If you’ve been using KDE Plasma for a while, you’ve probably settled into a workflow and think you know most of its features and what it has to offer. However, there’s a good chance you’ve been walking past some of its most useful features without realizing they exist. I’ve been using Plasma for nearly a decade now, and I’m constantly discovering new things you can do on this desktop environment. Here are five underrated yet advanced features that’ll make you a KDE Plasma power user.
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Create nested virtual desktops using KDE Activities
Switch your entire workspace—not just the desktop
You’re probably familiar with virtual desktops and likely even use them for organizing your windows. Now, KDE Plasma has a robust virtual desktop experience, with dynamic desktop creation, 1:1 touch gesture support, and the Pager widget—which lets you visualize and switch between your virtual desktops right from the panel itself. However, that’s barely scratching the surface of what’s possible—Plasma even lets you create nested virtual desktops using its Activities feature.
Each Activity is essentially its own self-contained environment with its own collection of virtual desktops, separate wallpaper, and desktop widgets—all completely independent of one another. You can use this to isolate your work from your personal life. I use Activities to create a dedicated workspace for each of my clients and one for random, casual usage. This way, I get to keep a to-do list widget on each Activity, and simply switching between them tells me what I have to do.
Setting up an Activity is also very simple. Head to Settings > Apps & Windows > Activities. From here, you can create, edit, and configure all your Activities. Once done, you can switch between Activities by pressing Super (Windows Key)+Q. Here’s a detailed guide on KDE Activities to get you started.
Force apps to open on specific desktops with fixed size and position
No need to drag and resize Spotify every time you open it
While virtual desktops and Activities can help you organize your windows, wouldn’t it be great if those windows automatically opened on specific Activities and virtual desktops by default? Well, you can do just that using KWin Window Rules. The feature lets you define exactly how a specific application should behave every time it opens—its size, position, and which virtual desktop and Activity it opens in.
For example, I have Spotify configured to always open on my farthest virtual desktop in the Personal Activity, along with Discord on the one right before it. That way, my media and communication apps aren’t cluttering up my primary desktop, which stays clean for focused work. I also have my browser set to always open snapped to the left edge of the screen and Obsidian snapped to the right—giving me a permanent split-view research setup.
To create a Window Rule, head to System Settings > Window Management > Window Rules. Click “Add New” and pick the application you want to target. From there, you can lock in its size, position, desktop assignment, and whether it opens maximized or minimized.
Using KRunner as a full-blown command bar
KRunner is not just a floating app launcher
You’re probably already familiar with KRunner—the macOS Spotlight-inspired search bar you get when you press Alt+Space. Most people only use it to quickly launch apps and nothing else. That’s a shame because it can do so much more. You can use it for unit conversions, quick math, spell checking, and killing unresponsive processes—all from the same search bar.
I personally use it for its browser bookmark and history search. All I need to do is type a few words and KRunner surfaces matching bookmarks or recently visited pages, letting me jump straight to a web page without even opening the browser.
To see what’s possible, open System Settings > Workspace > Search > Plasma Search. You’ll find a full list of KRunner plugins you can enable or disable—things like browser history, bookmarks, calculator, dictionary, and more. Toggle on the ones that match your workflow and KRunner becomes a surprisingly capable command bar. You can also mark specific plugins as favorites and move them to the top to prioritize those results.
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Automate actions based on what you copy to your clipboard
KDE’s clipboard has QR codes, regex triggers, and a built-in text editor
One of Plasma’s most underrated features is its clipboard manager. You can press Super+V to trigger it and see your full clipboard history—every piece of text, file, folder, or image you’ve copied shows up here. It’s completely searchable, and you can also “Star” specific entries so they always stay at the top—allowing you to copy-paste them whenever you need. There’s even a built-in text editor to help you edit individual entries if necessary.
All that said, where the clipboard manager gets genuinely powerful is with automated actions. You can set up regex-triggered rules that fire whenever you copy something matching a pattern. This way, you can configure it to automatically open URLs, run a script on copied text, or process data without any manual steps. There’s also a select-to-copy mode that adds everything you highlight with your cursor directly to the clipboard—no Ctrl+C needed.
Now, the clipboard manager is also available from the system tray. From here, you’ll be able to access its settings, which let you configure automated actions, text selection behavior, and its history size—how many items it can keep in memory. To get a full sense of what’s possible and how, check out this detailed overview on Plasma’s clipboard manager.
Run terminal commands on your Linux PC from your smartphone
Remotely lock your PC, shut it down, or even launch apps
If you’ve been using KDE Plasma for any length of time, you’ve probably used, or at least heard of, KDE Connect. It bridges your Linux PC and your smartphone for file transfers, notifications, and remote input. However, what most people never explore is its Run Command feature. It lets you set up predefined terminal commands on your PC and trigger them from your phone with a single tap.
You can use it to put your computer to sleep, shut it down, lock the screen, toggle a VPN, kill a running process, or even launch a specific app like Steam—that too, in Big Picture mode. In fact, it’s so powerful that it motivated me to learn the Linux terminal, specifically Bash scripting, so I can trigger complex actions on my desktop right from my smartphone.
To set it up, install KDE Connect on your smartphone, and then pair it with your Linux PC—it already comes preinstalled on KDE Plasma-based distros. Next, on the desktop app, head to the Run Commands plugin and add your commands. They’ll show up on your phone’s KDE Connect app, ready to fire whenever you need them. You can even add a home screen widget to make those commands even more accessible.
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Plasma is the desktop environment that keeps on giving
There you have it—five advanced KDE Plasma features that can make you much more productive and efficient, yet rarely get talked about. If you’ve found these features useful, you’re likely on the path to becoming a Linux power user, or already are one. To know for sure, check out these five telltale signs you’re becoming an advanced Linux user.
8/10
Operating System
Kubuntu 24.04 LTS
CPU
Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (2.7GHz up to 5.4GHz)
GPU
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (dGPU), Intel Graphics (iGPU)
RAM
32GB Dual-Channel DDR5 262-pin SODIMM (5600MHz)
