Chapter 4. The KDE Desktop / 4.3. Konqueror as a File Manager | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.2. Settings | 4.4. Important Utilities |  | |
Chapter 4. The KDE Desktop / 4.3. Konqueror as a File Manager | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.2. Settings | 4.4. Important Utilities | | |
Konqueror is a unified Web browser, file manager, document viewer, and image viewer. This section covers the use of Konqueror for file management. If you are interested in Konqueror as a Web browser, see Chapter 10, The Web Browser Konqueror.
Start Konqueror by clicking the house icon in the panel or by pressing
Alt-F2 and entering konqueror $HOME. The
contents of your home directory are then displayed. The file manager window
consists of the menu bar at the top, the toolbar, and the location bar. The
lower part of the window is split vertically into the navigation panel and
the main window, which displays the contents.
Konqueror can show you a preview of certain files. Normally this is switched on if you browse in a directory. It only works if your icon view is activated (look into +). The preview function can simplify your daily work. In big directories, it gives a rough overview of what is inside the files. Sometimes this is not useful, for example, for packed files. But if you point to the respective file, Konqueror opens a tool tip with additional information, like name, owner, and size.
You can change which files have a preview. Go to + and open the section . Konqueror differentiates between Internet and local protocols. Each protocol can be activated. Approve with .
A modern desktop system should know how to handle its file types. With Konqueror, decide which application can be used to process a file. Go to + and open the section . If you are searching for an extension, use . Only file types with a matching file pattern appear in the list.
For example, to modify the application for MP3 files, enter
mp3 and see an entry x-mp3.
After a left-click, the setting dialog opens on the right side for this file
type. You can change the icon, the filename patterns, a description, and the
order of the applications. If your tool is not listed, press
and enter its command. Sometimes the order of the
list entries is inappropriate. To change it, click the program to
move then give it a higher or lower priority with
or .
The application listed at the top is used by
default if you click a file of this type.
Sometimes you need a file type that is not in the list. With , open a dialog box in which to select a group and enter a type name. The group determines the main type, for example, audio, image, text, or video. Usually your file type can be assigned to one of those. In , name your file type. After clicking , determine the extensions of the filename. Put a description in the text field and decide which application to use. Approve with .
Using , open additional Konqueror windows. If you click , your home directory is displayed in a new window. produces a second window with the same content. You can also send a file or a link (using the browser function) by e-mail. If you click one of these menu items, the KMail composer opens. Specify the recipient and compose a text. Depending on the selected item, the file is already attached or the link is displayed in the e-mail body. You can also print directly from this menu.
Most items under only become active if you select an object in the main window. Apart from the standard editing functions, like cutting, copying, pasting, renaming, moving to the trash, and deleting, there is also the item, which can be used to create directories, files, and devices. Another item in the menu lets you view and change the properties of files and directories and their permissions. With it, grant or deny the owner, a group, or all users read, write, and execute permissions. In the main window, select one or several files by moving the mouse pointer over them while keeping the left mouse button pressed or using +.
Use the menu to change views. If a directory has many objects in it, the text view or the tree view may be more efficient. To view HTML pages, activate . If a directory contains a file with this name, Konqueror loads and displays it.
To influence the way in which the main window displays directory contents, use the items , , , and . In addition, use to set the main window's background to a certain color or use an image for it.
The menu contains the navigation functions , , , and . However, the same functions can be accessed more quickly and conveniently through the toolbar. You can also call applications from this menu and open all folders that have an icon on the desktop. In the lower part of the menu, find a list of the recently-viewed directories or links.
Bookmarks can be made for Internet addresses (URLs) and paths to specific
files or directories on your host. If you select , the current content of the location bar is saved as
a bookmark. To access this location, simply click this bookmark. For
practical reasons, arrange bookmarks in folders. The
SUSE folder already exists. This folder contains
bookmarks of important SUSE Web pages. opens the bookmark editor in which to perform tasks
like deleting obsolete bookmarks, renaming bookmarks, and moving
bookmarks from one folder to another.
This menu includes entries for a variety of items, such as , , and . You can use to limit the view to certain types of files. For example, one of your directories may hold graphics files of different formats, but you only want to see those in PNG format. You could then use this submenu item to hide all files that are not in PNG format.
Selecting causes Konqueror to search the directory for any image files. The program then creates thumbnail pictures of them and combines these into an HTML page. A dialog box prompts you to set the options for the HTML page, such as the font and the number of thumbnails per line.
Use the menu to configure the look and feel of Konqueror. If you do not want a menu, select . Press Ctrl-M to display it again. The submenu allows you to hide or display other elements of the file manager.
View profiles can be used to change the view according to predefined usage patterns. To switch between the available profiles, select . One of the profiles is the Web browser profile, which is used automatically when you click the Konqueror icon in the panel. Add your own profiles by selecting . In addition, you can specify individual keyboard shortcuts with , customize the toolbar with , and configure global settings for the file manager with .
The menu allows you to split the main window horizontally and vertically. It also allows you to manage the tabbed subwindows within the main window by opening or closing a tab, duplicating an existing tab, or detaching a tab into a separate window.
Under the menu, access the Konqueror handbook or the function. Normally this function can also be accessed with the question mark symbol at the top right in the title bar. The mouse pointer is then displayed with a question mark. If you click an icon, a brief help text is displayed, if available. The menu also provides a short introduction to Konqueror and the possibility to report bugs and other concerns to the developers. and provide information about the version, license, authors, and translators of the project.
The toolbar provides quick access to frequently-used functions that can also be accessed via the menu. If you let the mouse pointer rest above an icon, a short description is displayed. Right-click a free space in the toolbar to open a menu with which to change the position of the toolbar, switch from icons to text, change the icon size, and display or hide the individual bars. Start the configuration dialog with . To the right, the toolbar features the Konqueror icon, which is animated while a directory or Web page is loaded.
The location bar is preceded by a black symbol with a white X. If you click this icon, the contents of the line are deleted, allowing entry of a new location. Valid locations can be path specifications, like the one that appears when the home directory is displayed, or Web page URLs. After entering an address, press Enter or click to the right of the input line. Access directories or Web pages visited recently via the black arrow to the right of the location bar. This function saves some typing if you need to access certain contents repeatedly. If there are locations that you need to view again and again, it is more convenient to create bookmarks for them.
The main window displays the content of the selected directory. If you click
an icon, the respective file is displayed in
Konqueror or loaded into the appropriate
application for further processing. Clicking an RPM package lists the
contents of the file. Selecting
prompts for the root
password entry, after which the package is installed.
If you right-click an icon, a menu opens. The kind of menu displayed depends on the file type and offers common actions, such as , , , and . Use to select the application with which to open the file from a list of suitable programs.
The quickest way to perform many actions is the drag and drop method. For example, easily move files from one Konqueror window to another by simply dragging them there while pressing the left mouse button. Subsequently, you are asked whether the objects should be moved or copied.
