KDE developers have shared an update on the upcoming Plasma 6.9 desktop environment scheduled for release in late February. Highlights include reduced KWin Zoom overhead, automatic desktop configuration cleanup, and improved Firefox bookmark integration.
Starting with performance, KWin’s Zoom effect now uses an improved image upscaling filter that substantially reduces its impact. This makes the effect less resource-intensive when magnifying desktop content.
Another improvement concerns how Plasma manages desktop configuration data. The desktop will now automatically remove outdated entries related to file and folder positions, preventing its configuration file from growing excessively. According to the KDE devs, such accumulation could previously slow down Plasma in various ways.
KRunner is also receiving a compatibility fix for Firefox and its derivatives. Its browser bookmark search functionality will now work with modern Firefox installations that store their configuration data under ~/.config. However, the fix currently applies only to non-Flatpak installations, with additional work required to support Flatpak-packaged browsers.
On the UI side, KDE Discover will allow users to copy and share appstream:// URLs for locally installed Flatpak applications, extending functionality previously available only for network-installed packages.
The Web Browser widget also receives a fix that makes its Full Screen button display website content in full-screen mode as expected. The Timer widget is undergoing visual and functional refinements to improve its appearance and usability across different panel sizes, with further improvements planned.
There are changes to the Task Manager widget. Windows excluded from screencasting will no longer appear in its tooltip thumbnail previews, maintaining consistency with users’ screen-sharing preferences. Developers have also fixed an issue that could occasionally prevent window thumbnails from displaying correctly.
For Konsole users, the Profiles widget will now list the default profile alongside custom ones, making it easier to access without creating additional profiles.
Plasma 6.9 will also improve how the System Settings sidebar handles transparency, ensuring it respects the settings defined by the selected color scheme or application style.
Finally, KDE has addressed a desktop selection issue where deleting items with the keyboard while dragging a selection rectangle could unexpectedly reset the rectangle’s starting position.
For additional details, see KDE’s latest “This Week in Plasma” report.
