Next Previous Contents

8. Tips & Tricks for your daily work

"Everyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with none."
(Fortune Cookies)

Nearly everyone can use KDE; this is why the developers made it. There are no cryptic switches with which to cope, and few configuration files you need edit in ASCII style. However, there are some ways you can do your work more elegantly, saving you time for the truly important things, like tetris.

8.1 Shortcut table

Alt-Esc or Control-Esc

Shows the KDE session manager, from which you can switch to a specific application or log out of KDE.

Alt-Tab or Alt-Shift-Tab

Cycle through the windows

Ctrl-Tab or Ctrl-Shift-Tab

Cycle through your desktops

Alt-F2

Command line

Alt-F3

Window Menu

Alt-F4

Close the current window

Ctrl-F[1..8]

Switch to a specific desktop

Ctrl-Alt-Esc

Window destroyer (every window you click on will be destroyed)

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace

This exits KDE (without saving!) Use this as a last resort

Ctrl-Alt-Numpad +

Cycles to the next screen resolution

Ctrl-Alt-Numpad -

Cycles to the previous screen resolution

8.2 Mouse techniques

Clicking on the border or the titlebar

Left: Activates and raises the window, Middle: Activates and lowers the window, Right: Shows window menu if the window is active, activates it otherwise.

Doubleclick on the window title

Maximizes the window

Drag on the titlebar

Moves the window around

Drag on corners or edges

Resizes the window

Alt-Left Button

Moves the window around

Alt-Middle Button

Raises the window

Alt-Right Button

Resizes the window

Click on the Icon on the top left

Window Menu

Click on the Sticky Button

toggles sticky

Clicking on Maximize

Left: Maximizes the window, Middle: Maximizes only vertically, Right:Maximizes horizontally

Click on Close

Closes the window, program asks you whether to save your work or not.

8.3 Activating the screen saver by pointing your mouse into a corner

Besides the Lock Screen Button on the K Panel, there is another way you can invoke the K screen savers: Go into the screen saver settings (Application Starter > System > Screen Settings) and click on one of the corners of the sample screen. Three options will be presented. Ignore will ignore any movement of the mouse into that corner. Save will invoke the screen saver after the mouse pointer resides in the corner for more than 5 seconds. Lock will do the same as Save, but it will ask for your login password.


Next Previous Contents