Too many icons on desktop, can't see all of them

[pwabrahams]

I have too many icons on my desktop, so I can't see all of them. One solution, of course, is to get rid of some of them. But if I don't want to do that, is there a way to scroll the desktop so I can see the ones that have gone off the right end of the screen?

[snappwrench]

Haven't done this in kubuntu but in ubuntu you can resize the icons to make them fit. Might try that.

[GreyGeek]

That's what the "Activities" button in the upper right corner (and the icon consisting of a small red, blue and green ball next to the KGear menu option) of the desktop was designed to handle. A discussion on the topic of "Activities vs Multiple desktops" is here.

I prefer to use the Desktop Pager to control multiple desktops. Do not confuse with the "Show Plasma Desktop", which has the same icon. I have both on my panel. The pager on the left and the other between my system tray and the Applications Launcher widget in which I keep 18 app icons ready for quick launch.

[snappwrench]

Ah yes good point. I actually use Cairo Dock for my shortcuts myself so I'm not that familiar with the Activities so much but good link. Thank you.

[pwabrahams]

That's what the "Activities" button in the upper right corner (and the icon consisting of a small red, blue and green ball next to the KGear menu option) of the desktop was designed to handle. A discussion on the topic of "Activities vs Multiple desktops" is here.

Using activities seems like overkill --involving an additional concept that's not really related to what I'm trying to do. I just want to scroll the icon display to the left or do something that's equivalent to that. With fewer icons on the page I wouldn't need anything extra at all.

Reducing the size might help a bit, but it has its own costs. Really I'm just looking for a scroll operation that works in this context.

[bra|10n]

Reducing the size might help a bit, but it has its own costs. Really I'm just looking for a scroll operation that works in this context.

Perhaps the "Search and Launch" option for the desktop might suit you a little better? It sorts icons by category, or enter kde into the search to view all.

[rms]

Or, you can put links to your docs, progs that are now on desktop in some dedicated directory. Then put a folder view widget (which has scrolling capabilities) on that desktop and set its filter to that directory.

[whatthefunk]

Or add all your program icons to the "Favorites" section of an application launcher and just have that on your desktop. That way, you can click on that and scroll through all your application launchers.

[pwabrahams]

Perhaps some context would help. I'm helping a friend who's using Kubuntu. She kept putting icons on her desktop and then found that she couldn't see the new ones after she put them there. She doesn't want to change her style of working; she just wants to be able to see the icons that have dropped off the right side. An ideal solution for her would be for a scrollbar to appear at the bottom (or top) of the desktop once the desktop was full, just as a scrollbar appears on many other kinds of displays when it's needed. There are certainly ways to avoid or bypass the problem, as several people have pointed out, but they all involve working differently.

[woodsmoke]

EDIT: I didn't realize that Kwin has a cylinder: so the edit of previous statement.

Compiz has a cylinder as does Kwin. It would seem that the cylinder would, in effect, "scroll" the desktop.

It is under System Settings/ Desktop effects / wrench / activation / unknown / my default has no command, so one could pick a command such as maybe "ctrl+F1" to activate it.

EDIT 2: Upon trying it out, I had to go to the opposite side of the keyboard to get unused keys to activate it, it presents the cube as a cylinder and one uses arrow keys to rotate it,

That would suggest that one purposly use a "wide screen" maybe with the top/bottom lopped off as in a letterbox, but still would require that one use at least a couple of virtual screens because the thing won't rotate with just one screen.

ANOTHER SUGGESTION.

I make one side of the cube just for "music" and another side of the cube just for "chat/e-mail". That would reduce the number of items on the original screen. And "scrolling" would take probably the same amount of time as "flipping".

And, to get "back" one would have to "scroll" back.

So, the "work flow" effect would be the same between flipping and scrolling. In both cases, "other" icons are going to be off screen and one will have to chase back to them.

just a thought

woodsmoke

[SecretCode]

What is your / her desktop set as? (In Desktop Setting > View > Layout)

If you go with the default "Desktop" layout and the default "Folder View" widget, you do get scroll bars when it's full. I haven't tried the other layouts seriously.

[rms]

If you go with the default "Desktop" layout and the default "Folder View" widget, you do get scroll bars when it's full. I haven't tried the other layouts seriously.

Yeah, she won't even notice the difference in the way she works except for the scroll bar to the right.

[woodsmoke]

I must admit that I have NEVER seen that many folders on the desktop or that scroll.

I am.....amazed.

woodsmoke

[Snowhog]

He's using Folder View.

[rms]

I must admit that I have NEVER seen that many folders on the desktop or that scroll.

I am.....amazed.

woodsmoke

No need for Mint or SuperOS to be messy.