Bug 165172

Summary:	Folders panel should be able to show the tree beginning at any given folder
Product:	[Applications] dolphin	Reporter:	Marcelo Sales <mmtsales>
Component:	panels: folders	Assignee:	Dolphin Bug Assignee <dolphin-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	david.decos, h.doernhoff, meinert, nicksanders11, shiningarcanine
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	16.12.2
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Fedora RPMs
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Marcelo Sales 2008-06-28 04:43:27 UTC

Version:            (using KDE 4.0.83)
Installed from:    Fedora RPMs
OS:                Linux

I think it's very useful to be able to see the folders tree in the folders panel with its root beginning at a user-selected folder. In particular, being able to see the home folder at the root of the tree is specially important, because most of the time we don't need to see nor use the rest of the file system(s). This is yet more important for novice/basic users, who are confused with a multitude of folders they will never use nor even need to know that they exist.
Another minor but also desirable benefit of starting the tree at a selected folder is that we have more horizontal space available in the folders panel, because the hierarchy of folders above the chosen root is not shown.
I think that when the user selects "home" in places, Dolphin should automatically use his home folder as the root of the tree. One can always click "root" again in places if he/she wants to see the complete tree.
Also, a "Use this folder as root" option in the context menu of folders would be nice.

Comment 1 m2j 2009-08-05 23:42:21 UTC

Version 1.2.1
Packaged by Debian testing amd64

Hello, I also think, that a variable tree root would make sense. Here is a suggestion, how to use this feature:
By choosing a location at the Places dock, this folder gets tree root. In the context menu to the folders in the tree view there is a checkable  action 'use as root'. As soon this action is checked, the corresponding folder will be root, until a other folder is checked this way or the folder is unchecked and a new place in the Places dock is chosen.

Comment 2 Holger Dörnhoff 2010-04-17 12:44:13 UTC

Yes, please. I want to confirm this wish.


Debian/testing, KDE 4.3.4
openSuse, KDE 4.4.1

Comment 3 Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems) 2012-08-24 16:21:29 UTC

Resetting assignee to default as per bug #305719

Comment 4 David de Cos 2018-06-04 14:53:24 UTC

This would be very useful. Both your suggestions (starting the tree in /home when it's clicked in Places, and having an option in a folder's context menu to start the tree there) are dead on.

Although this was reported 10 years ago, I really hope this is still in somebody's to-do list.

Comment 5 David de Cos 2018-06-04 15:08:11 UTC

Oh my God, I just realized part of it (starting the tree in /home when it's clicked in Places) has already been implemented. I remember having wanted this feature since the early KDE4 times, and somehow didn't notice when it came!

Comment 6 Marcelo Sales 2018-06-04 22:17:59 UTC

David, what version are you running? I've got to try that! Here, if I click Home in Places and then go back to folders view, I still see the whole tree starting from the root.

Comment 7 David de Cos 2018-06-05 09:24:31 UTC

Hi Marcelo,
I'm using version 18.04.1, but I'm not sure when it got implemented. Just go to the folders panel and right click on any folder of the tree. One of the options (in my case, just above "properties") should be something like "limit to the home folder". I have KDE in Spanish, and it says "limitar al directorio carpeta personal".
It would be awesome if, instead, the option were "start tree from this folder". It doesn't look like it would be a lot harder than what they've already implemented.

Comment 8 Marcelo Sales 2018-06-05 11:29:38 UTC

Thank you, David!
This option does not exist in 16.04.3, which is the version I'm currently running, but I'll upgrade and explore :-D
I also still think that the "Start tree from this folder" option in the context menu would be more than welcome and, as you said, it seems that all necessary work has already been done to implement the "Limit to home folder" option.

Comment 9 aristsakas 2026-01-02 19:20:58 UTC

*** Bug 245089 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***