SUMMARY Sorry, not sure what product / component is the best for this. https://blogs.kde.org/2025/05/03/this-week-in-plasma-move-by-default-when-dragging-and-dropping Move if on the same device: Implemented behavior 1. Normal move: move/copy 2. Shift move: shows other options Suggested behavior (hybrid between the old and new) 1. Normal move: move/copy 2. Shift to always move 3. Ctrl to always copy 4. Shift+Ctrl to always symlink 5. Alt (or Super) to show all options I love the new behavior and will move to it immediately, but I think it would be better to have special moves binded to the same keybinds as the OG move and we can create popup with a new keybind (alt or super key). It would save users additional clicks by having those keybinds instead of needing to use the popup while still having the normal move be move/copy. With the suggested behavior we could almost have only 1 move behavior because it covers all options from the OG move with the change of normal move to alt move (but I don't suggest to remove it with this request, just an idea, not sure how much that would disrupt user's workflows, I'd think not much) Keep the Always ask what to do as is.
That's exactly what it does. :)
Is the description in the system settings wrong then, where it says "Hold Shift when dropping to show other options." if it does what I suggested or is it planned to be changed?
Aha, I was testing this slightly wrong, and it indeed does not work exactly the way you specify. Sebastian, what do you think?
I think moving the shortcut to bring up the menu to alt makes sense. As Filip said, this would then make the shortcut always work consistently. It is a bit inconsistent currently as you can actually now hold shift to trigger a move when moving between devices. If you are not moving between devices, it will bring up the menu. So having alt always bring up the menu would be much better as we then don't mess with peoples muscle memory (IE "if I hold shift it will always move no matter what")
One thing worth mentioning here. Meta (Super) or Alt can be used as modifier keys for window actions. I guess most people use them + left click to move windows so it might not be the best to use that combo for moving files. Probably better to use some other combo like Shift+Alt instead for the menu, or some other combo that's more ergonomic.
Shouldn't alt be safe now though? I think most Window managers have moved away from using alt as the default "move/resize window" key as it interfered to much with programs using alt of certain mouse shortcuts. I think most of the WMs have moved this to be on Super nowadays.
I'm not sure about other WMs, but you might be right there AFAIK. I was mainly referring to the Kwin window action settings. I actually use Alt as a modifier key (uploaded image to show what I mean). I don't know how many people change that setting. I guess moving a file would take a precedent over move window when user triggers the action while hovering over the file? But then user needs to be a bit more thoughtful to place the cursor between the files to move the window which could be annoying if you accidentally trigger move a file instead of move a window action. Might be safer to use Shift+Alt for this case, but I might be just overthinking this.
Created attachment 181070 [details] window actions modifier key
@Méven what do you think?
Reminder about this now that the work calmed down after the 6.4 release. Also, related to this, I was expecting that the drag&drop behavior will also change for moving files between devices. I know it only says Move if on the same device, but it feels like a mixed behavior. I propose that there are 3 options (or 2) - Always ask (this would disable the two other options) - Move if on the same device (these two can be enabled separately) - Copy if not on the same device Or - Always ask - Move/copy if on/not the same device (some other wording might be better. This would move if on the same device and copy if not on the same device. This is how all other OSes work which was the point of adding this feature, to match the behavior of them for people who are used to it.)
I sadly don't have any time to work on this. However if anyone else wants to step up, they have my blessing.