Announcement

**Schwarzer Kater** · May 23, 2023, 08:31 AM

Welcome!

You could use the backup of your user directory to retrieve settings (but don't ask me which ones are for activities, I have never seriously used activities… There are other people here who certainly know this).
Do you have a backup?

A much more general suggestion is to remove the contents of your /home/$USER/.cache directory - one possibility to do this is from a tty before logging in to KDE Plasma :
- press e.g. [Alt] [Ctrl] [F4]
- log in with your username and password
- enter cd && sudo rm -r .cache/* .
- enter exit
- press [Alt] [Ctrl] [F1] to get back to the GUI login screen

I don't know this will help in your case, though… But it is indeed a good thing to do this from time to time.

Another suggestion is to look for the culprit in "saved sessions", if you use this feature. I don't anymore as it has given me problems from time to time which were similar to yours (for others it just works fine).

**claydoh** · May 23, 2023, 08:55 AM

Activities are defined in ~/config/kactivitymanagerdrc

All the widgets and similar content, as well as panel contents and other things, are stored in ~/config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc .

The ID numbers found in the first are referenced in the second. If something in those got corrupted or damaged, that could explain why things reverted to Plasma's default for them.
I have seen plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc become messy and cumbersome if you will, not cleaning up well after changes and edits.

If you post the contents of both files, it *might* be possible to see if some edits can restore things, if cleaning your cache doesn't help.

**Quantumcat** · May 23, 2023, 01:38 PM

I cleaned the cache as per the directions of Schwarzer Kater. That didn't restore the activities. I'll try posting the two config files suggested by claydoh. Here's the first:
**********************

Code:

[activities]
48fa105a-c3e4-408e-a3b9-a07c0a121ce4=DataScience
8cb7071a-f340-4efb-88ba-03c919549626=PhilScience
d07f410f-f60d-41a5-a573-0579e6d42a89=Main
f1b6d3c3-39f6-402d-81c2-6eded652bdcc=Multimedia

[activities-icons]
48fa105a-c3e4-408e-a3b9-a07c0a121ce4=pythonbackend
8cb7071a-f340-4efb-88ba-03c919549626=calibre-gui
d07f410f-f60d-41a5-a573-0579e6d42a89=yast-network-group
f1b6d3c3-39f6-402d-81c2-6eded652bdcc=music-note-16th

[main]
currentActivity=d07f410f-f60d-41a5-a573-0579e6d42a89
runningActivities=48fa105a-c3e4-408e-a3b9-a07c0a121ce4,d07f410f-f60d-41a5-a573-0579e6d42a89
stoppedActivities=

******************
Here's the second. It's long.
******************

Code:

[ActionPlugins][0]
MiddleButton;NoModifier=org.kde.paste
RightButton;NoModifier=org.kde.contextmenu
wheel:Vertical;NoModifier=org.kde.switchdesktop

[ActionPlugins][1]
RightButton;NoModifier=org.kde.contextmenu

[Containments][2]
activityId=
formfactor=2
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=4
plugin=org.kde.panel
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][2][Applets][23]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.kickerdash

[Containments][2][Applets][23][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][2][Applets][23][Configuration][ConfigDialog]
DialogHeight=540
DialogWidth=720

[Containments][2][Applets][23][Configuration][General]
favoritesPortedToKAstats=true

[Containments][2][Applets][23][Shortcuts]
global=Alt+F1

[Containments][2][Applets][4]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.pager

[Containments][2][Applets][4][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][2][Applets][5]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.taskmanager

[Containments][2][Applets][5][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][2][Applets][5][Configuration][General]
launchers=applications:vivaldi-stable.desktop,applications:firefox.desktop,applic ations:joplin-desktop_joplin-desktop.desktop

[Containments][2][Applets][6]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.systemtray

[Containments][2][Applets][6][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0
SystrayContainmentId=7

[Containments][2][Applets][8]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.digitalclock

[Containments][2][Applets][8][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][2][Applets][8][Configuration][ConfigDialog]
DialogHeight=540
DialogWidth=720

[Containments][2][Applets][9]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.minimizeall

[Containments][2][Applets][9][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][2][ConfigDialog]
DialogHeight=84
DialogWidth=1680

[Containments][2][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][2][General]
AppletOrder=23;4;5;6;8;9

[Containments][63]
activityId=
formfactor=2
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=3
plugin=org.kde.panel
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][63][Applets][66]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.activitypager

[Containments][63][Applets][66][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][63][Applets][66][Configuration][ConfigDialog]
DialogHeight=540
DialogWidth=720

[Containments][63][Applets][66][Configuration][General]
displayedText=Name
showWindowIcons=true

[Containments][63][Applets][69]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.windowlist

[Containments][63][Applets][69][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][63][ConfigDialog]
DialogHeight=84
DialogWidth=1680

[Containments][63][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][63][General]
AppletOrder=66;69

[Containments][7]
activityId=
formfactor=2
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=4
plugin=org.kde.plasma.private.systemtray
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][7][Applets][10]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.volume

[Containments][7][Applets][10][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][11]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.clipboard

[Containments][7][Applets][11][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][12]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.devicenotifier

[Containments][7][Applets][12][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][13]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.kdeconnect

[Containments][7][Applets][13][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][14]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.keyboardindicator

[Containments][7][Applets][14][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][15]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.nightcolorcontrol

[Containments][7][Applets][15][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][16]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.notifications

[Containments][7][Applets][16][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][17]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.printmanager

[Containments][7][Applets][17][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][18]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.vault

[Containments][7][Applets][18][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][19]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.battery

[Containments][7][Applets][19][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][20]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.networkmanagement

[Containments][7][Applets][20][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][24]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.mediacontroller

[Containments][7][Applets][24][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][33]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.manage-inputmethod

[Containments][7][Applets][33][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Applets][34]
immutability=1
plugin=org.kde.plasma.keyboardlayout

[Containments][7][Applets][34][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=0

[Containments][7][General]
extraItems=org.kde.kdeconnect,org.kde.plasma.media controller,org.kde.plasma.notifications,org.kde.pl asma.devicenotifier,org.kde.plasma.volume,org.kde. plasma.nightcolorcontrol,org.kde.plasma.clipboard, org.kde.plasma.printmanager,org.kde.plasma.network management,org.kde.plasma.battery,org.kde.plasma.k eyboardindicator,org.kde.plasma.bluetooth,org.kde. plasma.vault,org.kde.plasma.manage-inputmethod,org.kde.plasma.keyboardlayout,org.kde. kupapplet
knownItems=org.kde.kdeconnect,org.kde.plasma.media controller,org.kde.plasma.notifications,org.kde.pl asma.devicenotifier,org.kde.plasma.volume,org.kde. plasma.nightcolorcontrol,org.kde.plasma.clipboard, org.kde.plasma.printmanager,org.kde.plasma.network management,org.kde.plasma.battery,org.kde.plasma.k eyboardindicator,org.kde.plasma.bluetooth,org.kde. plasma.vault,org.kde.plasma.manage-inputmethod,org.kde.plasma.keyboardlayout,org.kde. kupapplet

[Containments][76]
ItemGeometries-1680x1050=
ItemGeometriesHorizontal=
activityId=d07f410f-f60d-41a5-a573-0579e6d42a89
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][76][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=18

[Containments][76][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1680x1050.jpg

[Containments][77]
ItemGeometries-1050x1680=
ItemGeometries-1680x1050=
ItemGeometriesVertical=
activityId=d07f410f-f60d-41a5-a573-0579e6d42a89
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=2
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][77][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=18

[Containments][77][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1080x1920.jpg

[Containments][78]
activityId=48fa105a-c3e4-408e-a3b9-a07c0a121ce4
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][78][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=26

[Containments][78][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1680x1050.jpg

[Containments][79]
activityId=48fa105a-c3e4-408e-a3b9-a07c0a121ce4
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=2
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][79][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=26

[Containments][79][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1080x1920.jpg

[Containments][80]
activityId=f1b6d3c3-39f6-402d-81c2-6eded652bdcc
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][80][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=26

[Containments][80][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1680x1050.jpg

[Containments][81]
activityId=f1b6d3c3-39f6-402d-81c2-6eded652bdcc
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=2
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][81][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=26

[Containments][81][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1080x1920.jpg

[Containments][82]
activityId=8cb7071a-f340-4efb-88ba-03c919549626
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=0
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][82][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=26

[Containments][82][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1680x1050.jpg

[Containments][83]
activityId=8cb7071a-f340-4efb-88ba-03c919549626
formfactor=0
immutability=1
lastScreen=2
location=0
plugin=org.kde.plasma.folder
wallpaperplugin=org.kde.image

[Containments][83][Configuration]
PreloadWeight=26

[Containments][83][Wallpaper][org.kde.image][General]
Image=file:///usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/1080x1920.jpg

[Containments31Appletsts][47][Configuration][Appearance]
chartFace=org.kde.ksysguard.horizontalbars
title=Disk Usage

[Containments31Appletsts][50][Configuration][Appearance]
title=Memory Usage

[ScreenMapping]
itemsOnDisabledScreens=0,17,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Vault.dbx-vault,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Rule One Investing,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Woodcock-Fedder Family,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Doc Libraries,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/TGC__Learning_Statistics,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Videos,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Wallpapers,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Camera Uploads,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Miscellaneous,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Academic Dossier and Employment,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Teaching,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Personal,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Photos,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Audio Files,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Public,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Music,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/My Archives
screenMapping=file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udemy__R_programming_A-Z,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Table_of_Contents_Markdown__example.ipynb,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Python,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Wrangling_template_2021-01.ipynb,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udemy__Machine_Learning_A-Z,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Discussion Groups,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/4-Data_Wrangling,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Bayesian Statistics,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Math_Stats,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Programming,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Analysis_Activities__BAW__2020-12.pdf,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Seven Pines Conferences,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/3-Practical_Statistics,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/HTML,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/2-Intro_to_Data_Analysis,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Greg Gandenberger,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Python Reading,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Duke University (2019) Statistics with R,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/BAW-Error_Analysis.pdf,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Courses,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/List_of_Projects.odt,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Analysis_Activities__BAW__2021-01.pdf,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Learning_DataScience,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Graphical Methods for Data Analysis - Chambers et al (1983),0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/People_Discussions__DataSci,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Pandas,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-ProgforDataSci,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Anaconda,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity__ProgforDataSci,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Top10_Python_DataScience_Libraries.jpeg,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Statistics,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Analysis_Activities__BAW__2020-12.Rmd,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/U of Toronto (2019) Learn to Program,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Comments for Colleagues,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udemy__Machine_Learning_A-Z/Machine Learning A-Z (Codes and Datasets),0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Cheat Sheets,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/R_,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Marshal - The Statistics Tutors Quick Guide to Commonly Used Statistical Tests.pdf,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udemy-R_programming_A-Z,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/1-Project1-WeatherTrends,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Slack Post - Data Science vs Other Data Jobs.odt,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/BAW__List_of_Projects__v2.odt,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/5-Data_Visualization,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity__DataAnalyst,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Formal_Methods_Project 2021,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Colloquia Talks,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Analysis_Activities__BAW__2020-12.html,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/NumPy,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Reproducible Data Science with R (2019),0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Scrum,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Analysis_Activities__BAW__2020-12.ipynb,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Projects,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Michigan Covid Data - Lori Fredrickson.ods,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/U of Michigan - MADS,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/BAW-Error_Analysis.odt,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Facebook - Lori Fredrickson Michigan Covid Data.odt,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Math,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udemy__Machine_Learning_A-Z/Machine+Learning+A-Z+(Codes+and+Datasets).zip,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/BAW__List_of_Projects.odt,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Wrangling_template_2021-01.html,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Refereeing,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/NumPy,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Thoughts,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Google's Python Class (2010),0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Data Incubator - Pragmatic Institute,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udemy__Machine_Learning_A-Z/Machine_Learning_A_Z_Q_A.pdf,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Conferences and Presentations,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Spyder,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/DataSci/Udacity-DataAnalyst/Data_Analysis_Activities__BAW__2021-07.ipynb,0,file:///home/brian/Dropbox/Scholarship/Research,0

**Quantumcat** · May 23, 2023, 02:20 PM

Nice. Thanks for helping me out! I'm still learning the ropes here.

**claydoh** · May 23, 2023, 02:24 PM

It doesn't look any different in layout and contents, generally, from mine here.
How many monitors do you have?
I have 2, and the show as lastScreen=0 and =1
Yours is =0 and =2. No idea if this is relevant or not.

before I ditched Latte Dock, I did mark the plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc as read-only for a while, before I figured out that it was adding tons of complexity to this file, on top of general Plasma/Wayland testing bugs at the time.
I haven't found any useful reports on this just yet.

**Schwarzer Kater** · May 23, 2023, 02:39 PM

… and no backup at hand to quickly exchange the files with previous ones?

If not, consider using something like Back In Time (https://launchpad.net/~bit-team/+archive/ubuntu/stable) or at least the built-in tool kup (see: System Settings) for automated backups in the future.

**Quantumcat** · May 24, 2023, 09:12 AM

Originally posted by claydoh View Post

It doesn't look any different in layout and contents, generally, from mine here.
How many monitors do you have?
I have 2, and the show as lastScreen=0 and =1
Yours is =0 and =2. No idea if this is relevant or not.

I have two monitors, one is rotated 90 degrees. It's been that way since before I set up the activities. Thanks for checking.

And, thanks, Schwarzer Kater, for the reminder to back up. I actually do have a back up using Timeshift. But I don't run it often enough, obviously, since the last time I backed up was before I made the changes to the activities.

At this point, I'll probably just recreate the activities. I was hoping to understand this problem well enough to either avoid a repeat or to know how to address it easily if it were to occur again. I take it that, with a more recent back up, I could just replace those two files to solve the problem: ~/config/kactivitymanagerdrc and ~/config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc. Or, are you suggesting I revert the whole system to an earlier state (which sounds like a big change and would result in the loss other changes and additions)?

**claydoh** · May 24, 2023, 09:53 AM

The files should do it, probably even just plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc

You can try simply replacing the file with a known good one, then running plasmashell --replace from krunner (alt-space or alt-f2) to save the effort of logging out etc.
Once set up, you might also try making the files read-only. Though I think that was a pain as configs and changes between the actual file and what is actually loaded in ram might be the same. Can't recall. But replacing the file and restarting plasmashell worked well while I needed to fix things.

Also, I can't recall what Plasma version I was having to do this on, it may well have been 5.24 that is in 22.04, as well as its less stellar multimonitor support, with many bugs. But it might have been 5.25, based on the timeline guesses.

Ok, I found some stuff:

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...330#post667330
This is what I was doing to keep from losing my stuff, and others with similar-ish display bugs, though it was happening in Plasma 5.26 so take that for what it is worth.

Plasma 5.27 versions are far far better and seem to have fixed this sort of common issue for many.

**Quantumcat** · May 24, 2023, 10:40 AM

Thanks for the file replacement instructions and the link to the other post. Also, it's good to know that things will only get better (Plasma 5.27).

Announcement

Activities randomly reset themselves

Activities randomly reset themselves

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