Keyboard shortcuts in KDE 4.x

Question

I've tried KDE 4.0.x/4.1.x/4.3.x ( RC2 ) but I can't seem to accomplish a simple task:

Launching Konsole using a keyboard shortcut

The way I used to do this with KDE 3.5.x would be to :

• right-click on the start menu;
• navigate to the Konsole entry;
• select a shortcut;
• click Save.

And it worked. But not on KDE 4.x.

Any suggestions on how to make it work on KDE 4.3.x?

Answer 1

This one's easy.

Go to System Settings > Input Actions. In the selection area, do right click > New Global Shortcut > Command/URL. Make sure you give it a name, a shortcut, a command, and tick the Enabled box. Click Apply and you're done.

Coincidentally, though, the the "Examples" group should already contain an action named "Run Console," activated by Ctrl+Alt+T. Note that you'll need to enable shortcuts for the parent "Examples" group before you can enable "Run Console."

Answer 2

In general I do this with kmenuedit, which I believe should be the prefered way of assigning applications to a keyboard shortcut.

1. Launch kmenuedit
2. Choose the application you wish to start from the tree on the left
3. Click on Advanced.
4. Select the Current shortcut key and click on Save.

Note that until KDE 4.2 there was a bug that causes KDE to ignore this shortcut. So in case you do not have KDE 4.2 or 4.3 yet, consider upgrading.

Answer 3

For some reason, the kmenuedit shortcuts were shipped 'disabled' in the recent KDE releases.

Go to System-Settings, then Shortcuts-And-Gestures.

Select the 'Custom Shortcuts' on the left column, then make sure the 'KMenuEdit' entry is CHECKED.

Apply and close that application.

Now, when you create/edit the shortcut keys in the KMenu, they will be active and work immediately (as we both expect!!)

Took me a bit to figure this out, I thought the hotkeys were broken broken, and I REALLY use WIN-S to open a shell, WIN-C for calculator, and many more. Mouse? Don't need no mouse!

Answer 4

I don't think this is currently implemented in KDE4. The closest is to use ALT+F2 for KRunner and then enter konsole (autocompletion) or use the cursor keys to navigate the history.

You can assign a hotkey to an existing window though (which is different than you asked in your question) by using the window menu (top-left icon) -> Advanced -> Window Shortcut.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

this is not the answer to your question, but have you tried yakuake? it also goes fullscreen with ctrl+f11