Dolphin Version 25.12.3
I open Dolphin, click Filter then click Open KFind.
It took me a short while to realise that Kfind is opening underneath Dolphin instead of on top. Does anyone know why this appears to be the default? However, the more important question is how can I fix this?
I thought the solution would be to right click on the KFind header then select More Actions then select ‘Keep above others’ but that setting does not remain after closing KFind.
CtrlShiftF gets it more directly, and it opens normally for me…
This with 26.04.0
Could depend on the configured level for “Focus Stealing Prevention”.
On Wayland it could also be a bug in either Dolphin or KFind regarding window activation.
Thanks for that tip ben2talk. The Ctrl-Shift+F also works for me.
As you have a more recent version of Dolphin, I was wondering if are able to open KFind on top using button on the Filter dropdown.
I am sorry krake but I do not know anything about ‘Focus Stealing Prevention’. What I am sure about is that, on my computer at least, KFind has some issues:
I have already mentioned that the ‘keep above others’ option does not persist.
After a successful search and selecting of several files I then right click to get the context menu. Unfortunately, the ‘Move to new folder’ option creates a new folder but does not move any files.
I found a fix for this:
I am sorry meven but I do not understand what the linked page is telling me to do to achieve KFind opens on top of Dolphin behaviour that most people would expect to happen as the default.
In Settings, there are settings for ‘focus’…
So open Settings, then in the search type ‘focus’.
It’ll have an item called ‘Focus Stealing Prevention’ which I have set to low, and which works well for me - check if yours is the same.
To be sure if you have a bug or not, try creating a new USER, log in (just call it ‘test’ with ‘test’ password or something) and see if the problem is the same… this will tell you if it’s KDE Plasma, or your personal folder/settings/data.
Nothing, it is showing you that Meven discovered a solution to stop focus being passed (i.e. instead of focus staying with kfind, it’s passing to Dolphin which then covers kfind).
So when you update your system, it should be fixed.
Meanwhile, just check your focus settings.
Once it’s fixed, you should revisit and mark the solution as Meven’s post:
@ben2talk already covered that, thanks!
If you want special window settings to persist you’ll need to create a so-called window rule.
Right click the title bar (or press ALT+F3)then “more action” and then “configure special window settings” (or application settings).
Also there’s the toolbar option, which I now use a lot more - as I use both mpv and Plex frequently for watching TV across two activities, each with 4 desktops…
Under Window Behaviour settings, you can set the Mouse Wheel there to ‘Keep above/below’…
Then also Left click (Activate and Raise is good) and Middle click is useful to toggle raise/lower.
This means if I want to stop the mpv/plex window from staying on top, I can just roll the mousewheel over the titlebar - it helps to have the button visible (using Klassy, I gave it a prominent highlight too).
This means, if you set a window rule to set it ALWAYS ON TOP ‘initially’ you can still very easily override it.
Thanks to everyone who has replied thus far. I have installed the latest updates via Discover and restarted my computer. There are no new updates available to me at the time of writing.
I checked my ‘Focus Stealing Prevention’ and it is set to low.
Unfortunately, I stil have the same issue with KFind which, incidentally, is version 25.12.3. So, I assume that the ‘fixed’ version of KFind is not yet available to me.
Until then, I stll have the same issue whereby I can get the KFind to appear on top when I open within Dolphin using Ctrl+Shift+F but not when I use the Sort dropdown button. KFind also appears on top if I open it from the Start Menu.
I did try creating a test user account to see if there was any difference but what I learned the hard way is that it is not a good idea if I previously disabled the admin account login password. As soon as I selected ‘Switch User’ I experienced: a blank screen, a stuck cursor and an unresponsive keyboard. After waiting what I thought to be a reasonable time, I switched off my computer then restarted it. The computer went straight into my admin account with no option to choose the new account. So, I just deleted the test account.
Wow, ok - never thought of that because I never bothered disabling the admin account login password - I just set the root password with one character replaced in my normal password a →@
Does this mean you set a blank password? that’ll confuse the authentication system I guess.
Are you still using SDDM, or did you switch to the Plasma Login manager? I’d suggest re-enabling the admin password - or use sudo to create the test accounts.
I had assumed that the update created by meven, that I was advised to wait for, actually fixed my particular KFind issue. Presumably, the update would have not been necessary if I was the only user experiencing the ‘KFind opening behind Dolpin’ issue. Therefore, I saw no further need to experiment with a new user account.
My admin password is not blank and is still required, for example, when installing new apps.
I switched on ‘automatially log in as user’ in the Login Screen (SDDM) section. It is great for avoiding the password at startups and restarts but one of the consequences is that no other users can use the computer - which is not a problem for me. Another consequence is that the Lock screen and Lock session do not work as expected. However, Log Out does work (or not - depending on one’s perspective) in that it requires the password to login. I sense a logical inconsistency in the way the ‘automatically log in as user’ has been implemented.