KDE developers shared another weekly update, with the second Plasma 6.8 beta released and more UI improvements and bug fixes arriving before the final release on October 14.
Among the visual improvements coming with Plasma 6.8, click feedback for System Tray icons now works more reliably, while the focused tab in Plasma tab bars has been adjusted so it no longer resembles a clickable link.
The lock screen is getting a useful improvement, allowing users to trigger the “Switch to Last-Used Keyboard Layout” shortcut without unlocking the session first. Password fields across Plasma now display an explanatory tooltip when hovering over the eye icon used to show or hide passwords.
Moreover, muting an application from its Task Manager entry will no longer close the window preview tooltip. Dragging a QR code from the Clipboard widget now provides clearer visual feedback by showing it attached to the pointer during the drag.
Several bugs have been fixed. Plasma will no longer crash when deleting a starred clipboard entry from the Meta+V popup, and long labels in the Shortcuts section of System Settings should no longer overlap.
KRunner received a fix preventing very long search queries from flooding the system journal with unnecessary messages. In addition, the Weather Report widget corrects incorrectly reported nighttime temperatures when using the wetter.com provider.
On the technical side, Plasma 6.8 improves Bluetooth Low Energy device pairing. The Bluetooth setup wizard can now discover and pair BLE devices even if another application, such as KDE Connect, already has an active Bluetooth discovery session.
At the same time, KDE developers are already landing some of the first changes destined for Plasma 6.9, currently scheduled for February 23, 2027.
KRunner-powered currency conversions will become more flexible, allowing currency symbols on either side of a number. Info Center will provide visual confirmation after copying system information, while weather station searches will become more forgiving when punctuation is omitted.
For additional details, see KDE’s latest “This Week in Plasma” report.
Last but definitely not least, October 14 is shaping up to be a particularly notable day for KDE for another reason, too. Alongside the Plasma 6.8 release, KDE is also set to premiere “KDE: The Documentary,” a film looking back at the project’s history, from Matthias Ettrich’s original 1996 Usenet call for a Linux desktop environment through some of the major challenges and turning points that followed.
A trailer is already available, with the full documentary scheduled to arrive on KDE’s 30th anniversary.
