The File menu allows you to perform operations on the currently open file and access common tasks in applications.

Common menu items include:

The Edit menu allows you to modify the currently open file.

The View menu allows you to change the layout of the currently open file and/or the running application.

This menu has different options depending on the application you are using.

The Tools menu allows you to perform certain actions on the currently open file.

The Settings allows you to customize the application.

This menu typically contains the following items:

The Help menu gives you access to the application's documentation and other useful resources.

Special thanks to an anonymous Google Code-In 2011 participant for writing much of this documentation.

These shortcuts allow you to perform all kinds of operations with windows, whether it be opening, closing, moving, or switching between them.

These shortcuts allow you to switch between and manage Activities and virtual desktops.

These shortcuts allow you to work with the KDE Plasma Desktop and panels.

Need some help? The manual for the current application is only a keypress away, and some programs even have additional help that explains the element in focus.

Whether it's a text document, spreadsheet, or web site, these shortcuts make performing many kinds of tasks with them easy.

Whether your in an Open/Save dialog or the Dolphin file manager, these shortcuts save you time when performing operations on files. Note that some of the concepts used with files are the same as with documents, so several of the shortcuts are identical to their counterparts listed above.

In addition to the standard keys, many computer keyboards and laptops nowadays have special keys or buttons to change the speaker volume, as well as the brightness of your monitor if applicable. If present, you can use these keys in the KDE Plasma Workspaces to perform those tasks.

If you do not have such keys, see the section called “Modifying Shortcuts” for information on how to assign keys for these tasks.

All done? Use these shortcuts and put your computer away!

The shortcuts described in Working With Windows, Leaving Your Computer, and Changing Volume and Brightness are called global shortcuts, since they work regardless of which window you have open on your screen. These can be modified in the Global Shortcuts panel of System Settings, where they are separated by KDE component.

The shortcuts described in Working with Activities and Virtual Desktops and Working with the Desktop can be modified by clicking on the Desktop Toolbox and selecting Shortcut Settings.

The shortcuts described in Working with Documents and Getting Help are set by individual programs. Most KDE programs allow you to use the common shortcut editing dialog to modify these. The shortcuts described in Working With Files can be edited in the same manner when used inside a file manager like Dolphin or Konqueror, but cannot be modified in the case of Open/Save dialogs, etc.

Many KDE applications work with files. Most applications have a File menu with options that allow you to open and save files. For more information on that, see the section called “The File Menu”. However, there are lots of different operations that require selecting a file. Regardless of the method, all KDE applications generally use the same file selection window.

Opening a file in Konqueror.

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 participant Alexey Subach for writing parts of this section.

Correcting a misspelling.

To check spelling, go to Tools → Spelling....

If a word is possibly misspelled in your document, it is displayed in the top line in the dialog. Sonnet tries to appropriate word(s) for replacement. The best guess is displayed to the right of Replace with. To accept this replacement, click on Replace.

Sonnet also allows you to select a word from the list of suggestions and replace the misspelled word with that selected word. With the help of the Suggest button, you can add more suggestions from the dictionary to the suggestions list.

Click on Ignore to keep your original spelling.

Click on Finished to stop spellchecking and keep the changes made.

Click on Cancel to stop spellchecking and cancel the changes already made.

Click on Replace All to automatically replace the misspelled word(s) with the chosen replacement word, if they appear again in your document later.

Click on Ignore All to ignore the spelling at that point and all the future occurrences of the word misspelled.

Click on Add to Dictionary to add the misspelled word to your personal dictionary.

The Personal Dictionary is a distinct dictionary from the system dictionary and the additions made by you will not be seen by others.

The drop down box Language at the bottom of this dialog allows you to switch to another dictionary temporarily.

In many applications, you can automatically check spelling as you type. To enable this feature, select Tools → Automatic Spell Checking.

Potentially misspelled words will be underlined in red. To select a suggestion, right click on the word, select the Spelling submenu, and select the suggestion. You may also instruct Sonnet to ignore this spelling for this document by selecting Ignore Word, or you may select Add to Dictionary to save it in your personal dictionary.

To change your dictionary, go to Tools → Change Dictionary.... A small window will appear at the bottom of the current document that will allow you to change your dictionary.

For more information on configuring Sonnet, see the Spell Checker System Settings module documentation

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 Participant Salma Sultana for writing much of this section.

The Find function searches for text in a document and selects it.

Searching for software in KMail's composer window.

To use Find in many applications, go to Edit → Find... or press Ctrl+F. Then, in the Text to find: text box, enter the text that you want to find.

If Regular expression is checked you will be able to search using regular expressions. Click on Edit to select from and enter commonly used regular expression characters, like White Space or Start of Line. If Kate is installed, you can find more information on writing regular expressions in its documentation.

You can limit the found results by configuring these options:

The Find function only selects the first match that it finds. You can continue searching by selecting Edit → Find Next or by pressing F3.

KMail displays a match for software.

Applications which use the KDE text editor component show a search bar instead of the Find window. See KWrite documentation for additional information on the search bar.

Searching for software in Kate's search bar.

The Replace function searches for text in a document and replaces it with other text. You can find it in many application at Edit → Replace... or by pressing Ctrl+R.

Replacing food with drink in KMail

The window of the Replace function is separated into 3 sections:

Applications which use the KDE text editor component show a search and replace bar instead of the Replace window. See KWrite documentation for additional information on the search and replace bar.

Replacing kmail with kate in Kate's search and replace bar

Thanks to an anonymous Google Code-In 2011 participant for writing much of this section.

A palette is a set of predefined colors. You can find it on the right side of the color chooser window.

To select a color from a palette, simply click on it. The color will be displayed below the palette, along with its HTML hexadecimal code and name, if any.

To switch between them, use the drop down box above the color palette. Most palettes will display a grid consisting of the colors, except for the Named Colors, which lets you select from a list of names. Other special palettes include * Recent Colors *, which will display colors that you have recently selected, and * Custom Colors *, which will display custom colors that you have saved. For more information on setting custom colors, see the section called “Saving Custom Colors”

The color chooser also lets you mix your own colors. There are several ways to do this:

After selecting a color, you may save it to the Custom Colors palette so you can find it later. To do so, click the Add to Custom Colors button. You can then find it by selecting the * Custom Colors * palette from the drop down box in the upper-right corner of the screen. For more information on using palettes, see the section called “Using Palettes”.

Many KDE applications allow you to configure keyboard shortcuts. To open the standard keyboard shortcuts configuration panel, go to Settings → Configure Shortcuts....

In the Configure Shortcuts window, you will see a list of all the shortcuts available in the current application. You can use the search box at the top to search for the shortcut you want.

Searching for shortcuts with file in Dolphin.

To change a shortcut, first click on the name of a shortcut you want to change. You will see a radio group where you can choose whether to set the shortcut to its default value, or select a new shortcut for the selected action. To set a new shortcut, choose Custom and click on the button next to it. Then just type the shortcut you would like to use, and your changes will be saved.

There is a button at the bottom of the window, called Reset to Defaults. Clicking on this button will reset all your custom shortcuts to their default values.

You can also reset an individual shortcut to its default value by selecting it, and choosing the Default radio button.

To remove a shortcut, select it from the list, then click the remove icon (a black arrow with a cross) to the right of the button that allows you to select a shortcut.

Schemes are keyboard shortcuts configuration profiles, so you can create several profiles with different shortcuts and switch between these profiles easily.

Editing a scheme called work.

To see a menu allowing you to edit schemes, click on the Details button at the bottom of the form. The following options will appear:

You can print out a list of shortcuts for easy reference by clicking the Print button at the bottom of the window.

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 participant Alexey Subach for writing much of this section.