Bug 505638

Summary:	Suggestion: Double-right-click to edit files
Product:	[I don't know] kde	Reporter:	sixty_taro9z
Component:	general	Assignee:	Unassigned bugs <unassigned-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description sixty_taro9z 2025-06-15 18:04:02 UTC

I've noticed there's two big classes of things I usually want to do with files:
1. Execute, view, or "open" it (example: view HTML in a web browser).
2. Edit it (which usually means opening it in a text or image editor).

So I'd like to suggest a feature: each file type (including directories) should have both an "open" tool and an "edit" tool associated with it, and we have double-left-click open it (like now) while double-right-click edits it. (In some but not all cases, the two programs might be the same.)

Examples of programs I might set as open/edit defaults:
* Code files can be opened and executed as a program, or edited in VSCode.
* Directories: view with Dolphin (so double-left-click on a desktop folder opens it), edit in VSCode (open it as a workspace).
* Doc files: Probably set LibreOffice as both the open and edit program.
* PDF: view in Okular, edit in LibreOffice.
In short, I want to have some kind of "secondary action" that can be done with double-right-click (or triple-left-click, I'm not wedded to the details).

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2025-06-16 16:54:37 UTC

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure this would make sense, as it would:
1. …not be discoverable
2. …conflict with the normal right-click mechanics
3. …be a nightmare to implement universally everywhere
4. …not work outside of KDE apps

For those reasons, I think the cons outweigh the pros, sorry. But thanks for the idea anyway!

Comment 2 sixty_taro9z 2025-07-01 03:16:17 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure this would make sense, as it
> would:
> 1. …not be discoverable
> 2. …conflict with the normal right-click mechanics
> 3. …be a nightmare to implement universally everywhere
> 4. …not work outside of KDE apps

I was actually going to suggest resolutions to these issues, but in an ironic twist, I learned there's already a very similar feature in KDE, it's just not discoverable! Apparently, middle-clicking text files will open them in KWrite instead of my default text editor.

In addition to discoverability, the current implementation isn't configurable. (What if I don't want to use KWrite?) I'd suggest killing two birds with one stone by adding a second column to the "default apps" picker, which lets you set the secondary action (e.g. editor) for MIME types that happens on a middle-click.

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2025-07-05 19:41:06 UTC

It opens the file in the second item in the priority list for that file type — whatever it is. It's not hardcoded to be KWrite. You can edit this in priority list in System Settings > Default Applications > File Associations > find a file type > change the "Application Preference Order".

Comment 4 sixty_taro9z 2025-07-07 20:27:16 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> It opens the file in the second item in the priority list for that file type
> — whatever it is. It's not hardcoded to be KWrite. You can edit this in
> priority list in System Settings > Default Applications > File Associations
> > find a file type > change the "Application Preference Order".

Oh, thanks! In that case, I suppose I've run into three issues with the current implementation:
1. Looking at the file associations, editing them one-by-one seems unwieldy—there's way too many filetypes for me to set the correct secondary program for each one.
2. The connection between middle-clicking and being second in this list is hard to discover.
3. Middle-clicking a directory seems to be special-cased, which keeps me from mapping middle-click to opening the folder in VSCode. This could be solved either by having users open folders in a new tab with `ctrl+click` and making middle-click behave consistently,* or by allowing users to open the second option for either files or folders with something like `alt+(double) click`.