There is a lot of information about TDE on the TDE web site.

TDE is translated into many languages. You can change the country and language with the Control Center in "Regional & Accessibility" ->."Country/Region & Language".

Contributed by Andrea Rizzi

You can minimize all your windows on the current desktop at once and thus reach the desktop itself by clicking on the desktop icon on the panel.

If you do not currently have the icon there, you can add it by right clicking on the panel, and then selecting Add to Panel->Special Button->Desktop Access.

If you temporarily need more screen real-estate, you can "fold in" the panel by clicking on one of the arrows at the ends of the panel. Alternatively, make it hide automatically by changing the settings in the Control Center (Desktop->Panels, Hiding tab).

For more information about Kicker, the TDE Panel, see the Kicker Handbook.

The program Klipper, which is started by default and resides in the system tray at the right end of the panel, keeps a number of text selections around. These can be retrieved or even (in the case of URLs, for example) be executed.

You can find more information about using Klipper in the Klipper Handbook

The window list, which is accessible via an icon on the panel, provides a quick overview of all windows on all virtual desktops. Alternatively, press Alt+F5 to display the window list.

The "Location" label in Konqueror is draggable.

This means you can create shortcuts (e.g. on the desktop or the panel) by dragging it there with the mouse. You can also drop it on to Konsole or edit fields to get the URL typed in there (as you can with links or files displayed in Konqueror).

For quick access to TDEPrint Manager type "print:/manager"... -- "Type where?", you may ask. Type it...

  • ...either in Konqueror's address field,
  • ...or in a Run Command dialog, opened by pressing Alt+F2.

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

Double-clicking on the titlebar of any window "shades" it, which means that only the titlebar stays visible. Double-clicking the titlebar a second time will make the window visible again.
Of course, you can change this behavior within the Control Center.

For more information about ways to manipulate windows in TDE, take a look at the TDE User Guide.

You can cycle through the windows on a virtual desktop by holding the Alt key and pressing Tab or Shift+Tab.


For more information, see the TDE User Guide.

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to your favorite applications in the TDE menu editor (TDE Menu->Settings->Menu Editor). Select the application (e.g. Konsole), then click on the image next to "Current shortcut key:". Press the key combination you want (say, Ctrl+Alt+K).

That is it: now you can fire up Konsoles with Ctrl+Alt+K.

You can configure the number of virtual desktops by adjusting the "Number of desktops" slider in the Control Center (Desktop->Multiple Desktops).

For more information about using virtual desktops, look at the TDE User Guide.

The Trinity Desktop Environment is a fork of the K Desktop Environment version 3.5, which originally was written by the KDE Team, a world-wide network of software engineers committed to Free Software development. TDE was first released in April 2010.

The KDE project was founded in October 1996 and was first released on July 12, 1998.

You can support the TDE project with work (programming, designing, documenting, proof-reading, translating, etc.) and financial or hardware donations. Please contact the TDE team if you are interested in donating, or if you would like to contribute in other ways.

TDE provides some shortcuts to change the size of a window:

To maximize a window... click the maximize button...
...full-screen, ...with the left mouse button
...vertically only, ...with the middle mouse button
...horizontally only, ...with the right mouse button

You can stay up to date with new developments in TDE and releases by regularly checking the TDE web site.

TDEPrinting (I)

tdeprinter, TDE's printing utility supports different print subsystems. These subsystems differ very much in their abilities.

Among the supported systems are:

  • CUPS, the new Common UNIX Printing System;
  • LPR/LPD, traditional BSD-style printing;
  • RLPR (no need for "printcap" editing or root privileges to use network printers);
  • printing through an external program (generic).

TDEPrinting (II)

Not all print subsystems provide equal abilities for TDEPrint to build on.

The TDE developers recommend installing a CUPS-based software as the underlying print subsystem.

CUPS provides easy usage, powerful features, broad printer support and a modern design (based on IPP, the "Internet Printing Protocol"). Its usefulness is proven for home users as well as for large networks.

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

TDE is based on a well-designed C++ foundation. C++ is a programming language well suited to desktop development. The TDE object model extends the power of C++ even further.

You can use Konqueror to browse through tar archives, even compressed ones. You can extract files simply by dragging them to another place, e.g. another Konqueror window or the desktop.

You can cycle through the virtual desktops by holding the Ctrl key and pressing Tab or Shift+Tab.

For more information about using virtual desktops, look at the TDE User Guide.

You can start tdeprinter as a standalone program from any xterm, Konsole window or from the "Run Command" dialog (started by pressing Alt+F2). Then select the file to print. You can print as many items of different types as you want, all at once.

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

You may at any time switch tdeprinter to another print subsystem "on the fly" (and you do not need to be root to do it.)

Laptop users who frequently change to different environments may find RLPR a useful complement to CUPS (or any other print subsystem they use as their preferred one).

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

TDE's help system can display TDE's HTML-based help, but also info and man pages.

For more ways of getting help, see the TDE User Guide.

Clicking with the right mouse button on panel icons or applets opens a popup menu that allows you to move or remove the item, or add a new one.

For more information about customizing Kicker, the TDE Panel, see the Kicker Handbook.

If a toolbar is not large enough to display all buttons on it, you can click on the small arrow at the far right end of the toolbar to see the remaining buttons.

Need comprehensive info about TDEPrinting?

Type help:/tdeprint/ into a Konqueror address field and get the TDEPrint Handbook displayed.

You can run non-TDE applications without problems on a TDE desktop. It is even possible to integrate them into the menu system. The TDE program "KAppfinder" will look for known programs to integrate them into the menu.

You can quickly move the panel to another screen edge by "grabbing" it with the left mouse button and moving it to where you want it.

For more information about personalizing Kicker, the TDE Panel, take a look at the Kicker Handbook.

If you want to kill some time, TDE comes with an extensive collection of games.


You can quickly change the background image of the desktop by dragging a graphics image from a Konqueror window to the desktop background.

You can change the background color of the desktop by dragging a color from a color selector in any application to the desktop background.

A fast way to get your favorite application onto your panel is to right-click the panel (Panel Menu) and select Add to Panel->Application->whatever.

You can add more applets to your panel by selecting Panel Menu->Add->Applet from the TDE menu.

You can add a little command line to your panel by selecting Panel Menu->Add to Panel->Applet->Run Command from the TDE menu.

For information about other applets available for the TDE Panel, take a look at the Kicker Handbook.

Want to see the local time of your friends or business partners around the world?

Just press the middle mouse button on the panel clock.

Your panel clock can be configured to display the time in plain, digital, analog or fuzzy-style mode.

See the Kicker Handbook for more information.

If you know its name, you can execute any program by pressing Alt+F2 and entering the program name in the command-line window provided.


You can browse any URL by pressing Alt+F2 and entering the URL in the command-line window provided.


If you are using Konqueror and want to type another location into the location field below the toolbar to get there, you can clear the whole field very quickly with the black button with a white cross to the left of the "Location" label and start typing.

You can also press Ctrl+L to clear the location field and place the text cursor there.

You can access a man page by entering a hash mark (#) and the name of the man page wherever you can enter a URL, like in the location field of the web browser or the Alt+F2 command-line.


You can access an info page by entering a double hash mark (##) and the name of the info page wherever you can enter a URL, like in the URL line of the web browser or the Alt+F2 command-line.


If you cannot access the titlebar, you can still move a window on the screen by holding the Alt key, clicking anywhere into the window and "dragging" it with the mouse.


Of course, you can change this behavior by using the Control Center.

Want TDE's printing power in non-TDE apps?

Then use 'tdeprinter' as "print command". Works with Firefox, Seamonkey, Epiphany, gv, Acrobat Reader, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, any GNOME application and many more...

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

You can resize a window on the screen by holding the Alt key, right-clicking anywhere into the window and moving the mouse.

TDE's mail client (KMail) provides seamless PGP/GnuPG integration for encrypting and signing your email messages.

See the KMail Handbook for instructions on setting up encryption.

TDE's CD player, KsCD, accesses the Internet CD database freedb to provide you with title/track information.

Full details of KsCD's functions are available in the KsCD Handbook.

Some people open many terminal windows just to enter one single command.

  • Use Alt+F2 for just firing up programs (Alt+F2 "kword") or
  • use Konsole sessions ("New" in toolbar) if you need text output.

You can change the color of the window titlebars by clicking on the title bar of the color example in the Appearance & Themes module within the Control Center.

This works for all of the other available colors too.

TDE Command Line Printing (I)

Want to print from command line, without missing TDE's printing power?

Type 'tdeprinter'. Up pops the TDEPrint dialog. Select printer, print options and print files (note that you may select different files of different types for one print job...).

This works from Konsole, any x-Terminal, or "Run Command" (called by pressing Alt+F2)

TDE Command Line Printing (II)

You may specify print files and/or name a printer from the command line: 

tdeprinter -d infotec \
   /home/kurt/paragliding.jpg \
   ../tdeprint-handbook.pdf \
   /opt/trinity/flyer.ps
This prints 3 different files (from different folders) to printer "infotec".

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

The difference between window manager styles and old-fashioned themes is that the former even reflect window titlebar color settings from the Control Center and might implement different features.

The K in KDE did not stand for anything special. The K was the character that came before L in the Latin alphabet, which stands for Linux. The K was chosen because KDE ran on many types of UNIX and FreeBSD. The T in TDE does stand for something special. The T stands for Trinity which means three because Trinity is a continuation of the KDE 3.5 code base. The T also represents the name of the Trinity project that brought you this desktop environment. TDE also runs on many types of UNIX and FreeBSD.

Under the "B II" window decoration, the title bars automatically move by themselves so they are always visible. You can edit your title bar decoration by right clicking on your title bar and selecting "Configure Window Behavior...".

If you do not like the default completion mode (e.g. in Konqueror), you can right-click on the edit-widget and choose a different mode, e.g. automatic or manual completion. Manual completion works in a similar way to completion in a UNIX shell. Use Ctrl+E to invoke it.

If you want another panel, to make more space for your applets and buttons, press right mouse button on the panel to invoke the panel menu and select "Add to Panel->Panel->Panel".

(You can then put anything on the fresh panel, adjust its size and so on.)

If you want to contribute your own "tip of the day", please send the tip to trinity-devel@lists.pearsoncomputing.net, and we will consider the tip for the next release.

If you drag a file from Konqueror or from the desktop to Konsole, you will have the choice between pasting the URL or entering that folder.

Choose the one you want, so you do not have to write the entire path in the terminal window.

Contributed by Gerard Delafond

You can hide mixer devices in KMix by clicking on "Hide" in the context menu that appears when you click with the right mouse button on one of the sliders.

Take a look at the KMix Handbook for more KMix tips and tricks.

Contributed by Stefan Schimanski

You can add your own "Web Shortcuts" to Konqueror by selecting Settings->Configure Konqueror->Web Shortcuts. Click "New..." and complete the fields.

For further instructions, and details about the advanced features available with Web Shortcuts, see the Konqueror Handbook.

Contributed by Michael Lachmann and Thomas Diehl

Each UNIX user has a so-called Home folder in which his or her files as well as user-dependent configuration files are saved. If you work in a Konsole window, you can easily change to your home folder by entering the cd command without any parameters.

Contributed by Carsten Niehaus

You might wonder why there are very few (if any) files whose names end in .exe or .bat on UNIX systems. This is because filenames on UNIX do not need an extension. Executable files in TDE are represented by the gear icon in Konqueror. In the Konsole window, they are often colored red (depending on your settings).

Contributed by Carsten Niehaus

If you want to make your desktop look more interesting, you can find tons of themes, widget styles window decorations and more at kde-look.org.

Contributed by Carsten Niehaus

Did you know that you can use the middle mouse button to paste text? Try selecting some text with the left mouse button and click elsewhere with the middle mouse button. The selected text will be pasted at the click position. This even works between different programs.

Contributed by Carsten Niehaus

Want to print by using "DragNDrop"?

Drag a file and drop it on the "Files" tab of an opened tdeprinter dialog.

Then continue as you would normally: select a printer, job options, etc. and click the "Print" button.

Contributed by Kurt Pfeifle

If you need to calculate a distance on the screen, the program kruler can be of great help.

Furthermore, if you need to look closely at the ruler to count single pixels, kmag may be very useful. (kmag is part of the TDE Accessibility package. It might already be available on your distribution.) kmag works just like xmag, with the difference that it magnifies on the fly.

Contributed by Jesper Pedersen

Sound in TDE is coordinated by the artsd sound server. You can configure the sound server from the Control Center by selecting Sound & Multimedia->Sound Server.

Contributed by Jeff Tranter

You can associate sounds, pop up windows, and more with TDE events. This can be configured from the Control Center by selecting Sound & Multimedia->System Notifications.

Contributed by Jeff Tranter

Most non-TDE sound applications that do not know about the sound server can be run using the artsdsp command. When the application is run, accesses to the audio device will be redirected to the artsd sound server.

The command format is:
artsdsp application arguments ...

Contributed by Jeff Tranter

By holding down the Shift button while moving a container (button or applet) on the Panel, the container can then be used to push forward other containers.

TDE's 'tdeio slaves' do not just work in Konqueror: you can use network URLs in any TDE application. For example, you can enter a URL like ftp://www.server.com/myfile in the Kate Open dialog, and Kate will open the file and save changes back to the FTP server when you click on 'Save.'

You can use Konqueror to access your files on any server that you have ssh access to. Just enter fish://username@hostname in Konqueror's location bar.

In fact, all TDE applications support fish:// URLs - try entering one in the Open dialog of Kate, for instance

KMail, the TDE email client, has built-in support for several popular spam filtering apps. To set up automatic spam filtering in KMail, configure your favorite spam filter as you like it, then go to Tools->Anti-spam wizard in KMail.

For more information, look at the KMail Handbook Anti-Spam Wizard chapter.

You can make a window go below other windows by middle-clicking on its titlebar.

TDE applications offer short "What's This?" help texts for many features. Just click on the question mark on the window titlebar, and then click on the item you need help on. (In some themes, the button is a lowercase "i" instead of a question mark).

TDE supports several different window focus modes: take a look in the Control Center, under Desktop->Window Behavior. For example, if you use the mouse a lot, you might prefer the "Focus follows mouse" setting.

Konqueror can continuously scroll webpages up or down: just press Shift+Up Arrow or Shift+Down Arrow. Press the key combination again to increase the speed, or any other key to stop the scrolling.

You can use Konqueror's help:/ tdeioslave to have quick and easy access to an application's handbook by typing help:/, directly followed by the application name, in the Location bar. So, for example to view the handbook for kwrite simply type help:/kwrite.

Thanks to the original KSVG project, TDE has full support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) image filetypes. You can view these images in Konqueror and even set an SVG image as a background for your desktop.

There is a great bunch of SVG wallpapers for your desktop background available at kde-look.org.

Konqueror's Web Shortcuts feature lets you submit a query directly to a search engine without having to visit the website first. For example, entering gg:konqueror in Location bar and pressing Enter will search Google for items relating to Konqueror.

To see what further Web Shortcuts are available, and to make your own, from Konqueror just select Settings->Configure Konqueror... which will open the Settings dialog box, and then just click on the Web Shortcuts icon.

TDE developers are always looking to improve accessibility, and with KTTS (TDE Text-to-Speech) you have the power to convert strings of text into audible speech.

KTTS currently provides support to speak all or any portion of plain text files (as viewed in Kate), HTML pages in Konqueror, text in the TDE clipboard, as well as speech of TDE notifications (KNotify).

To start the KTTS system, you can either select KTTS in the TDE menu, or press Alt+F2 to run a command and then type kttsmgr. For more information on KTTS, check the KTTSD Handbook.

Though TDE is a very stable desktop environment, programs may occasionally freeze or crash, particularly if you are running the development version of a program, or a program made by a third-party. In this case, you can forcibly kill the program if need be.

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Esc will bring up the skull-and-crossbones cursor, and once you click on a window with it the program will be automatically killed. Note, however, that this is an untidy way of shutting down the program which may result in data being lost, and some partner processes may still remain running. This should only be used as a last resort.

KMail is TDE's email client, but did you know that you can integrate it -- along with other programs -- to bring them all under one roof? Kontact was made to be a Personal Information Management suite, and it integrates all components under it seamlessly.

Other possible programs to integrate with Kontact include KAddressBook (for handling Contacts), KNotes (for keeping notes), KNode (to keep up-to-date with the latest news), and KOrganizer (for a comprehensive calendar).

You can use the mouse wheel to quickly perform a number of tasks; here are a few you might not have known of:

  • Ctrl+Mouse-Wheel in the Konqueror web browser to change the font-size, or in Konqueror file manager to change icon size.
  • Shift+Mouse-Wheel for fast scrolling in all TDE applications.
  • Mouse-Wheel over the taskbar in Kicker to quickly alternate between different windows.
  • Mouse-Wheel over the Desktop Previewer and Pager to change desktop.

By pressing F4 in Konqueror you can open a terminal at your current location.

Although TDE will automatically restore your TDE programs that were left open after you logged out, you can specifically tell TDE to start particular applications on start up; see the FAQ entry for more information.

You can integrate Kontact, TDE's Personal Information Management suit, with Kopete, TDE's Instant Messenger client, so that you can view contacts' online status, as well as respond to them easily from KMail itself. For a step-by-step guide, check the TDE User Guide.

By entering kmail --composer in Konsole you can have KMail only open up the composer window, so that you do not have to open the entire email client when you only want to send an email to someone.

While remembering passwords may be tedious, and writing them down on paper or in a text file may be insecure and untidy, TDEWallet is an application that can save and manage all of your passwords in strongly encrypted files, and permit access to them with the use of one master password.

TDEWallet can be accessed from kcontrol, TDE's Control Center; from there, simply go to Security & Privacy->TDE Wallet. For more information on TDEWallet and on how to use it, check the TDEWallet handbook.

By pressing the Middle Mouse-Button on the desktop you can get a brief list of all the windows on each desktop. From here you can also unclutter or cascade the windows.

Different virtual desktops can be customized individually, to a certain extent. For example, you can specify a particular background for a given desktop: Take a look in TDE's Control Center, under Appearance & Themes->Background, or right-click on the desktop and select Configure Desktop.

While tabbed browsing in Konqueror is very useful, you can take this one step further if you choose to have a split view in order to view two locations at the same time. To access this feature, in Konqueror select Window->Split View, with either Top-Bottom or Left/Right, depending upon your choice.

This setting will also only apply to a particular tab, rather than all tabs you have, so you can choose to have the split view for only some of the tabs where you might think it is useful.

You can let TDE turn the NumLock ON or OFF at startup.

Open the Control Center, select Peripherals->Keyboard and make your choice.



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