Bug 517016

Summary:	Add layout direction setting to System Tray settings
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Prod_EGO <areyoufeelingitnowmrkrebs>
Component:	System Tray widget	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	materka, nate
Priority:	LO
Version First Reported In:	6.6.0
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Arch Linux
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:	https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/86ac0373814e080fe1873315a822ee63a68af052	Version Fixed/Implemented In:	6.7.0
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Prod_EGO 2026-03-03 07:35:20 UTC

I am requesting two UX enhancements for the System Tray widget to better support custom panel layouts. Currently, managing multiple system trays or placing them on non-standard panel edges is difficult due to hard-coded layout behavior and tedious granular settings.

Feature Request 1: Layout Direction Toggle

The Problem: The System Tray's expansion direction is currently tied to the global OS locale. If a user running a Left-To-Right language places a system tray on the left edge of a panel, new icons spawning in the tray push existing icons to the right. This creates a jarring visual effect where icons slide away from the screen edge instead of cleanly spawning into the empty space.

The Solution: Introduce a simple toggle in the System Tray settings to manually override the layout direction (e.g., "Expand Left-to-Right/Bottom-to-Top" vs. "Expand Right-to-Left/Bottom-to-Top"). This decouples the widget's rendering from the system language and gives users total control over their layout physics.

Feature Request 2: Master Category Visibility Toggles

The Problem: Many users like to separate their core system functions (Network, Volume, Bluetooth) from their third-party background applications (Steam, Discord, Nextcloud) by using two separate system trays on different panels. Currently, achieving this requires manually going into the "Entries" settings of both trays and hiding/showing every individual item one by one. Whenever a new background app is installed, the user has to repeat this process.

The Solution: Add master visibility toggles for the broader categories inside the "Entries" tab: specifically a master toggle for "System Controls" and a master toggle for "Applications". This would allow a user to instantly configure a tray to act strictly as a background app catcher with a single click, rather than micromanaging individual app drop downs.

Comment 1 Prod_EGO 2026-03-03 07:40:58 UTC

> The Solution: Introduce a simple toggle in the System Tray settings to
> manually override the layout direction (e.g., "Expand
> Left-to-Right/Bottom-to-Top" vs. "Expand Right-to-Left/Bottom-to-Top"). This
> decouples the widget's rendering from the system language and gives users
> total control over their layout physics.

Small typo. To clarify, the default behavior is either right-to-left or bottom-to-top depending on the orientation of the panel (horizontal/vertical); the proposed toggle would simply reverse the default behavior.

Comment 2 Nate Graham 2026-03-03 13:22:00 UTC

One feature request per Bugzilla ticket, please. Let's use this one for the configurable layout direction idea.

Comment 3 Prod_EGO 2026-03-04 01:34:46 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> One feature request per Bugzilla ticket, please. Let's use this one for the
> configurable layout direction idea.

Done. I will edit the title of this one.

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=517060

Comment 4 Prod_EGO 2026-03-04 01:35:06 UTC

(In reply to Prod_EGO from comment #3)
> (In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> > One feature request per Bugzilla ticket, please. Let's use this one for the
> > configurable layout direction idea.
> 
> Done. I will edit the title of this one.
> 
> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=517060

Never mind, I can see you've already done so.

Comment 5 Prod_EGO 2026-03-04 05:20:37 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #2)
> One feature request per Bugzilla ticket, please. Let's use this one for the
> configurable layout direction idea.

Quick follow-up, I actually wrote a working proof-of-concept for this a few months ago. I'm not sure how perfectly it aligns with the current codebase, but it successfully implemented the toggle by modifying main.xml, ConfigGeneral.qml, and main.qml using LayoutMirroring.

Here is the full breakdown and the QML code I used: https://discuss.kde.org/t/reverse-icon-order-toggle-for-system-tray/42639?u=prod_ego

Hopefully, this provides a helpful starting point or saves some time for whoever picks this up

Comment 6 Nate Graham 2026-03-19 14:35:29 UTC

Git commit 86ac0373814e080fe1873315a822ee63a68af052 by Nate Graham, on behalf of Nathaniel Krebs.
Committed on 19/03/2026 at 14:35.
Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'.

applets/systemtray: Add option to reverse icon order

The System Tray widget currently has a fixed layout order (arrow at the far
right/bottom). This creates friction when the tray is placed on the left
side of a horizontal panel or the top of a vertical panel. In these
configurations, the arrow's position shifts as new icons appear, making it
harder to target.

This change adds a setting to reverse the icon order. When enabled, it flips
the positions of the arrow and the icons, allowing the arrow to remain fixed
at the starting edge (left/top) while icons emerge toward the other side.
FIXED-IN: 6.7.0

M  +4    -0    applets/systemtray/main.xml
M  +46   -4    applets/systemtray/qml/ConfigGeneral.qml
M  +13   -1    applets/systemtray/qml/main.qml

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/86ac0373814e080fe1873315a822ee63a68af052