Show Desktop Grid not working in KDE Plasma 6 [SOLVED]

FluffyCalmPanther · 2024-03-09 15:18:48

What is the issue?

Nothing happens when I press the shortcut to Show Desktop Grid (Meta+F8).

When did this issue begin?

Today, after I ran pacman to install updates. This issue hasn't occurred in the ~8 months I've been using Arch.

Is there a workaround for this issue?

I haven't found one yet.

I mean, I can Toggle Present Windows (Current desktop) by pressing Ctrl+F9. And this would be good enough for me, if this feature would also allow me to set a specific application to be visible on all of my virtual desktops. But AFAIK I need to use the Show Desktop Grid to set a specific application to be visible on all virtual desktops.

What troubleshooting steps have I already done?

I've checked System Settings >> Keyboard >> Shortcuts >> KWin, to ensure Show Desktop Grid was enabled.
I've disabled the Show Desktop Grid option mentioned above, applied the changes, re-enabled it, and applied the changes again.
I've restarted my laptop.

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2024-03-12 02:21:22)

c00ter · 2024-03-09 15:26:35

Have you updated & re-booted very recently?
Have you looked for bug reports?
Have you Googled it?

Please tell us in detail what your own research has found, what you tried, the results, and what you have not.

seth · 2024-03-09 16:05:49

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p2155946

FluffyCalmPanther · 2024-03-09 16:17:20

c00ter wrote:

Have you updated & re-booted very recently?

^ Yes, a couple of days ago.

A few minutes ago I ran pacman and yay again, and restarted my computer. The issue persists.

c00ter wrote:

Have you looked for bug reports? Have you Googled it?

^ I googled kde plasma show desktop grid isn't working and restricted the search results to the past year. This search didn't appear to produce any relevant results.

c00ter wrote:

Please tell us in detail what your own research has found

^ My research has only suggested that I ensure Show Desktop Grid is enabled (my OP says this was already enabled).

c00ter wrote:

Please tell us in detail [...] what you tried [and] the results [...]

^ Please see the What troubleshooting steps have I already done? section in my OP.

Also note I changed the first bullet of the above section just now. The path I initially had there was wrong

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seth wrote:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p2155946

^ I'll have to try this tomorrow morning. About to head to work now, and I have a BBQ immediately after that.

I'll keep y'all posted...

ambra · 2024-03-11 18:40:02

I miss Desktop Grid also. Apparently they combined Desktop Grid and Overview effects into one. I don't like that...
After you activate Overview, you can activate Desktop Grid with Meta+G.

FluffyCalmPanther · 2024-03-12 02:20:33

ambra wrote:

You can activate Desktop Grid with Meta+G

^ Thanks so much ambra! Exactly what I needed.

I've confirmed that this keyboard shortcut resolves my original issue. The name for this specific keyboard shortcut is now called Toggle Grid View.

Don't know why the Show Desktop Grid shortcut is still in the System Settings though, because that shortcut does nothing now. Maybe the community will remove Show Desktop Grid at some point.

I'm marking this post as Solved.

----

Just gotta say this...

Thanks so much Arch community/fellow humans/citizens of the world! I've been using Arch since July 2023, and Linux and other FOSS software since 2019. These past few years have been amazing! Don't know where I'd be without y'all. Also don't know if I'd like computers/coding/tech as much as I do, if y'all didn't exist.

I hope to return the favor by contributing code to FOSS and responding to open forums one day. But I really don't have the time/skills, partly because I now work ~70 hours a week between two jobs.

Keep up the good work! Good luck out there, and stay safe.

d(⌒ー⌒)

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2024-03-12 02:38:41)

seth · 2024-03-12 08:14:08

Don't know why the Show Desktop Grid shortcut is still in the System Settings though

local config or KDE bug, is it still there for a fresh user account?

FluffyCalmPanther · 2024-03-13 02:34:04

seth wrote:

Is [Show Desktop Grid] still there for a fresh user account?

I ran useradd and passwd, to create a new user. Then I rebooted the system, logged in to the new user account, and went to System Settings >> Keyboard >> Shortcuts >> KWin. The Show Desktop Grid shortcut wasn't listed.

I'm fine with this shortcut showing up on my existing user account btw, especially now that I know the issue is local to my account/system. At some point I'll look into removing this shortcut. Or if someone wants to help me investigate/troubleshoot, then I'm all ears there too. Thx seth!

seth · 2024-03-13 08:09:37

~/.kde/share/config/{kwin,kglobal}* or ~/.config/{kwin,kglobal}* ?

FluffyCalmPanther · 2024-03-15 01:26:52

seth wrote:

~/.kde/share/config/{kwin,kglobal}* or ~/.config/{kwin,kglobal}* ?

My home directory doesn't have a .kde directory.

My home directory does have a .config directory though. I ran find . -type f -exec grep -H 'show desktop grid' {} + but no relevant results were returned (the results that were returned were in a subdirectory for my browser, likely because my browser history shows I was searching for 'show desktop grid').

seth · 2024-03-15 08:19:32

grep can grep recursively … and case insensitive and got knows what the actual key is, but it probably won't have blanks in it.
Look at the kwin and kglobalaccel files specifically or at least

grep -ri grid ~/.config/k*

FluffyCalmPanther · 2024-03-15 14:03:55

seth wrote:

grep -ri grid ~/.config/k*

~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc:ShowDesktopGrid=Meta+F8,Meta+F8,Show Desktop Grid was returned.

I commented out the above line from the above file, saved the file, and restarted my computer. The Show Desktop Grid option no longer appears as a shortcut in the System Settings.

Thanks so much seth!

Ropid · 2024-03-16 23:48:00

About those old shortcut entries in the system settings tool, I found someone mention this command line here:

qdbus org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/kwin org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component.cleanUp

It will print a result text "true" if it deleted entries.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-03-09 15:18:48