Desktop_bar · Issue #44726 · microsoft/PowerToys
They didn’t attach importance to this new feature, but I believe you should value this practical function and put it into practice.
Do you think this new feature is practical?
Desktop_bar · Issue #44726 · microsoft/PowerToys
They didn’t attach importance to this new feature, but I believe you should value this practical function and put it into practice.
Do you think this new feature is practical?
What is this feature exactly ?
The ability to see the virtual desktops ?
You have them in the overview.
It looks like Plasma’s Activity panel a bit, maybe. But less pretty ![]()
i think you mean Function Key (Win) + Q? (asking incase more people stumble across this post not knowing about it)
found out about it by accident a while ago, still need to figure all this stuff out and how to properly use it.
Of course, it’s not Win + Q, because the link points to an issue with the Windows operating system. But it looks a bit like
The function is to quickly switch between virtual desktops — the ones activated by Mate+G.
When I’m developing software, I open numerous applications, such as code editors, ChatGPT, documents, etc. However, I need to switch between these applications frequently. Without this “Virtual Desktops Bar,” I have to constantly click on application windows directly, or app icons on the taskbar, to switch between interfaces. That’s why I came up with the idea for this new feature:
Simply classify app windows into different virtual desktops and name each desktop. Then you can quickly switch between app interfaces via the Virtual Desktop Bar. For example, place AI-related apps in a virtual desktop named “AI,” code editors in one named “Code,” and documents in a “Documents” virtual desktop — each app goes to its corresponding area. When I want to switch to certain software quickly, I just need to hover the cursor over the desktop name in the bar (no clicking required) to instantly switch to that virtual desktop, thereby achieving the goal of switching app interfaces.
I think this will be useful for you all, especially when you have a lot of windows open and need to organize them. However, my programming skills are limited. If you find this practical, please develop such a feature.
That is quite a common setup.
I have 6 virtual desktop and spread my applications based on type of task (chat - desktop 1, email -desktop 2, browser - desktop 3, IDE - desktop 4, and so on).
However, I need to switch to often I never do this with the mouse but with keyboard shortcuts.
So the only different between using a vertical panel and a desktop switcher configured to display desktop names is that you want to switch on however rather than click?
Yes, Supplement: Desktops are represented by names so that you can know what is on each desktop.
That is already available.
The Desktop Switcher applet can show no text, desktop number or desktop name.
I personally don’t need any text, I know which desktop is which as I always use the same “assignment” for each of them. I do use names for activities though
It’s precisely because the traditional way of switching desktops isn’t very convenient that you get used to using shortcuts to switch desktops ![]()
Or, if you’re on 6-ish, there’s for example this: https://store.kde.org/p/1898708/
I don’t know. Your suggestion sounds way less convenient than switching by shortcut.
In any case you probably want to file a feature request against the desktop switcher applet to switch on hover instead of click
There is literally a virtual desktop bar available ( plasma 6). https://github.com/lenonk/virtual-desktop-bar
If you combine that with setting certain apps to a specific desktop only, it’s close ( I’m still guessing what you want to achieve really) to what you want. I’ve used it in the past.
Sorry, I couldn’t find the desktop switcher applets.
It is a standard applet: Plasma/Pager - KDE UserBase Wiki
Well , , desktops, windows, virtual machines, , it’s all about windows essentially, , I would as a chief of development put our money into better use, alt+tab works great and I’f you have 8 monitors you won’t need other than a 360degree balljoint connected head , , alas alt+tab or shift+alt+tab does it anyways… imho
I'm trying to get my head around this thread and what it means. For many years when I was working on mixed projects I made use of Virtual Desktops under KDE to keep things in order.
First I would create a new Activity (named for a particular Project) and allocate groups of relevant Apps within that project to various Virtual Desktops.
Once I got that project sorted out I would create a new Activity for the next Project, and create Virtual Desktops within that activity and allocate its relevant Apps and so on.
So I live with 6 Activities, each containing 7 Virtual Desktops.
There’s an Activity pager on one Panel and a Virtual Desktop pager in the other Panel.
So far, so good. I can scroll on the Activity Pager to switch to a particular Activity, or use Meta+Tab to cycle through them and work there.
Within an Activity I can scroll on the Desktop OR on the Desktop Pager to switch to a different Virtual Desktop, or I can use the Ctrl + Function Keys to switch directly to a given Virtual Desktop withing whatever Activity I have open.
Plus I can assign a keyboard shortcut to bring up either Pager.
Is this thread about being able to do something similar but ‘without’ using Keyboard Shortcuts?
If this is what you are looking for, then you can trigger the Activites selector by assigning it to a corner or edge in the Screen Edges section.
For virtual desktop switching, you can set that as an edge action as well.
Also, there are desktop widgets for both virtual desktops and Activities.