Ways to pick files (with thumbnails) from icon groups in the panel

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1

I often keep several .odt files open and many more .pdfs. Up to now I mainly used the mouse to navigate through the files: for example, I bring the cursor to the pdf group; thumbnails pop up, with a scroll bar; I scroll to the document I need and click. Sometimes I scroll through the group with the scroll wheel.

Pretty sad, huh? I have rofi, but I never got used to it. I need the thumbnail to navigate through open files, I guess, not just the doc name to select files.

What I’d like is some kind of a sorted thumbnail cloud to pop up when I hover on the icon group, thus reducing the need for scrolling.

I don’t know the name of the screen which appears when you bring the cursor to the screen corner. That’s what I need, but app-specific.

Would some other DE be a better fit for me?

EDIT

  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.14.0
    wm: kwin_x11 with: krunner vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux

  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa
    dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
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… your profile says you use KDE Plasma - I myself have practically zero experience with it.
But then you mention rofi as well.
(of which I only know through “Bunsenlabs” - a Debian derivative)

From what I know about it:
how does this fit together?

Perhaps describe better what you expect to have happen when vs what happens now.

3

It’s an action called “Overview” in System Settings → Mouse & Touchpad → Screen edges

There’s an image of a monitor with little boxes, click the boxes to find a list of actions.

Sounds like you want “Present Windows - Current Application”.

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4

That is very close, yes. Can I change the way “Present Windows - Current Application” is triggered? Like, with the cursor hovering over the app icon group for a certain amount of time?

5

Not as far as I know, just the trigger point.

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Maybe use task switcher feature. Right click on task switcher in panel, select Settings Task switcher... (or Settings Icon task switcher if you use icon only version) Go to Behavior tab and enable 2 things. Rough translation from screen: Group by -> Program name and When click grouped tasks -> Show previews in big windows (third option as on screen above)

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image926×728 166 KB

And when you click on icon in panel you should receive something like that – previev all windows in this group (all Gvenview instances in my case):
image
image1920×1080 78.6 KB

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7

There are to the best of my knowledge only two ways to trigger it…:

  1. Via a hot spot on the screen — a screen edge or screen corner; and
  2. Via a shortcut key.
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8

That’s pretty much it, thanks. I just wish I could choose the exact way the preview is activated.
I also like the option “Shows textual list”.

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