SUMMARY --- The default sort order in KDE / XDG file picker is by *Name* is alphabetical. The default sort order in KDE / XDG file picker is by *Date* is oldest to newest (top down), which is inconsistent with the behavior of ancient ls(1) ($ ls -lt) command and might be inconvenient for many if not most of the users. Note: This report is asking for a simple(?) swap of the default sort order (on first click) to most-recent files first. It is not asking for any configurable [or not] approach to change it to a more complex per directory based solution. Note: The same is likely true for any window or view in Dolphin. Ref: https://discuss.kde.org/t/date-sort-order-on-first-click-in-file-picker/30354 STEPS TO REPRODUCE --- 1. use file picker to open or save any file from any application (including those, that use it as XDG component) 2. click on 'Date' 3. sort order is: *oldest* files first (at top of the list) note: the behavior depends on what you have done before with this dialog - it seems to start with last sort order used. OBSERVED RESULT --- 1., 2. and 3. see above EXPECTED RESULT --- 3. should be: newest files first (at top) SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Windows: --- macOS: ---- KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.0 and earlier KDE Frameworks Version: 6.10.0 and earlier Qt Version: 6.8.2
I can confirm this on Debian 13 (Trixie) with the unstable repository and: SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Linux/KDE Plasma: KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.0 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.11.0 Qt Version: 6.7.2 Kernel Version: 6.12.15-amd64 (64-bit) Graphics Platform: Wayland And I agree with the bug reporter! When sorting by dates it's more useful to see the most recent first. And one more problem that I see there is using just the term 'Date' which I assume is the modification date. What if a file was never modified, but just created / copied? I wish it would be more precise! Like: Modified date Or just: Modified (like in Dolphin). Also I see that you cannot change or other the other types of as unlike Dolphin, clicking on columns' headers doesn't work!
Sorting by date in WordPress backend also sort most recent first.
This is a bit tricky, because right now "reversed sort order" is a setting that applies globally to all of the sorting methods, not to individual ones. We have two options that I can see: 1. Change it to save the value of "reversed sorting" per sorting method, not globally, and then reverse only the date sorting method by default. 2. Secretly reverse whatever order gets applied to the date sorting method, without touching the config file at all. #2 is a lot less complex; I'll submit a patch for that and see what people say.
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/kio/-/merge_requests/1824
(In reply to Bug Janitor Service from comment #4) > A possibly relevant merge request was started @ > https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/kio/-/merge_requests/1824 Although I struggle to understand every line¹ of the patch personally, I love to see that quick action on the subject! ¹ spec. the part with the bitwise OR op ;)
(In reply to Christian Hartmann from comment #5) > ¹ spec. the part with the bitwise OR op ;) That sets the sort order by flipping the relevant bit. If it's already set, then it will be cleared by the OR, if it's not, it will be set. Likewise, I'm super pleased to see this get such immediate attention, thanks Nate. I don't want to complain but... NGL I'm kinda bummed to see this is being excluded for dolphin :( I don't really understand the logic behind this. I'm still under the impression (I could be wrong!) that most people, most of the time, want to see the files which they have used recently, first. Not that I advocate blindly copying other applications, but Windows Explorer sorts by most recent first. I'm not certain as I don't use it, but looking at Apple's docs, it seems Mac's Finder also does. Funnily enough, when I searched the web about Gnome Files (aka Nautilus), without any prompt regarding sort order at all, the AI told me that it sorts in ascending (ie oldest first) order, *and then gave the instructions I would need to reverse that*, so even the search engine with all its data, concluded that people like it better that way and often search to find out how. Here's a link so you can see what I saw. https://search.brave.com/search?q=gnome+files+sort+by+date&source=web&conversation=81ca696d2efc5a5b9f237f&summary=1 The more I try to prove myself wrong on this, the more I fail. Am I missing something?
(In reply to pallaswept from comment #6) > That sets the sort order by flipping the relevant bit. If it's already set, > then it will be cleared by the OR, if it's not, it will be set. Hah, I clicked reply, closed the tab, saw the code in the next tab, and went "wait, that's not an XOR". I probably should have read the actual code and not just the comment, I'm sorry. It's an OR, not an XOR, so it sets the bit, rather than flips it. Sorry for rushing that one. I was honestly a bit distracted :)
Git commit ee450e064b4c85d2dfa92cf71ce2a32c6746e90e by Nate Graham. Committed on 11/06/2025 at 13:14. Pushed by ngraham into branch 'invert-date-sorting-by-default'. KDirOperator: Make "newest first" the default kind of date sorting When sorting by date, "newest first" is more useful in the context of a file dialog where you're more likely to want to interact with newer files rather than older ones. To implement this, KDirOperator now inverts the sort order it's told to apply when sorting by date. It has to be done this way because the "reversed sorting" setting is stored globally, not per sort method. FIXED-IN: 6.12 M +7 -1 src/filewidgets/kdiroperator.cpp https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/kio/-/commit/ee450e064b4c85d2dfa92cf71ce2a32c6746e90e
Git commit db5a4b42fee782d6d43844b41fe2ad2cc6e21a48 by Nate Graham. Committed on 03/07/2025 at 11:42. Pushed by ngraham into branch 'invert-date-sorting-by-default'. KDirOperator: Make "newest first" the default kind of date sorting When sorting by date, "newest first" is more useful in the context of a file dialog where you're more likely to want to interact with newer files rather than older ones. To implement this, KDirOperator now inverts the sort order it's told to apply when sorting by date. It has to be done this way because the "reversed sorting" setting is stored globally, not per sort method. FIXED-IN: 6.17 M +7 -2 src/filewidgets/kdiroperator.cpp https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/kio/-/commit/db5a4b42fee782d6d43844b41fe2ad2cc6e21a48
Git commit 9ed2b9701f0d76d7d2f756f4fcabb633fd726502 by Nate Graham. Committed on 04/07/2025 at 20:06. Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'. KDirOperator: Make "newest first" the default kind of date sorting When sorting by date, "newest first" is more useful in the context of a file dialog where you're more likely to want to interact with newer files rather than older ones. To implement this, KDirOperator now inverts the sort order it's told to apply when sorting by date. It has to be done this way because the "reversed sorting" setting is stored globally, not per sort method. FIXED-IN: 6.17 M +7 -2 src/filewidgets/kdiroperator.cpp https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/kio/-/commit/9ed2b9701f0d76d7d2f756f4fcabb633fd726502