Bug 506698

Hello Maximilian! The Present Windows bindings have been absent from the Overview options KCM for some time (since at least Plasma 6 I believe), but there are still a few ways to get to them in 6.4. 

> System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Window Management -> Toggle Present Windows. 
They can also be scripted: 

> qdbus org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/kwin invokeShortcut Expose (Expose, ExposeAll, ExposeClass, ExposeClassCurrentDesktop)

I definitely agree Overview is too simplified, it makes options like these harder to find. This isn't the old 5.x C++ Present Windows effect to note, it's Overview's backend running with elements like the Desktop Bar absent (WindowView). It would be logical to merge WindowView's advanced filtering into Overview's options and consolidate the two effects entirely, but the new options might make heads spin.

In either 6.2 or 6.3 we hid the entry for the Present Windows effect, because we consider it to be core to KWin and perfectly fine to leave enabled.

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/1d42d64f8722be51d0dede3c2e7da3ed3e32936c

The shortcuts previously accessible there remain accessible through the Shortcuts System Settings page.

I’m relieved you are not taking it away.

Why did Plasma 6.4 delete my shortcuts for these effects then? They haven’t worked anymore and the keys were suddenly free to bind to other actions. It’s Arch, so I’m coming from 6.3.

I was able to find all 4 modi in the global shortcuts list now.
Actually searched there before but they have changed names now in the German locale ("Fenster zeigen" was what I remembered).

"Fenster auf allen Arbeitsflächen anzeigen" (Before: "Present Windows (All desktops)") doesn’t do anything when I bind a key. Neither on X.Org, nor on Wayland. The others work.
It does work with "qdbus org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/kwin invokeShortcut ExposeAll" though. Somewhere might be a bug in the visual config pane.

The discoverability is really unlucky now. It was more likely you came across the possible 4 modi before when browsing though the effects page and clicking Present Windows to look for options. Now, only the most hardcore users will even learn about Present Windows of all desktops, only the current desktop class etc. Besides of the screen corner config pane.

Also, the 4 modi aren’t beneath each other, at least not in the German locale. They are alphabetically ordered with all other possible Kwin shortcuts, which separates them in the huge list basically meters from each other.

Ah, I'm not at all sure why the shortcuts would be dropped on update. There are no code changes that should have caused this to happen.

Can you add a copy of your ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc file as an attachment to the bug?

Created attachment 183041 [details]
kglobalshortcutsrc

Oh, forgot I had cleared my shortcut to test the key with other actions. You have to add this as new line 219:

Window On All Desktops=F8,,Fenster auf allen Arbeitsflächen anzeigen

Still not working here.

Hm, I can confirm all four effect triggers work as intended on my system (both X11 and Wayland), mapped to single F7, F8, F9, F10 in Keyboard Shortcuts to match your kglobalshortcutsrc, no modifiers. 

Does the default Ctrl+F10 work to launch "All Desktops" (ExposeAll) on your system, and would a similar Ctrl+F8 work?

Created attachment 183161 [details]
No default key combo at the All Desktops scale effect in German

Hey, sorry for the delay. Wanted to try this on a different family computer.
It did not work there either.

Interestingly, there also isn’t a standard key combo in the settings like with the other three modi, there is no default Ctrl + F8 to disable. See the new attachment. The other modi "Current desktop" and "Current desktop, current window class" have a Ctrl + F9 / F7 default, but not "Current desktop, current window class". The last one works though with manually assigned key. "All desktops" does not.

I highly suspect this has something to do with the German localization. Might be the same reason why the 6.4 upgrade has deleted my custom shortcuts F7, F8, F9.

Created attachment 183184 [details]
kglobalshortcutsrc

I did have keybindings in use for the All Desktops and Current Desktop options, but I don't seem to have them on updating to 6.4 and can't find any bindings available via > System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Window Management -> Toggle Present Windows. Specifically, the software versions are:

KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.15.0
Qt Version: 6.9.1

Do I need to manually add the shortcuts back to the kglobalshortcutsrc file or should I expect to the see the bindings under the Window Management shortcuts?

I've attached my kglobalshortcutsrc file for reference.

For me, either an update or rereading through the effects list in the shortcut settings has resolved my last issue: I was able to bind F8 again to Present Windows – All desktops.

I might have gotten confused by "Fenster auf allen Arbeitsflächen anzeigen" instead of "Fenster aller Arbeitsflächen anzeigen", that’s maybe why I didn’t see the Ctrl+F10 standard there before either.

That’s the direct consequence of removing the own Present Windows effect settings with its clear list of four modi from the Kwin settings page. 
Terrible discoverability of this keyboard shortcut setting and highly confusing now.

I'm seeing the same now after an update (versions below) that the bindings are available again, though my existing bindings were cleared, but that's easily fixable.

KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.16.0
Qt Version: 6.9.1

Honestly this was a super annoying change for no good reason. I want to filter all windows. Why hide the keyboard shortcuts for that critical function? I am glad to see others also noticed this breaking change.

> Why did Plasma 6.4 delete my shortcuts for these effects then
Because of a bug. It was fixed in https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kglobalacceld/-/merge_requests/72. Hopefully it won't happen again!