Dolphin: left/right issues! ; )

Dekudibusei · October 20, 2025, 11:46pm

Hello all!

I’m running into two peculiar issues and I haven’t found a solution yet although I’ve been crawling through Dolphin’s settings and the documentation for the past few idunno’s… So I hope someone can point me in the right direction!

My issues are:

Dolphin insisting upon starting to make the right pane the active pane. I would like to make the left pane the active pane, but I cannot for the life of me find a setting or toggle.
Dolphin keeps switching tabs after selecting something under Places which annoys the proverbial youknowwhat out of me. Sometimes, I’m just looking for a certain folder and I’m not sure where it is. Having to refocus upon every single click makes it a sort of digital Wimbledon finals. Right, left, right, left…

The funny thing is: I can get it to stay put – exactly the way I want it! ; ) – by selecting anything starting with “remote:/“ under Places! It does get annoying, however, to have to do that that every single time I have to do a (mostly minor) intervention on my files…

Am I missing a toggle or setting?

If not, where is the best spot to request one? : )

ben2talk · October 21, 2025, 3:50am

Dolphin opens by remembering the session on my system, so let’s start fresh with our home:

dolphin --new-window ~/

F3 → So now I have a new pane ~/Audio which is now also the active pane. As expected, when you open a folder you expect to be active in that folder. Also, with two panes, you’d expect the opened pane to be active.

Tab toggles you between left and right panes.
F3 toggles the OTHER pane (opens or closes)
F4 Revolutionises the whole shebang (see later).

FOCUS always shifts to the right pane when you open Dolphin. I opened a new pane, navigated that pane… but that focus is lost when Dolphin is re-opened.

So I’d call this a bug.

I didn’t understand this, but I’d like to give some better ideas for finding ‘a certain folder’.

Firstly, Places should not be thought of as a general bookmarks folder - but bookmarks do exist, they do work - I use Bookmarks for more rarely visited locations:

Like Plasma themes, icons, plasmoids…

These can be kept tidy and nested… but there’s a better way.

`F4`

F4 workflow

In the terminal you can install zoxide… and this remembers every place you visit.

Hitting F4 pulls up a terminal in Dolphin.

Imagine you have TV shows on T3 disk, want to copy some to your W4 disk… Here’s the fastest way (no places, no bookmarks).

Open Dolphin - if it comes up 2 pane, just hit F3 to go to one pane, then hit F4 for terminal panel.
find your TV folder (zi TV and select the T4 folder to move/copy from)
Hit F3 to open and focus right pane, zi TV and find the other folder.
Hit F4 to close the terminal, TAB now toggles panes and you can just get on with stuff.
Hit F4 to open the terminal in your active pane, good for ‘sudo mv’ or chowning or whatever.

The real power of the Z comes with your brain… naming folders etc. - also works in krunner.

SkyWalteron · October 24, 2025, 1:37am

Hello. Is the problem you mentioned similar to this?

If so, please, would you write to page of you comment and system info?
If no, Sorry. I misread.

Dolphin focus panic to left or right panel

Dekudibusei · October 26, 2025, 12:57pm

@SkyWalteron

Yes, it is similar, possible the same issue. I can resolve it (i.e. get Dolphin to not act up) by clicking on a ‘places’ remote server (SFTP/SSH) immedicately, but indeed clicking the Terminal pane first and then selecting the left pane also works. Funnily enough, clicking the right pane after the Terminal pane does nothing. : )

EDIT: I’ll post in the topic you listed, too! Thanks!

@ben2talk Thanks for your input. I spoecifically want the left pane to be selected /focused when opening Dolphin. It’s just the way I work with it. Apparently, that is (currently) impossible. I did like your suggestion of Z/zi, though, and I’m currently trying to get it a home inside my workflow. : )

ben2talk · October 27, 2025, 3:50am

Ok, but I think the LOGICAL answer would be to restore both the panes and the focus as they were previously.

This can be mitigated with a more obvious indicator - something I like with the Kvantum theme ‘KvCurves3d’ which you can see here has a very nice orange outline to the ACTIVE pane.

With people more challenged by aesthetics, the desire for a flatter scheme maybe causing some issues here; not the case with this Kvantum theme which has a nice outline for Active:

However, I’m not a big fan of Kvantum, though I am seriously a huge fan of the 3D look of that theme; I should learn to use inkscape to make it work better for me.

Going back to Windows… I remember a very nice ‘Office’ theme, which has been imported as ‘Marble’ colour scheme. Here’s my version:

Marble- 1.colors

[ColorEffects:Disabled]
ChangeSelectionColor=
Color=255,0,0
ColorAmount=
ColorEffect=0
ContrastAmount=0
ContrastEffect=
Enable=
IntensityAmount=
IntensityEffect=

[ColorEffects:Inactive]
ChangeSelectionColor=false
Color=112,111,110
ColorAmount=0.025
ColorEffect=2
ContrastAmount=0.1
ContrastEffect=2
Enable=false
IntensityAmount=0
IntensityEffect=0

[Colors:Button]
BackgroundAlternate=224,223,222
BackgroundNormal=232,231,230
DecorationFocus=43,116,199
DecorationHover=119,183,255
ForegroundActive=255,128,224
ForegroundInactive=136,135,134
ForegroundLink=0,87,174
ForegroundNegative=191,3,3
ForegroundNeutral=176,128,0
ForegroundNormal=20,19,18
ForegroundPositive=0,110,40
ForegroundVisited=69,40,134

[Colors:Selection]
BackgroundAlternate=62,138,204
BackgroundNormal=130,157,190
DecorationFocus=43,116,199
DecorationHover=119,183,255
ForegroundActive=255,128,224
ForegroundInactive=165,193,228
ForegroundLink=0,49,110
ForegroundNegative=156,14,14
ForegroundNeutral=255,221,0
ForegroundNormal=255,255,255
ForegroundPositive=128,255,128
ForegroundVisited=69,40,134

[Colors:Tooltip]
BackgroundAlternate=196,224,255
BackgroundNormal=192,218,255
DecorationFocus=43,116,199
DecorationHover=115,159,255
ForegroundActive=255,128,224
ForegroundInactive=96,112,128
ForegroundLink=0,87,174
ForegroundNegative=191,3,3
ForegroundNeutral=176,128,0
ForegroundNormal=20,19,18
ForegroundPositive=0,110,40
ForegroundVisited=69,40,134

[Colors:View]
BackgroundAlternate=248,247,246
BackgroundNormal=255,255,255
DecorationFocus=43,116,199
DecorationHover=119,183,255
ForegroundActive=255,128,224
ForegroundInactive=136,135,134
ForegroundLink=0,87,174
ForegroundNegative=191,3,3
ForegroundNeutral=176,128,0
ForegroundNormal=20,19,18
ForegroundPositive=0,110,40
ForegroundVisited=69,40,134

[Colors:Window]
BackgroundAlternate=174,194,218
BackgroundNormal=177,196,220
DecorationFocus=43,116,199
DecorationHover=119,183,255
ForegroundActive=255,128,224
ForegroundInactive=136,135,134
ForegroundLink=0,87,174
ForegroundNegative=191,3,3
ForegroundNeutral=176,128,0
ForegroundNormal=20,19,18
ForegroundPositive=0,110,40
ForegroundVisited=69,40,134

[General]
ColorScheme=Marble
Name=01 MarbleS
TitlebarIsAccentColored=false
shadeSortColumn=true

[KDE]
contrast=4

[WM]
activeForeground=100,92,71
inactiveForeground=87,87,83

Many other themes do this well, Nordic-darker is one (subtle but clear) and another theme which I tweaked to take off the brightness, but the vastly under-rated Windows XP theme is a very good starter for tweaking your own:

XP-Dimmed

[ColorEffects:Disabled]
Color=56,56,56
ColorAmount=0
ColorEffect=0
ContrastAmount=0.65
ContrastEffect=1
IntensityAmount=0.1
IntensityEffect=2

[ColorEffects:Inactive]
ChangeSelectionColor=true
Color=112,111,110
ColorAmount=0.025
ColorEffect=2
ContrastAmount=0.1
ContrastEffect=2
Enable=false
IntensityAmount=0
IntensityEffect=0

[Colors:Button]
BackgroundAlternate=189,195,199
BackgroundNormal=212,209,197
DecorationFocus=61,174,233
DecorationHover=142,200,225
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=127,140,141
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=198,92,0
ForegroundNormal=35,38,39
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[Colors:Complementary]
BackgroundAlternate=59,64,69
BackgroundNormal=49,54,59
DecorationFocus=30,146,255
DecorationHover=61,174,230
ForegroundActive=147,206,233
ForegroundInactive=175,176,179
ForegroundLink=61,174,230
ForegroundNegative=231,76,60
ForegroundNeutral=253,188,75
ForegroundNormal=239,240,241
ForegroundPositive=46,204,113
ForegroundVisited=61,174,230

[Colors:Selection]
BackgroundAlternate=29,153,243
BackgroundNormal=131,153,177
DecorationFocus=61,174,233
DecorationHover=142,200,225
ForegroundActive=252,252,252
ForegroundInactive=239,240,241
ForegroundLink=253,188,75
ForegroundNegative=176,55,69
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=252,252,252
ForegroundPositive=23,104,57
ForegroundVisited=189,195,199

[Colors:Tooltip]
BackgroundAlternate=77,77,77
BackgroundNormal=35,38,39
DecorationFocus=61,174,233
DecorationHover=142,200,225
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=189,195,199
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=252,252,252
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[Colors:View]
BackgroundAlternate=239,240,241
BackgroundNormal=230,230,230
DecorationFocus=61,174,233
DecorationHover=142,200,225
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=127,140,141
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=63,68,70
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[Colors:Window]
BackgroundAlternate=189,195,199
BackgroundNormal=200,196,180
DecorationFocus=61,174,233
DecorationHover=142,200,225
ForegroundActive=61,174,233
ForegroundInactive=127,140,141
ForegroundLink=41,128,185
ForegroundNegative=218,68,83
ForegroundNeutral=246,116,0
ForegroundNormal=35,38,39
ForegroundPositive=39,174,96
ForegroundVisited=127,140,141

[General]
ColorScheme=BreezeClassic
Name=01 XP-Dimmed
shadeSortColumn=true

[KDE]
contrast=4

[WM]
activeBackground=200,196,180
activeBlend=252,252,252
activeForeground=90,118,85
inactiveBackground=200,196,180
inactiveBlend=75,71,67
inactiveForeground=95,98,100

You can do this yourself in the GUI… just for an example, load up Breeze Classic and dual-pane dolphin:

Absolutely no lessons learned here from Windows XP… but now we can click View and Window and Button backgrounds. Let’s make some items darker:

So to help with left/right pane ‘issues’ I’d suggest making sure your colour scheme helps you actively distinguish which one’s active.

I had to do this with my current theme based from Magna-Dark and PurPurNight.

It can be very complicated (as some colours are derived and controlled by variables - variables for contrast, saturation, tint etc).