- KDE Plasma 6 will require users to double-click on files and folders to open them by default.
- This change is controversial for those familiar with single-click behavior in KDE Plasma.
- Click behavior in KDE Plasma 6 is configurable, allowing users to choose between single-click and double-click.
This is one of the first things I always tweak in KDE, so I love this change, but I’m curious how others feel.
Single click is for web page links, not my computer.
It should throw up a prompt to ask, if you really want to run it. You might have disabled that…
I’d be okay with a compromise like single click for folders, double click for files
Which is just another, less convenient way of turning a single click into two, no?
Exactly. I never need to select a link on the web to do things like rename or move them, while I do that with files all the time
This + some other quirks are what have kept me off KDE for a good while. I understand wanting to do things differently, possibly easier – but it’s hard to break old habits.
So instead of changing to double click from the settings, you switched DEs?
I can understand why someone don’t want to use GNOME, because the defaults can suck for some people. And not everything is configurable. But KDE? Can be configured about anything imaginable. While I understand that not everyone want to go full in to learn everything, I still don’t get the default setting for a simple switch like double/single mouse click is a big deal not to use the environment.
If you really like KDE and are used to it, then you won’t change to something else just because the next update changes the default value (for new installations only BTW) of mouse click setting.
It may mean the user doesn’t think their use is similar enough to the people who make the distro/DE, or trust the distro makers’ decision making ability.
If a distros’ makers think snaps are a good idea, or that the distro shouldn’t by default show available security updates, or have a UI that hides how many open instances there are of a program unless you hover over an icon, or hides the titles of those open programs, or hides panels; then the way I use a PC is too different from the way they do - and there are likely more things in the background that we disagree with which can’t as easily be changed like UI settings.
I’m a single click person, but I welcome this change. Those who like single click already know where to change it. This is good for new users.
It makes file system navigation much faster and more pleasant imo, I’m definitely reverting this.
There’s a little + that you can click on the icons.
Or, you can use the keyboard arrows and spacebar.
Not sure if there’s others.
Edit: Just found another one actually. Middle-clicking selects without opening.
This works better than the little + on the icons because the + behaves like a “ctrl-click.”
I haven’t tried it but if it works the same as a mobile OS you long click to select. Single click to execute.
Edit: apparently that’s not how it works. There is a checkbox on every icon that you have to click directly on the check box to select/unselect.
I’ve always used the little plus sign on icons. It’s ingrained into my brain. I even did the same on windows before switching to Linux 6 years ago. Single click and the little check box on Windows.
personally, I don’t like the plus icons (I’d prefer it if they were simple checkboxes), so any one of:
- (mouse-only) drag a selection box from an empty area
- (mouse-only) right click directly, already opening the context menu to copy, cut, rename, share, etc - which is often the goal when selecting a single item.
- Ctrl+Click
- Shift+Click
- (kb-only) Arrow keys
I could’ve sworn I already double click in Dolphin.
Some distributions that ship with KDE have that option set out of the box for you already.
So be it. I don’t understand why there is so much debate around such simple setting.
