SUMMARY When starting Dolphin with Split view enabled and without remembering the last used folders and tabs, the two split view panes end up in a weird limbo state of splitting the keyboard and mouse focus between them, while both are looking as if they were "sort of focused" (see screenshot). STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Start Dolphin, go to Settings -> Interface -> Folders & Tabs 2. Select "Show on startup: /home/yourusername (or any other folder)" 3. Enable "New windows: Begin in split view mode" 4. Close Dolphin, start Dolphin again. OBSERVED RESULT * Both split view panes have the same background color, and the location bar is grayed out on both panes. * The left pane has keyboard focus (to test, press arrow down on keyboard), but the right pane has focus for opening folders via mouse click on the places panel, and also for the toolbar button that closes the active split view pane! * This weird state is ended by either opening a directory via double-click in one of the split views, or by opening one of Dolphin's modal dialog windows (like Settings, Keyboard Shortcut configuration etc.). EXPECTED RESULT Visual distinction which of the two panes has focus, with both keyboard and mouse focus applying to the same pane. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.80 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.14.0 Qt Version: 6.8.3 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Reproduced with * Dolphin + Plasma build from master on Kubuntu 25.04 * Neon Unstable live image in a VM On Dolphin 25.04 (Neon User live image) the bug is absent, so it seems to be a recent regression on master.
Created attachment 180811 [details] Screenshot of the weird focus limbo state
I have a very similar experience, though I did set up Dolphin to remember the last session. I believe the bug's Importance ought to be escalated since its repercussions might be much more grave: In this "focus-less" state, when - highlighting a file and pressing the DEL key, another file/folder in the opposite window pane will be deleted instead. - copying a file with Ctrl+C, switching to another tab and trying to paste it with Ctrl+V, Dolphin pastes a different file that was copied earlier. The highlighted file I thought I just copied wasn't copied after all. This state can reliably be ended by pressing the Tab key once. Following that, each pane gets focused properly upon left-click. I also created a new user account to test a virgin Dolphin setup, same behavior there. System info: Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20251006 KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.5 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.18.0 Qt Version: 6.9.2 Kernel Version: 6.17.0-2-default (64-bit) Graphics Platform: Wayland
Hi, This issue is similar this? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=508554
*** Bug 508554 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Also affected, regardless of whether dolphin is set to restore session. New tabs always have split view panes in limbo. Given that Jan saw this already on April 30, the only commit that stands out to me is https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/9d60570ca784000cb5ef78b13861eee58117595d, since it is not in 25.04, was committed in April and contains ` primaryUrlNavigator()->setBackgroundEnabled(enabled);` frameworks 6.19.0 dolphin 25.08.2 Qt 6.10.0 Arch
(In reply to Paul from comment #5) > Also affected, regardless of whether dolphin is set to restore session. > New tabs always have split view panes in limbo. > Given that Jan saw this already on April 30, the only commit that stands out > to me is > https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/ > 9d60570ca784000cb5ef78b13861eee58117595d, since it is not in 25.04, was > committed in April and contains > ` primaryUrlNavigator()->setBackgroundEnabled(enabled);` > > frameworks 6.19.0 > dolphin 25.08.2 > Qt 6.10.0 > Arch nm, reverting that commit had no effect on this.
I've determined this bug was introduced in https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/4102ccb80457eea44ea280f0ace2a419602bc34b which is, unfortunately, quite large.
*** Bug 508670 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Wouldn't it be reasonable to raise the importance since this issue can lead to randomly deleted files? Is it possible to make the author of this commit aware of this bug?
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/merge_requests/1101
Git commit 4916403d46216237205394dc86a86b8ea5a4cedc by Rafał Lichwała. Committed on 16/11/2025 at 14:10. Pushed by meven into branch 'master'. main: set active view in split mode when not restoring session When Dolphin config was set to start in split mode by default AND simply open the given folder in both panels (Settings -> Folders&Tabs -> Show on startup -> selected folder [NOT "...state from last time"]) no view was initially active making weird side-effects described in both bugs. This commit solves that by calling mainWindow->openDirectories on start when both of the above conditions are met. Related: bug 508554 M +4 -0 src/main.cpp https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/4916403d46216237205394dc86a86b8ea5a4cedc
Git commit 3f5bf2dfb18feffc84770cc19c6e2786ff8de8f8 by Méven Car, on behalf of Rafał Lichwała. Committed on 22/11/2025 at 21:34. Pushed by meven into branch 'release/25.12'. main: set active view in split mode when not restoring session When Dolphin config was set to start in split mode by default AND simply open the given folder in both panels (Settings -> Folders&Tabs -> Show on startup -> selected folder [NOT "...state from last time"]) no view was initially active making weird side-effects described in both bugs. This commit solves that by calling mainWindow->openDirectories on start when both of the above conditions are met. Related: bug 508554 (cherry picked from commit 4916403d46216237205394dc86a86b8ea5a4cedc) Co-authored-by: Rafał Lichwała <rafal@siliconet.pl> M +4 -0 src/main.cpp https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/3f5bf2dfb18feffc84770cc19c6e2786ff8de8f8
*** Bug 512162 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***