Bug 221115 - Shortcuts to add/remove virtual desktops
Summary: Shortcuts to add/remove virtual desktops
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Compiled Sources Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-01-03 15:35 UTC by Grósz Dániel
Modified: 2019-02-21 01:25 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Grósz Dániel 2010-01-03 15:35:58 UTC
Version:            (using Devel)
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    Compiled sources

It is great in 4.4 that it is easy to use virtual desktops more dynamically: you can add/remove virtual desktops from the popup menu of the pager. However clicking on an entry in the popup menu is less convenient than pressing a shortcut. Please provide shortcut slots for adding a virtual desktop and for removing the last one. As in many cases when you create a desktop you want to use it immediately (but in other cases you want to move existing windows to it, when you create a new desktop because your current one goes overcrowded with windows) I'd suggest an "Add virtual desktop and switch it" shortcut alongside the "Add virtual desktop" (which does not switch to it).
Comment 1 Andreas Pakulat 2010-01-03 17:56:43 UTC
Please don't and consider the app developers too. Adding default shortcuts to kwin always means taking them away from _all_ applications you can run on your desktop. Note I'm not objecting to having such an action inside the shortcut configuration, but it shouldn't have a shortcut assigned to it by default.
Comment 2 Grósz Dániel 2010-01-03 18:06:48 UTC
Yes, I'd like to see an action to which you can assign a shortcut (I meant this by "shortcut slot"), not a default shortcut.
Comment 3 Johannes Schwenk 2010-06-03 12:29:16 UTC
I second that wish, that would be of great help!

Meanwhile I would also like to propose a closely related feature:

Consider you are working with only one virtual desktop, because usually you don't have so many windows open that it would be worth bothering to set up a virtual desktop and afterwards remove it again.

Or you are just frustrated that most times the configured virtual desktops are empty, or you have some empty ones between filled ones. Or you have to reorder your windows frequently to keep up with your changing mental image of the tasks you are doing...

Now, would it not be great, if you could just take a snapshot of your current desktop, possibly give it a name and append it to the list of virtual desktops and switch to it? This could be called e.g.:

"Virtualize current desktop"

And additionally:

"Virtualize current desktop (dont't switch)"

This would move all windows to the new Desktop (naming dialog can be configured to be switched to "auto-name"), leaving you on the current empty Desktop ready to start a new task.

Make this bindable to a shortcut sequence like for example Ctrl+Alt+Schift+<Arrow up> and creating new _filled_ virtual desktops is a breeze.

I would consider, to make the list of virtual desktops ordering variable and resemble that of the application switcher, so that you can effectively switch from desktop 4 to desktop 1 and back with pressing _once_ a key combination.

If you choose to destroy the current virtual desktop jus press, say Ctrl+Alt+Schift+Q, all windows would be assigned to the parent desktop.

This is a "on-the-fly paradigm" that would greatly improve creativity. For every new task that requires more than 2-3 windows, I would switch to the first desktop and open all windows, create a new virtual desktop and work on it. If I want to start another activity, I switch back to the first desktop and start anew...

Thanks for all your efforts!

Johannes
Comment 4 Martin Flöser 2010-10-03 10:42:45 UTC
I think the solution of 4.5 solves the use case: adding virtual desktops in desktop grid. So you can easily add a desktop and move the windows you want to have on them. That is more useful than using a shortcut and then sending all windows manually to each desktop. So I think a standalone shortcut does not make sense as that is not part of the workflow. A valid workflow would be to have a menu entry to move a window to a new desktop, but that has nothing to do with this with.

Concerning the feature request in comment #3: please do not mix feature requests in one report. I think your workflow can be realized with the activity feature which is currently evolving.