if that's true or not or if there is a workaround. (I tried a few times, and I definitely remembered to hit save at least some of those times. But it looks like the problem was indeed the command field, because, again, it never filled in properly, presumably because it wouldn't let me select just a "path" as a command.)

I'm basically just trying to replicate my Windows desktop as best as I can; there I used the taskbar and a built-in HP subdock for my heavily-trafficked applications, and turned my Start menu into basically a list for all my heavily-trafficked folder shortcuts. (Essentially it's like the "places" sidebar that you can customize in Dolphin, but I'd like it at the bottom left corner of my screen if possible, because ingrained habits, instead of only being accessible after first opening a Dolphin window.) I've been playing around with Cairo Dock since posting, and I'm now kind of wondering if, failing another working solution, there's a way to kind of faux-overwrite the Applications menu with a custom dock which I might be able to use in this manner. Not sure if I'm reading too much into it though; there are a LOT of options and I'm still figuring the Cairo Dock stuff out.
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

You can put directories (submenus) in the "Applications Menu" menu, but you need to first make sure that submenu has a valid "Item" within it, else it will not show. A valid entry is:
at least one item with its "Command:" and "Name:" entries filled in
Oh, dang... now I understand what you're wanting! You want shortcuts to directories. lol Riiiight. Okay, so one way you could definitely go about achieving this is to use the dolphin command and point it to the chosen directory. For example: dolphin ~/Documents; assuming of course the command is dolphin and not dolphin4 or something. Something like that should work.

Tell you what, I'll get you a screenshot...
Example.jpg
Last edited by Termy on Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Swerve

Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

Termy wrote:You can put directories (submenus) in the "Applications Menu" menu, but you need to first make sure that submenu has a valid "Item" within it, else it will not show. A valid entry is:
at least one item with its "Command:" and "Name:" entries filled in
Oh, dang... now I understand what you're wanting! You want shortcuts to directories. lol Riiiight. Okay, so one way you could definitely go about achieving this is to use the dolphin command and point it to the chosen directory. For example: dolphin ~/Documents; assuming of course the command is dolphin and not dolphin4 or something. Something like that should work.

Tell you what, I'll get you a screenshot...
Ah, okay. I think I get it. I'm still pretty new to Linux and command line stuff, and I totally overlooked the fact that typing a program name like "dolphin" into a command line is actually a command that opens/uses that program.

Actually the folders I want to have shortcuts for are mostly in the Documents folder, so I should be able to cut/paste that directly.

Pseudo edit: Ok, I just copy pasted dolphin ~/Documents to a terminal to make sure I understand what's going on and that it works. The Documents folder did indeed open, but only after the terminal spit out this:

__________________________________________________________________________
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "file"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "file"
kf5.kio.core: "URL cannot be listed\nfile:///home/swerve/Documents"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "file"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "file"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "trash"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "trash"
kf5.kio.core: "URL cannot be listed\ntrash:/"
Cannot creat accessible child interface for object: PlacesView(0xe7c8a0) index: 7
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
Failed enumerating UDisks2 objects: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Disconnected"
"Not connected to D-Bus server"
kf5.kio.core: Refilling KProtocolInfoFactory cache in the hope to find "file"
__________________________________________________________________________

Is this bad? Am... am I gonna die?
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

Lol xD It's okay. Don't worry; that sort of output from running a GUI program in a terminal is common; often, it's just debugging output. I added a screenshot to my previous post; would have done it more quickly, but the Mint forums is very specific about filenames and file sizes of images. ¬_¬
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Swerve

Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

Super, thanks. I went ahead and created a submenu called Places (I would've actually preferred to avoid this step, and have the directory shortcut directly in the main list there, but it didn't seem to like that), and added my directory shortcut into Places, as you demonstrated. I was then able to right-click and add it to the favorites, which is what I originally asked, so it's at least only one click away, which I can work with.

Unfortunately, opening my chosen file from that location opened a Dolphin window with the red error message "Unable to create io-slave. klauncher said: Unknown protocol 'file'."

Aaaaand now all my Dolphin windows open blank, no matter where I try to look. It lists the file hierarchy correctly at the top, but the main window itself is blank. Is there an easy way to kill/restart Dolphin, to see if that fixes it? Or do I have to reboot? Seems like this may not be a viable option either way, unfortunately.
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

Wow, dang. :\ Worked fine for me when I tried it. Not sure what went wrong there. Open a terminal and run killall dolphin to kill all dolphin instances. If you have issues, there's always the quick-fix reboot.
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Swerve

Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

Termy wrote:Wow, dang. :\ Worked fine for me when I tried it. Not sure what went wrong there. Open a terminal and run killall dolphin to kill all dolphin instances. If you have issues, there's always the quick-fix reboot.
killall dolphin didn't help, but after a reboot everything (including our new link in the favorites of the application menu) seems to be working like normal.

So technically this is solved given the thread title, and I'll mark it as such soon, but since I have your ear at the moment, I have a related followup question, if you don't mind:

- getting this shortcut to appear in the favorites menu was actually the consolation prize; ideally I'd like the shortcut itself to be where the "Places" item is in the main tree (without having to hover and slide to the subdirectory). The favorites sidebar is just so small. In fact, I'd like the entire main branch to be explicitly/directly made up of my favorite directory shortcuts instead of "Development", "Graphics", "Places", etc, menus. Is there a way to do what we've done here without having the "Places" submenu layer be necessary? I tried en route to following your directions but at a glance it didn't seem to work.

EDIT: Here's my own Windows screenshot of what I'm trying emulate, or as close I can, anyway:

Image
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

You might want to check out Zorin OS. They've gone to great lengths to make it look and function as close to Windows as they can, without straying too far from what Linux is about.

So, to check I have this correct: you're wanting to remove all of the menu shortcuts, then replace them with just shortcuts to directories you use? I think that's possible, using that menu editor. Make sure you back up the menu settings first, somehow, in-case it goes pear-shaped.

I just tested it on a LiveCD in a virtual machine, and deleting all of the entries with that menu editor, then saving, does result in only the "Power / Session" entry being left behind. This would allow you to add your own directory shortcuts. Just skip creating a submenu and go straight to creating items, each with a "Name:" and "Command:". Despite removing those entries, you can still type in the search field on the menu what you want, and it still, for example, recognises "firefox".

By the way, the whisker menu in XFCE is very much like the Windows 7 menu you showed in the image, at least with a little tweaking. You might want to mess around in an XFCE iteration of Mint, to see what you can do to make it look and behave more like Windows 7.
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Hoser Rob »

Termy wrote:You might want to check out Zorin OS. ....
I wouldn't be so sure ... their support forum is rubbish, and beginners need good support.

This business of making a Linux DE look and/or work like Windows is a dead end really. No matter how much you make it look like windows it won't work like windows. It's also not true that you can configure Linux any you want.
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

I think the OP can do as they wish, per the open and free nature of Linux. Linux can be greatly customized. If you want something, find someone who's done it, write the code for it, or request it. In Windows, you're still hugely limited by the OS itself being so closed off. Personally, I don't like Windows at all and don't want to make my system look and function like it, but that's completely irrelevant here, as the OP is their own person with their own likes and dislikes. lol Besides, if it helps the OP settle in to the Linux community and environment, then I'm all for it. :)

PS
Didn't realise the Zorin OS support forums weren't very... supporting. :( That's a shame.
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Swerve

Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

Termy wrote:So, to check I have this correct: you're wanting to remove all of the menu shortcuts, then replace them with just shortcuts to directories you use?
That's correct. That seems like the closest achievable KDE version of what I was thinking.
Termy wrote:This would allow you to add your own directory shortcuts. Just skip creating a submenu and go straight to creating items, each with a "Name:" and "Command:".
Does this work for you? I was unable to do this. The weird thing is that I can create a new item, and give it a command and a name, and place it, say, above everything that already exists in the main tree (in the Menu Editor), and hit save, and it'll stay there. I can even add a keyboard shortcut, and reboot my system; everything stays there, and the keyboard shortcut works as well. But it never shows up in the Application menu itself. However, if I use the KDE Menu Editor to drag the item into an existing submenu (for instance, Places), and hit save, it immediately shows up in the Application menu, inside that submenu.

So unless there's something unexpectedly wonky here on my end, it looks like you have to stick items in submenus in order to get them to show up in the Application menu. (And unfortunately the only way I see to make an Application menu favorite is to right click on it in the Application menu - so if it doesn't show up there, I can't make it a favorite, either.)

But it's okay. I can just stick all the shortcut commands inside the Places submenu, and then turn them into favorites from there. The icons/favorite area are a little small for my liking, so I'll probably suffer a sharp rise in misclicks, but as long as I can indulge my long-conditioned habit to go to the bottom left corner menu for my favorite folder shortcuts, I can deal with it.
Termy wrote:You might want to check out Zorin OS. They've gone to great lengths to make it look and function as close to Windows as they can, without straying too far from what Linux is about....By the way, the whisker menu in XFCE is very much like the Windows 7 menu you showed in the image, at least with a little tweaking. You might want to mess around in an XFCE iteration of Mint, to see what you can do to make it look and behave more like Windows 7.
Thanks, I think I want to stick with KDE for now though. I spent some time with Ubuntu first, and then switched to Mint/KDE for customization, and now I really just want to settle into something I can keep long term. Getting the menu to look "right" really isn't a dealbreaker, and we've figured out a decent enough emulation here. Frankly if I had all the options I have now in the first place, I probably never would've had my organizational scheme to begin with. I'm okay with finding a new KDE-guided groove here if I have to, I just figured I'd see how close I could get it.

Also the keyboard shortcut thing is kind of sweet. I could probably get used to just doing that for opening my folder favorites.

Thanks again for all your help, I'll mark this as solved. (Although let me know if you can add (and see) new items in the Application menu without submenus, in the way I described being unable to.)
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by catweazel »

Swerve wrote: EDIT: Here's my own Windows screenshot of what I'm trying emulate, or as close I can, anyway:

Image
Easy as. You create a new menu entry in some unused submenu and add the command dolphin "/full_path_to_folder", including the quotes. Set your desired icon then add that entry to your favourites. Works like a charm...

Image

Mind you, I prefer just to put the directories in the dolphin panel.
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Re: [SOLVED] KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by phd21 »

Hi "Swerve",

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

I love Linux Mint KDE because you can do anything you want with it, once you know how.

I am not sure why you would want to add folders to your Menu Favorites which were designed for Favorite applications, and when you can right-click any folder in the superb Dolphin file manager and add it to your Places on the left side of that. You can also easily add desktop icon launchers to folders and files by right-clicking the desktop (using the "Folder" desktop layout option), select create new, basic link to file and directory.

But, you both are on the right track about using the Menu editor to do this. It is actually pretty easy, see screenshots below. Just right-click the menu key, select "Edit Applications" and create a new menu item in one of the existing categories or create a new one and add it there, in the command box, just put in the file manager name and the path to the folder, like "dolphin ~/FolderName", save it, click the menu button, right-click the new menu item and add it to your Menu's Favorites. FYI: the Tilda "~" represents your "/home/YourUserName/" location.

I also prefer the Application Menu Style. There are other menus available as well, search widgets and download widgets for "menus", custom tiled menus, Excalibur, etc... Some of these require a specific version of KDE Plasma and may have to be installed as a file versus the add widget.

Plasma 5 Menus - store.kde.org
https://store.kde.org/browse/cat/398/



Hope this helps ...
KDE_AddFolderToMenuand Favorites1.jpg
KDE_AddFolderToMenuand Favorites2.jpg
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Swerve

Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

catweazel wrote:
Swerve wrote: EDIT: Here's my own Windows screenshot of what I'm trying emulate, or as close I can, anyway:

Image
Easy as. You create a new menu entry in some unused submenu and add the command dolphin "/full_path_to_folder", including the quotes. Set your desired icon then add that entry to your favourites. Works like a charm...

Image

Mind you, I prefer just to put the directories in the dolphin panel.
Thanks for your help. This is the solution that Termy helped me find. Ideally, I'd like to do it without the submenu, so that the item itself shows in the list, in place of a submenu, but it seems this may not be an option. But the solution you mention did solve the "how to make it a favorites" problem.

I did see the Dolphin panel, and that was my next choice, but I'd rather not have to open a Dolphin window before selecting the folder I want to open. This is just a matter of long-ingrained habits. When I want to open a certain folder, I'm already clicking the "Start menu" and dancing around with my cursor there, looking for the thing to click, before my brain even realizes that that's not where that stuff is on this machine. Then there's this moment of "Uhhhh... how do I do this again?" before I remember how to do it in KDE. It's only a couple of moments wasted, but still. I'd like to keep my two desktops as congruent as possible so I don't have to actually think about finding stuff in order to find it.
Swerve

Re: [SOLVED] KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Swerve »

phd21 wrote:Hi "Swerve",
Image
phd21 wrote:I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well. I love Linux Mint KDE because you can do anything you want with it, once you know how.
Oh yeah? Well, then. Can you dooooo.... this? < jazz hands >
Swerve wrote:
What I would REALLY like is this:

1) An empty trash icon that looks like a brown or black fuzzball. Think a cartoony version of a balled-up critter from the old movie Critters. Or possibly Grog, from the B.C. comic strip, but with no arms or legs.
2) When you hover over the brown fuzzball with trash, I would like the icon to open its large mouth, so as to eat the trash.
3) When you let go of the trash into the trash bin, I want the fuzzball to close its mouth and animate with a chewing motion. I would also like some audio here to make a "nom nom nom" sound. (I suppose 2->3 would also be what happens when you right-click->send to trash)
4) After "nom nom nom"ing, I would like the "full" trash icon to be a ballooned up version of the empty fuzzball (or anything, really. A few other ideas work here, cheeks puffed out, throat swollen, etc. It just has to be different than the empty version.
5) Finally, I would like the emptying of the trash to be accompanied by a gulping sound, and maybe another transitional animation, if doable, (what it would be depends on icon 4, and the difficulty of doing any of this), which then returns it to icon 1.

Somebody pleeeeease tell me this or something close would be possible, or has even already been done. If it's been done and requires downloading a new theme, please provide instructions on how to do this as well (I downloaded a free custom theme from KDE store already and tried to use it, but couldn't figure out how to get it working.) I know how to use GIMP well enough to draw some "fuzzball" icons and animations myself if I have to, but obviously existing things from someone who is a better artist would be awesome.

A secondary idea I had is a trash icon which is just a black spot which "sucks" stuff in once you drag it close enough, with a nice slurping sound, and then changes colors, or possibly emits colorful speckles/animates somehow, when full. Have no idea if this proximate or animation style behaviour would be doable, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
phd21 wrote:I am not sure why you would want to add folders to your Menu Favorites which were designed for Favorite applications, and when you can right-click any folder in the superb Dolphin file manager and add it to your Places on the left side of that. You can also easily add desktop icon launchers to folders and files by right-clicking the desktop (using the "Folder" desktop layout option), select create new, basic link to file and directory.
Well, it's a matter of ingrained habits, plus a hatred of clutter/a love of minimalism.

Firstly, I can't stand to have a cluttered computer screen. The only things I like to have on my desktop are a nice pretty picture, left-oriented, and a trash icon. I'm sure this will all sound autistic or something, but I really like to have a desktop picture such that the taskbar items and the trash icon together form an L-bracket, which sort of cradles the "left thing" in whichever picture I'm currently using. For instance, like this:

Image

See how the rocks are almost nestled in the L formed by the icons in the lower-left corner there. This actually isn't the best example; I change my desktop picture every month or so, and it's hard to find nice calming pictures with things in just the right place. But I like that constant little L down there, and I like an empty desktop (I download things to my desktop, and religiously clearing things off it forces me to always immediately put things in their "proper" place).

For applications on Windows, I have the HP Launchbox, which was basically a customizable subdock for up to 10 favorite applications (it's the rightmost icon in the taskbar; click it, and this pops up):

Image

And then the left part of the Start menu itself is customizable via drag and drop, so for whatever reason, when I first organized my Windows 7 machine, I cannibalized the Start menu items and rebuilt it up so it was nice and small and contained only those folders I constantly used (and MSpaint, just because I use that a lot, plus it acts as a kind of separator there.) Pretty much everything I use is quickly accessible from one of the folders in the Start menu, or is already in the Launchbox. (In my first pic in this thread, you can see a folder in my Start menu called "Program shortcuts"; this is where all my "Desktop shortcuts" actually get put instead of cluttering up my Desktop. And if all else failed, the very bottom entry in the start menu is a submenu you can click on which lists everything in alphabetical order. Or I could just use the keyboard to type in the first couple of letters.)

I'm not claiming this is the best organizational scheme or anything, but I need to hide everything out of sight somehow, and that's the way I've had it for years, so for better or worse, that's the way I likes it.

KDE has actually done a pretty good job so far though. I've used Cairo dock to recreate the Launchbox when i hover at the very bottom of the screen near the L-bracket (haven't picked a good new "left-oriented" picture yet):

Image

And you can see the leftmost icon in the Cairo dock is actually a "stack", where you can put folder shortcuts; that was another fallback plan since it's is more or less the same area. Some of the other icons in the Cairo dock are similarly subdocks. So that's kind of cool.
phd21 wrote:But, you both are on the right track about using the Menu editor to do this. It is actually pretty easy, see screenshots below. Just right-click the menu key, select "Edit Applications" and create a new menu item in one of the existing categories or create a new one and add it there, in the command box, just put in the file manager name and the path to the folder, like "dolphin ~/FolderName", save it, click the menu button, right-click the new menu item and add it to your Menu's Favorites.


Thanks, this part is figured out now. I'd like to do it without creating a category, and just have the "item" itself be the category (or, alternatively, make the "favorites sidebar" much bigger, so it's easier to click), but it seems like this may not be an option.

The problem with hover-accessed submenus is that they tend to collapse. I use a pretty high mouse speed, and am used to zipping around the desktop without really having to think about it, because I know where everything is. But with hover-accessed submenus, in the space it takes to slide over two inches to hit the nested item, it's easy to twitch too far up or down and have the whole thing collapse; then you have to start over. This is especially aggravating when you have something deeply nested inside several hover-accessed submenus; in this case I usually have to screw it up a few times, because I'm impatient, before being ultimately reduced to slow and careful. And even then I still sometimes screw it up. So I don't really like hover-submenus.
phd21 wrote:FYI: the Tilda "~" represents your "/home/YourUserName/" location.
Awesome, thanks for clearing this up. I gathered, because context, but asking for confirmation was on the tip of my tongue.
phd21 wrote:I also prefer the Application Menu Style. There are other menus available as well, search widgets and download widgets for "menus", custom tiled menus, Excalibur, etc... Some of these require a specific version of KDE Plasma and may have to be installed as a file versus the add widget.

Plasma 5 Menus - store.kde.org
https://store.kde.org/browse/cat/398/

Hope this helps ...

KDE_AddFolderToMenuand Favorites1.jpg

KDE_AddFolderToMenuand Favorites2.jpg
Sweet, thanks. I'll check some of those out. I downloaded a theme from that site once but couldn't figure out how to actually load it in as a theme when browsing the theme's folder's contents in the "choose theme from file" option. I might post that question up next.
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Re: KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by catweazel »

Swerve wrote:Thanks for your help.
You're welcome.
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Re: [SOLVED] KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by Termy »

Swerve wrote:Well, it's a matter of ingrained habits, plus a hatred of clutter/a love of minimalism.
You'd probably like my setup then. :wink: For example, here's my menu which only shows itself when I press a key combination:
.lmscrot.jpg
...and here's part of my file manager as well as just about anything else I want it to be:
.lmscrot.jpg
The rest is mostly just a slideshow of my favorite steampunk wallpapers and a whole crap ton of configuration scripts running in the background. lol I do use compton to get rid of screen tearing and for some subtle effects.

I love my setup and always go back to it no matter what, but some of these traditional desktops really are looking nice these days!
I'm also Terminalforlife on GitHub.
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Re: [SOLVED] KDE - Add directory to favorites in Dash Button/Application Menu

Post by phd21 »

Hi "Swerve",

You are welcome...

Okay after a lot more research here is some more information... Some of which applies to KDE and other Desktops like Cinnamon, Mate or Xfce.
Swerve wrote: What I would REALLY like is this:

1) An empty trash icon that looks like a brown or black fuzzball. Think a cartoony version of a balled-up critter from the old movie Critters. Or possibly Grog, from the B.C. comic strip, but with no arms or legs.
2) When you hover over the brown fuzzball with trash, I would like the icon to open its large mouth, so as to eat the trash.
3) When you let go of the trash into the trash bin, I want the fuzzball to close its mouth and animate with a chewing motion. I would also like some audio here to make a "nom nom nom" sound. (I suppose 2->3 would also be what happens when you right-click->send to trash)
4) After "nom nom nom"ing, I would like the "full" trash icon to be a ballooned up version of the empty fuzzball (or anything, really. A few other ideas work here, cheeks puffed out, throat swollen, etc. It just has to be different than the empty version.
5) Finally, I would like the emptying of the trash to be accompanied by a gulping sound, and maybe another transitional animation, if doable, (what it would be depends on icon 4, and the difficulty of doing any of this), which then returns it to icon 1.

Somebody pleeeeease tell me this or something close would be possible, or has even already been done. If it's been done and requires downloading a new theme, please provide instructions on how to do this as well (I downloaded a free custom theme from KDE store already and tried to use it, but couldn't figure out how to get it working.) I know how to use GIMP well enough to draw some "fuzzball" icons and animations myself if I have to, but obviously existing things from someone who is a better artist would be awesome.

A secondary idea I had is a trash icon which is just a black spot which "sucks" stuff in once you drag it close enough, with a nice slurping sound, and then changes colors, or possibly emits colorful speckles/animates somehow, when full. Have no idea if this proximate or animation style behaviour would be doable, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
I too would like to have more animated icons and functions, or the options for them, and one for the trash would be cool. Anyone can easily change the icons to whatever icon images (still images not animated ones) they want everywhere from the desktop, Dolphin file manager, etc... FYI: In addition to installing Gimp and its animation plugin package, there are also a few animation programs in the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)", Blender, etc...

I am sure this animated icon and its action behavior can be done, only I do not know how to do it yet, or if it has already been done. I know that when I double-click an application, I get a bouncing icon animation (part of notifications) which I really think is cool, but some people dislike. So, if that can already be done, then there must be a way to do this for other application icons and functions. I checked under "Icons" in the System settings and there are basic animation functions, but not like you are talking about.

Obviously, there are applications in the taskbar that change and appear to be animated.

Last night I came across a package called "idesk" which looks promising and it is in the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)". Not sure if it can use animated GIF images yet. Still checking on this.
idesk free download - SourceForge
https://sourceforge.net/directory/os:linux/?q=idesk

After installing idesk, I ran "locate idesk", and it seems that one of my cloud provider applications "InSync" also uses this.

I am sure that an application could be created to use whatever animated images or perhaps a video for sending stuff to the trash (deleting), or for whatever else. This would have the added benefit of being able to use the various secure delete options as well.

MediaPlayer QML Type | Qt Multimedia 5.10 - programming in QT
http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qml-qtmultimedia- ... ml#details
phd21 wrote:I am not sure why you would want to add folders to your Menu Favorites which were designed for Favorite applications, and when you can right-click any folder in the superb Dolphin file manager and add it to your Places on the left side of that. You can also easily add desktop icon launchers to folders and files by right-clicking the desktop (using the "Folder" desktop layout option), select create new, basic link to file and directory.

But, you both are on the right track about using the Menu editor to do this. It is actually pretty easy, see screenshots below. Just right-click the menu key, select "Edit Applications" and create a new menu item in one of the existing categories or create a new one and add it there, in the command box, just put in the file manager name and the path to the folder, like "dolphin ~/FolderName", save it, click the menu button, right-click the new menu item and add it to your Menu's Favorites.
Swerve wrote:Well, it's a matter of ingrained habits, plus a hatred of clutter/a love of minimalism.
Thanks, this part is figured out now. I'd like to do it without creating a category, and just have the "item" itself be the category (or, alternatively, make the "favorites sidebar" much bigger, so it's easier to click), but it seems like this may not be an option.
There are various menus, application launchers, available to use and you can have more than one or all of them in your system tray at the same time. The "Tiled Menu" (v11) shows applications in alphabetical order and does allow drag and drop of folders from Dolphin, just click and hold a folder and drag it over the Tiled Menu icon, it pops up, go over to the right and when you see a plus sign, let go of the mouse button and there is your folder. You do not have to create a category for these even though that makes sense too me when using the typical Application Menu launchers.

plasma-applets/tiledmenu at master · Zren/plasma-applets
https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applets/ ... /tiledmenu

Tiled Menu - store.kde.org
https://store.kde.org/p/1160672/show/page/2


One thing great about Linux is that you can have multiple virtual desktop workspaces (or KDE Activities) on one or more monitor screens where some are empty or have only what you want for that desktop, like desktop1 or activity1 could be blank, whereas desktop2 or activity2 could have everything related to Internet and or music, desktop3 or activity3 could be for multimedia stuff or games or science or education, and so on... I only have one monitor connected but I always have 4 virtual desktop workspaces and or activities. I can scroll through them using my mouse wheel or button, or key combos, or various widgets.
Swerve wrote:I change my desktop picture every month or so, and it's hard to find nice calming pictures with things in just the right place. But I like that constant little L down there, and I like an empty desktop (I download things to my desktop, and religiously clearing things off it forces me to always immediately put things in their "proper" place).
KDE has a lot of options for this in their "Desktop Layouts". You can specify a folder or folders of images to use for your wallpaper and when that changes. You can also install and use a wallpaper switcher like the excellent "variety" wallpaper switcher which does a lot including getting various images from various places on the Internet and locally, and more.

You can have video wallpaper as well, with or without sound, see links below. Like relaxing waves on the beach, etc... YouTube has video channels on relaxing and everything else...
relaxing waves on the beach - Google Search
https://www.google.com/search?q=relaxin ... e&ie=UTF-8
Swerve wrote:For applications on Windows, I have the HP Launchbox, which was basically a customizable subdock for up to 10 favorite applications (it's the rightmost icon in the taskbar; click it, and this pops up):
Cairo Dock is awesome. And, there are other docks and panels you can add to your screen at the top, left or right, or bottom.
Swerve wrote:I downloaded a theme from that site once but couldn't figure out how to actually load it in as a theme when browsing the theme's folder's contents in the "choose theme from file" option. I might post that question up next.
You can add many themes by going into System Settings -> Workspace Theme -> Desktop Themes and selecting "Get New theme" or "install by file" at the bottom of that screen. Most of the themes on KDE are available in that, some do require manually downloading them, extracting them, and then copying them to a specific desktop theme folder; they usually have instructions on that theme page.


Video Wallpaper

For KDE users:

How to Enable Video Wallpaper on Desktop Screen and Lock Screen KDE Plasma 5 - Linux Scoop on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-to-enable-on-8352239

Open a console terminal window, and copy and paste each line one by one.

Code: Select all

mkdir .local/share/plasma/wallpapers

Code: Select all

cd .local/share/plasma/wallpapers

Code: Select all

git clone https://github.com/halverneus/org.kde.video.git
Afterwards, right click desktop, select configure desktop, under Desktop Layout Choose Video, pick a video.


For all desktop users including Cinnamon, Mate, Xfce, or KDE

"livewallpaper" - Animated Wallpaper Adds Live Backgrounds To Linux Distros - OMG! Ubuntu!
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/05/anim ... ux-distros

"Komorebi 2" - Your Desktop Wallpaper Just Got Interesting Again - OMG! Ubuntu! Sept 2017
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/09/komo ... w-features


Hope this helps ...
KDE_Tiled_Menu1.jpg
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
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