Using Dolphin

Dolphin User Interface
The screenshot below shows Dolphin's default user interface:
Screenshot of Dolphin's default user interface
Dolphin's default user interface.
Dolphin's default user interface.
The elements of the default user interface are:
The menu bar, which provides access to all commands and configuration options. See the Command Reference for a list of all menu commands.
The toolbar, which can be used for quick access to frequently used actions. The toolbar can be customized by clicking it with the and choosing Configure Toolbars... from the context menu or via Settings Configure Toolbars... from the main menu.
The location bar, which always displays the path to the current folder. It can be switched between two different modes, see the section on the location bar for details.
The view, which shows all files and folders in the current folder.
The Places panel, which provides quick access to bookmarked locations and disks or other media.
The Information panel, which shows a preview of the current folder or the file which is currently hovered with the mouse and can be used for rating the file and adding tags or comments to it.
The status bar. It displays the name, size and type of the file which is currently hovered with the mouse, or the number and size of the files which are selected. At the right, there is a zoom slider that permits to adjust the size of the icons in the view.

The Dolphin View

Using the View
The view displays all files and folders in the current folder. These items can be accessed or manipulated in different ways:
A file or folder can be opened by clicking it with the (or double-clicking, if Double-click to open files and folders is enabled in the Navigation section of the settings).
Clicking any item or the white area around the items with the opens a context menu which provides access to many frequently used actions for the item or the current folder, respectively.
If the is pressed on an item, but not immediately released, the item can be dragged and dropped in another folder in the current view or in another Dolphin view (in another Dolphin window or in the same window if the view is split, see below) to move or copy it or to create a symbolic link. Items can even be dropped in another application to open them in this application.
Dolphin remembers the history of visited folders. To navigate backward or forward in the history, the corresponding buttons in the toolbar can be used:
Screenshot of Dolphin's toolbar
The Back and Forward buttons in the toolbar.
The Back and Forward buttons in the toolbar can be used to navigate in the history.

Dolphin View Appearance
The toolbar contains buttons to control the appearance of the view:
Screenshot of Dolphin's toolbar
The buttons in the toolbar which control the appearance of the view.
The buttons in the toolbar which control the appearance of the view.
All the settings discussed below and other options concerning, ⪚, the sorting of the files in the current folder can also be modified in the View menu and in the View Properties dialog. By default, these settings are remembered for each folder separately. This behavior can be changed in the General section of the settings.

View Modes
The first three buttons in the above screenshot switch between Dolphin's view modes.
In the Icons view, which is the default, files will be represented by an icon that visualizes the file type, and a folder icon will be shown for subfolders.
In the Details view, the folder contents are displayed as a detailed list which contains the name, size and last modification time of each item. Additional columns can be added by clicking a column header with the .
The details view offers the option Expandable Folders, which can be enabled in the View Modes section of the settings. This option permits to view the current directory in a tree-like fashion: Each subfolder of the current folder can be expanded by clicking on the + button next to it.
In the Columns view, multiple levels of the folder structure can be viewed at once. If a subfolder is clicked, a new pane showing the contents of that folder is opened at the right edge of the view.

Preview
If Preview is enabled, the icons are based on the actual file or folder contents. E.g., for images a scaled down preview of the image is shown.

Split
If Split is clicked, two views are shown which can display the contents of different folders. This can be convenient for moving or copying files.

Selecting Items in the View
There are several ways to select items in the view. Once a group of items is selected, all actions, such as Cut, Copy, Move to Trash, and drag and drop operations, affect all selected items.

Selecting Items Using the Mouse
You can press the somewhere in the view and draw a rectangle around a group of items before releasing the button. This will select all items in the rectangle and clear the previous selection. If the key is pressed during the selection process, the previous selection is kept.
If the key is pressed while an item is clicked with the , the selection state of this item is toggled. If the key is pressed while a rectangle is drawn around a group of items as described above, the selection state of all items in the rectangle will be toggled.
If the key is pressed while an item is clicked with the , all items between the previous current item and the clicked item will be selected.
If Show selection marker is enabled in the Behavior tab of the General section of the settings, a small + or - button appears in the top left corner of the item which is currently hovered with the mouse. Clicking this sign selects or deselects the item, respectively.

Selecting Items Using the Keyboard
If an arrow key, Page Up, Page Down, Home, or End is pressed, the new current item is selected, and the previous selection is cleared.
If the key is held while one of the above keys is pressed, the selection remains unchanged.
If the key is held while one of the above keys is pressed, all items between the previous current item and the new current item will be selected.
If Space is pressed, the selection state of the current item is toggled.
A selects all items in the view.
A toggles the selection state of all items in the view.

Location Bar
The location bar, which can be found on top of Dolphin's view, displays the path to the current folder. The location bar has two modes.

Bread Crumb Mode
In the bread crumb mode, which is the default, each folder name in the path to the current folder is a button which can be clicked to quickly open that folder. Moreover, clicking the > sign to the right of a folder opens a menu which permits to quickly open a subfolder of that folder.
The icon in front of the path can be clicked in both modes to open a menu which offers quick access to places and storage media. You can add and edit places, see the section about the Places Panel for details.
Screenshot of the location bar in bread crumb mode
Location bar in bread crumb mode.
Location bar in bread crumb mode.

Editable Mode
When in bread crumb mode, clicking in the grey area to the right of the path with the switches the location bar to the editable mode, in which the path can be edited using the keyboard. To switch back to bread crumb mode, click the check mark at the right of the location bar with the .
Screenshot of the location bar in editable mode
Location bar in editable mode.
Location bar in editable mode.

Panels
Dolphin allows a number of panels to be placed next to the view. These can be enabled in View Panels. By clicking and dragging a panel title, the panel can be moved to a different position.

Places
The Places panel is located at the left of the window by default. The Places panel shows any locations you have bookmarked. It also shows any disk or media attached to the computer.
The easiest way to add a folder to the Places panel is to drag it and drop it in the panel. Moreover, you can click inside the panel with the and choose Add Entry... from the context menu.

Information
The Information panel shows extended information about the selected items(s), including size, type, and date of last modification. It also features a large preview of the selected item and permits to assign a rating, tags, and comments to it.

Folders
The Folders panel shows a tree view structure of the file system. It only shows folders. Clicking a folder with the opens this folder in the Dolphin view.

Terminal
This panel contains a terminal. The terminal will open at the folder currently shown in the Dolphin view. Changing the folder in the active Dolphin view will update the working folder of the terminal. The terminal only works with local media. Note: Changing folder in the terminal will not affect the Dolphin view.

Quick Tips
The following are a number of tips to save time when using Dolphin.

Quick Bookmarking
To quickly create a bookmark in the Places panel for the current folder, right click in the work space and click Add to Places in the context menu.

Finding Files
Dolphin is capable of searching for files. If F is pressed or using Tools Find File... , will open already set up to search within the current folder and any sub-folders.

Mounting Storage Media
A quick way to mount Storage Media is to click on the device in the Places panel. This will mount and open the device in Dolphin.

Undo Actions
Dolphin is capable of undoing changes you have made to files. For example if you moved a file to the Trash, Dolphin can undo this and move it back to its original location. To undo an action, press Z or select Edit Undo: (action name) in the menu, ⪚ Undo: Rename.

Renaming A Batch Of Files
Dolphin is capable of renaming a number of files at the same time. Each file will have the file name specified, including a number, ⪚, Image1.jpg, Image2.jpg, Image3.jpg. This can be useful, ⪚, for pictures taken with a digital camera.
If you wish to rename a batch of files, first select the files to be renamed. This can be done by pressing the and drawing a rectangle around the files to be renamed before releasing it, or by holding and clicking each file to be renamed (see Selecting Items in the View for more details on item selection). Then open the batch-rename dialog by pressing F2 or via the File menu: File Rename... .
Then enter the name you wish to give the files. The # character must be present within the name. The files will then be renamed, where the # character is replaced by a different number for each file.

Comparing A Selection Of Files
If the application is installed, you can use it to see the differences between two files.
First select the two files to be compared. Then launch the application via the Tools menu: Tools Compare Files . will then open showing the differences between the files.

Filtering Files
Dolphin is capable of filtering files, , showing only those items in the view whose name contains a given text. For example, if you wish to show only the MP3 files within a folder, you could filter for .mp3. This would then filter out all files whose name does not contain .mp3.
To filter files, first enable the filter bar, either by pressing I or via the menu: Tools Show Filter Bar . You can then enter the text to be filtered in the filter bar. The filter bar can be disabled either by pressing , or using the menu: Tools Show Filter Bar .