Konqueror tips and tricks

Jack Wallen
Oct 27, 2009
Updated • Feb 13, 2018
Linux
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5

If you are familar with KDE you know Konqueror. Konqueror used to be one of the finest file managers on the PC desktop - period. But now KDE has migrated toward a simpler, more user-friendly file manager (Dolphin) and pushed Konqueror to serve as a web-browser only.

That does not mean Konqueror can not be used as a file manager. It can. In fact, Konqueror can do many things. From file management, to secure shell gui, to imap connections, and many more tricks. Konqueror is one of those Swiss Army Knife tools that many people over look. Well, we're not going to overlook this outstanding tool.

In this article I am going to show you a few tips and tricks that you can apply to the Konqueror web browser to make your Konqueror (and KDE) experience even more flexible and powerful than it already is.

KIO Slaves

KDE Input/Output slaves allows Konqueror to take advantage of external applications making it far more usable. Depending on what kio_slave you want to use the input for Konqueror will be different. Let's take a look at some of the more useful slaves.

fish://

If you start an address with fish:// you are telling Konqueror to make use of the ssh protocol. With this you can connect to a remote ssh server and even copy/paste to that server from within Konqueror. To do this you would enter an address like:

fish://USERNAME@ADDRESS

Where USERNAME is an actual username on the remote machine and ADDRESS is the actual address of the remote machine. You will be prompted for a password, unless you already have this connection set up for passwordless secure shell connections (see "Five handy secure shell tips and tricks").

imaps://USER@PASSWORD@ADDRESS:PORT

Where:

  • USER is the actual user name.
  • PASSWORD is the users password.
  • ADDRESS is the address of the imap server.
  • PORT is the port used for the imap server.

Quick search

If you enter gg: linux in the Konqueror address bar you will get a page with the Google results of the string "linux". Konqueror has a lot of pre-configured quick search shortcuts like this. For example:

  • gg - Google
  • fm - Freshmeat
  • froogle - Froogle
  • msdn - Microsoft Developer Network
  • odp - Open Dictionary
  • tr - Technorati
  • wp - Wikipedia

You can also create your own by issuing the command kcmshell4 ebrowsing in either the run dialog or a terminal window. In the new window click the New button and then fill out the following information:

  • Search Provider Name: Give your shortcut a name.
  • Search URI: The URI the site you are adding uses.
  • URI Shortcuts: Comma delineated list of shortcuts.

So let's say I want to create a short cut for searching amazon.com. To do that I would enter the following information:

  • Name: Amazon
  • URI: http://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=\{@}
  • URI Shorcuts: az,amazon

So now if I want to do a search for the string "Linux" on amazon.com I would just enter:

az: Linux

In the address bar.

Split views

Figure 1
Figure 1

Not only can Konqueror do tabs, it can do split windows. Say you want to do some comparing of windows, or just want to be able to see more than one window at a time. With Konqueror you can split the view either horizontally or vertically by going to the Windows menu and selecting either Horizontal or Vertical and you can have two windows open at once for simple viewing. NOTE: Whichever window has the focus is the window that the address bar will effect. In other words, if you want to change the page on the right pane, click on the right pane and then enter the url in the address bar. If you want to close a pane <Ctrl><Shift>R will close the active window.

Final thoughts

Konqueror is a very powerful, flexible tool that can be extended well beyond its intentions. Have you found a cool trick that applies to Konqueror as either a web browser or file manager? If so, share it with your fellow Ghacks readers.

Summary
Konqueror tips and tricks
Article Name
Konqueror tips and tricks
Description
If you are familar with KDE you know Konqueror. Konqueror used to be one of the finest file managers on the PC desktop - period. But now KDE has migrated toward a simpler, more user-friendly file manager (Dolphin) and pushed Konqueror to serve as a web-browser only.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. B.B. said on September 27, 2021 at 7:26 am
    Reply

    I have been able to use Konqueror quite reliable, and quick. I am using it now on this website. This is 2021/09/26. I will explain how I got it to this point. At first, browsing the web was next to impossible. It would only show very few http:// websites. Removing it from Q4OS crippled the system down to where I had to reinstall. I installed Palemoon browser, Konqueror worked very slightly better. I installed links2 browser, Konqueror worked even a bit better. Then I installed the package libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37. It brought in 126 other packages with it(238MB). Wow! It now works like a blend between Palemoon and Links2!

  2. pradesh said on October 31, 2009 at 1:09 pm
    Reply

    Nice

    What about viewing a formatted version of the manual pages:
    man://ls

  3. Aery said on October 28, 2009 at 2:31 pm
    Reply

    Wow, most of the things I didnt knew like making a search shortcut.

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