Power users will love these new KDE app features
KDE Gear 26.04 brings keyboard shortcuts galore to the file browser.
KDE today released KDE Gear 26.04, a set of updates to KDE's collection of open source applications. They include power user features for the file browser, better video editor previews, and threads in the Matrix client.
What's new
- More keyboard shortcuts in Dolphin: The menu for customizing Dolphin's keyboard shortcuts has expanded, to the point that KDE claims "nearly any option in any menu, plugin or extension" can be assigned a hotkey.
- Animated transition previews in Kdenlive: KDE's popular video editor now shows small animated previews of transitions when you hover over them in the Compositions menu.
- Threads in NeoChat: KDE's Matrix client added thread support, making conversation tracking easier.
What's getting better
- Personal Information Management: Merkuro Calendar, KOrganizer, and Itenerary all got visual overhauls or enhancements.
- Launching Audiotube: KDE's front-end for YouTube Music has an attractive new home page that appears on launch, displaying featured songs and playlists.
Zooming out
Why this update matters: KDE is celebrating 30 years of open source software development with this release.
My take: I won't hide that I'm a KDE fan, especially of the Plasma desktop environment. I'm looking forward to tooling around with the expanded shortcuts in Dolphin.
Diving in
The fineprint: You can read the announcement blog post or the full changelog to make sure I didn't miss anything important.
Get it now: If you're using a rolling release Linux distro, you should see these app updates soon. Everyone else can install KDE apps from Flathub or Snapcraft to get the latest in KDE Gear.
