Essential KDE Plasma keyboard shortcuts
01Meta+Space
KRunner — app launcher & search
like Win+R or macOS Spotlight
Meta
Open application menu
like the Start button in Windows
Meta+D
Show desktop
same as Win+D
Meta+E
Open Dolphin file manager
like Win+E → File Explorer
Meta+↑ ↓ ← →
Tile windows
like Aero Snap in Windows
Meta+Tab
Switch between windows
like Alt+Tab, more powerful
Meta+Ctrl+← →
Switch virtual desktop
virtual desktops = Spaces on macOS
Meta+Ctrl+C
Desktop cube rotation effect
requires compositor effects enabled
Meta+W
Present Windows (all windows overview)
like Exposé on macOS
Meta+G
Grid view of all windows
all open windows in a tidy grid
Print Screen
Screenshot (Spectacle)
full screen or region selection
Meta+Shift+PrtSc
Screen recording
built directly into Plasma
Ctrl+F2
KRunner (alternative shortcut)
launch apps, calculate, convert units
Meta+L
Lock screen
same as Win+L
The Meta key is the Windows key (Win ⊞) on your keyboard. All shortcuts can be customized in System Settings → Shortcuts.
Office suite
02| You used on Windows | On KDE Plasma | Description | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Word / Excel / PowerPoint | WPS Office | Best visual equivalent to MS Office, fully supports .docx .xlsx .pptx partially free | wps-office |
| Microsoft Office (open-source alternative) | Calligra Suite | KDE's office suite: Words, Sheets, Stage (presentations) free | calligra |
| Outlook / Thunderbird | Thunderbird | Full-featured email client, calendars, IMAP/POP3, extensions free | thunderbird |
| Outlook (KDE-native alternative) | Kontact / KMail | KDE's integrated PIM: email, calendar, contacts, notes free | kontact |
| Windows Calendar | Merkuro Calendar | Modern KDE calendar app with CalDAV sync support free | merkuro |
| OneDrive / Dropbox | Nextcloud Client | File sync with your own cloud or Nextcloud.com free | nextcloud-client |
Browsers and communication
03| You used on Windows | On KDE Plasma | Description | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | LibreWolf | Firefox fork with enhanced privacy, no telemetry out of the box free | librewolf-bin |
| Firefox (alternative) | Waterfox | Lightweight Firefox fork with great extension compatibility free | waterfox-bin |
| Edge (system browser) | Falkon | KDE's native browser built on QtWebEngine, light and fast free | falkon |
| WhatsApp / Messenger | Signal Desktop | Encrypted end-to-end messenger, identical to the Windows version free | signal-desktop |
| Microsoft Teams | Teams for Linux | Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux proprietary | teams-for-linux-bin |
| Discord / IRC | Element / NeoChat | Element is a Matrix protocol client. NeoChat is KDE's native Matrix app free | element-desktop |
| Spotify | Spotify Launcher | Official Spotify launcher that downloads and keeps the app updated proprietary | spotify-launcher |
File management
04| You used on Windows | On KDE Plasma | Description | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| File Explorer | Dolphin | The best file manager on Linux. Split panels, tabs, network, previews free | dolphin |
| WinRAR / 7-Zip | Ark | Archive manager: ZIP, 7z, TAR, RAR and more — all in one place free | ark |
| Disk Management | KDE Partition Manager | Graphical partition editor — the KDE equivalent of Disk Management free | partitionmanager |
| Disk Management (alternative) | GParted | Classic GTK partition editor, extremely reliable and battle-tested free | gparted |
| TreeSize / WinDirStat | Filelight | Radial disk usage map — instantly see what's eating your storage free | filelight |
| Windows Search | KFind / Baloo | KFind is a file search UI. Baloo is the background indexing engine free | kfind |
Graphics and multimedia
05| You used on Windows | On KDE Plasma | Description | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Media Player / PotPlayer | VLC | Plays literally everything: DVDs, network streams, almost any format free | vlc |
| Groove Music / foobar2000 | Elisa | KDE's native music player — beautiful, simple, library-focused free | elisa |
| Windows Photos / IrfanView | Gwenview | KDE's image viewer with basic editing, rotation, and slideshow free | gwenview |
| Lightroom / Google Photos (desktop) | DigiKam | Professional photo library management: tags, AI face detection, RAW editing free | digikam |
| DaVinci Resolve / Premiere (free) | Kdenlive | Professional non-linear video editor: multi-track, effects, export free | kdenlive |
| OBS Studio | OBS Studio | Screen recording and live streaming — identical to the Windows version free | obs-studio |
| Snipping Tool / ShareX | Spectacle | Screenshots, screen recording, annotations — very feature-rich free | spectacle |
| Paint / Paint 3D | Kolourpaint | Simple bitmap editor — nearly a 1:1 replacement for MS Paint free | kolourpaint |
| Windows Camera | Kamoso | KDE's webcam app for taking photos and recording video free | kamoso |
OBS Studio and qprompt are also available via Flathub. Install Flatpak (flatpak) and run:
flatpak install flathub com.obsproject.Studio
PDF tools and documents
06| You used on Windows | On KDE Plasma | Description | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | Okular | Best PDF reader on Linux: annotations, forms, signatures, EPUB, DjVu free | okular |
| Adobe Acrobat (merging PDFs) | PDFArranger | Rearrange, merge, and split PDF pages with a simple drag-and-drop UI free | pdfarranger |
| Calibre / Kindle | Arianna / Okular | Arianna is KDE's mobile-first e-book reader; Okular handles EPUB too free | arianna |
| Notepad / Notepad++ | Kate | Advanced KDE text editor with syntax highlighting, terminal, project view free | kate |
| Typora / MarkText | Ghostwriter | Markdown editor with live preview and a clean distraction-free mode free | ghostwriter |
| Teleprompter / AutoPrompt | qprompt | Teleprompter for video creators — adjustable speed, transparency overlay free | qprompt (AUR) |
Additional useful tools
07| You used on Windows | On KDE Plasma | Description | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | Steam | Identical to Windows. Proton lets you run most Windows games natively proprietary | steam |
| Task Manager | KSysGuard / btop | KSysGuard is the graphical monitor. btop is a supercharged terminal monitor free | btop |
| Control Panel / Settings | System Settings (KDE) | Full Plasma settings hub — open via Meta → "System Settings" free | systemsettings |
| Windows Terminal / PowerShell | Konsole | KDE's native terminal: tabs, profiles, transparency, split view free | konsole |
| KeePass / Bitwarden | KWallet / Kleopatra | KWallet is the system password vault. Kleopatra manages GPG keys and certificates free | kwallet |
| VirtualBox / Hyper-V | Virt-Manager + QEMU | Professional KVM virtualization. Virt-Manager is the graphical frontend for QEMU free | virt-manager |
| CPU-Z / GPU-Z | KInfoCenter | Full hardware info: CPU, RAM, GPU, storage, network — all in one place free | kinfocenter |
| GPU-Z / HWiNFO (GPU section) | nvtop | GPU monitor in the terminal (AMD, NVIDIA, Intel) — like htop for graphics cards free | nvtop |
| Windows Update / Driver updates | Discover / paru | Discover is the GUI software center. paru is the AUR package manager for the terminal free | discover |
First steps in the terminal: type
paru -Syu to update your entire system, or paru -S package-name to install a new application.