I see that in https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/3871 the desktop switching keyboard shortcuts were removed. I just upgraded to KDE 6 today and am crestfallen to discover that these keyboard shortcuts no longer work. This ticket is a desperate plea for you to please bring (at least some of) them back. Perhaps I am idiosyncratic, but I have been relying on heavily on the "Walk through desktops" keyboard shortcut for probably well over 10 years. I would venture to guess that I have been using this keyboard shortcut over 100 times every day. Seriously. I actually use it slightly MORE frequently than switching between windows. I'm front end web software engineer, and I organize my work into a grid of 9 desktops, most commonly making use of several desktops at a time. Without getting too into the weeds, I'll just say that "switching to the desktop that I was previously on" gives me a very convenient way to toggle between two groups of similar windows at a time, and that is tremendously helpful for my day-to-day tasks and the way my brain works. Often I have one desktop with Thunderbird, Matrix Element, GitHub, Basecamp (all the comms windows); and another with my code editor, terminal, browser, dev tools (my dev work). I toggle between those two desktops frequently. Then I might utilize a different desktop for a slightly more ephemeral task, say a small bit of research that requires several windows but will only take 2 hours. Then I'm often toggling between that desktop and my comms desktop or my dev desktop. I've tried using activities for this but it really doesn't work as well for me. I like to be able to visually group windows into similar types of tasks without having to give names to them. And I like to zoom out and see all my open windows at once using the desktop grid. Those things are harder with activities. Desktops feel lighter weight and easier for me to reason about. I am still able to use keyboard shortcuts to switch to a specific desktop or to switch to a desktop in a specific direction (e.g. "left"), but that doesn't allow me to toggle between two desktops. That's the important thing I'm missing. I desperately want a keyboard shortcut again that will take me to the desktop I was just on. It doesn't even need to have the "walk though" functionality. That is, I don't need to see a list switcher pop up to switch between any of my 9 desktops (because I can use the grid for that). I just want to go back to the one I was just on. Please please PLEASE!!!
Perhaps it's also worth mentioning that I see two other keyboard shortcuts titled "Switch to Next Desktop" and "Switch to Previous Desktop". I've tried enabling them, but they don't appear to do anything. I have a vague recollection that these keyboard shortcuts used to function in a manner where they would switch to the next/previous desktop in the order they are listed. That's not what I want. I want to be able to switch to the desktop I was previously on. I could be remembering incorrectly though. If there is an easy way to enable a one-shot shortcut to simply switch to the desktop I was previously on, I'd love to know how to do that!
I found these similar issues of people that seem to be reporting the same thing as me. https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481297 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=460502 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=479984 These were all closed as "RESOLVED INTENTIONAL". I implore you: please do not close this one too. This issue as a feature request for something to fill this need again.
So you don't need the old "walk through desktops" shortcut precisely, you just need a shortcut to cycle between the current and the previous desktop. Is it correct?
(In reply to Vlad Zahorodnii from comment #3) > So you don't need the old "walk through desktops" shortcut precisely, you > just need a shortcut to cycle between the current and the previous desktop. > Is it correct? If so, this can be accomplished with script. For example, https://invent.kde.org/vladz/switch-to-previous-desktop. The README file contains the instructions how to install it. maybe it can be shipped by kdeplasma-addons
> need a shortcut to cycle between the current and the previous desktop. Yes. Correct I installed the KWin script you linked to. It works great for me!! THANK YOU!!! I'm marking this as resolved now since my problem is solved via the KWin script.
*** Bug 483524 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Hi guys, I just updated my OS today to find my shortcut for walking through desktops is no longer working. I was further confused because there is still a shortcut entry for it in settings that just does not work anymore. Why was this feature removed with no similar alternative in place? This feels equivalent to removing Alt+Tab's ability to cycle through windows in order of recently used. (In reply to Vlad Zahorodnii from comment #3) > So you don't need the old "walk through desktops" shortcut precisely, you > just need a shortcut to cycle between the current and the previous desktop. > Is it correct? I would love to have access to the functionality that was removed as it was. I have tried the script you linked and it is better than nothing. I can go to the last desktop, but it only works after I click on a 2nd desktop for the first time. Previously I could use the Walk Through Desktops shortcut (Meta+S in my case) to get to the desktop I wanted, then use Meta+S again to swap back to the desktop I came from. Meta+S+S to go to the 2nd last used desktop, and so on, all with one shortcut.
in the same boat as evn. i did use "walk through desktops" exactly the same way as alt-tab: most frequently to cycle between two desktops, but occasionally to go further. i have such strong muscle memory for it that i keep hitting the shortcut habitually, even knowing it doesn't do anything any more. but reproducing that requires some gui — probably about what was removed from tabbox. i can't even figure out why this was removed. the merge request says the tabbox code was "effectively unused" because you had to get into "kwin internals" to make use of it, but it was a readily-accessible shortcut in system settings, so that doesn't make any sense. i STILL see it in system settings — along with at least half a dozen other bindings that no longer seem to work — which does not make its removal seem very intentional. other than the wayland session that instantly crashed, this is the main obvious change in kde 6, which is kind of a bummer.
I'm yet another one whose time was wasted by the hasty decision taken in https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/3871 As explained by several others, the stated reasoning behind the removal of desktop walking shortcuts is FLAWED, at best. Moreover, there are no less than three scripts (https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/3871#note_943592) that attempt, yet fail to compensate this elimination, one of which is made by the author of removal himself! Isn't this enough to show you that denying desktop walking via keyboard shortcuts similar to window walking was a mistake which needs to be REVERTED? The community of KDE users is far-far more extended than those very few people active on kde.org. This silent, huge majority is usually reactive, not proactive, and judging by the reactions (bug reports and comments) you've had, you managed to awaken this majority. Over some chunk of perfectly working code that got dumped in favor of some often buggy, clumsier, but (granted!) shinier functionality. As a KDE user for more than a decade who has just made an account with bugs.kde.org, I've taken the liberty to reopen this bug in hope of seeing it solved in Plasma 6.2.
I also ended up here because I miss this functionality. I believe the title "feature request" is inappropriate. It should be "regression" since it's something that broke on a major version upgrade.
I'm also quite baffled that this feature was removed. It totally nerfs my productivity. I tried the alternative options, but they just don't work for me. I also tried to log into invent.kde.org, but I cannot create a user there, hence I'm adding my voice here.