Plasma secrets: icons-only task manager & selective grouping

Updated: January 31, 2025

I said this many times before, and I'll say it again. Plasma is by far the best, most elegant and ergonomic desktop out there. It's visually pleasing, it's designed with clever thought and passion, and it comes with a bewildering array of options and settings so you can set it up just the way you like it. One such feature is the task manager, the thing where all your icons and notifications and system tray stuff goeth. Y'know, something that isn't really a given in the desktop world, believe it or not.

Well, Plasma lets you have it any which way you want - windows, icons, everything. But seemingly, Microsoft Windows seems to have one advantage: it can combine tasks when full. But wait just a moment. Plasma can do one better. It can combine them selectively, only for specific programs you want. Sounds like a major productivity win, and it is. Let's elaborate then.

Teaser

The problem, so to speak

Okay, so, as you know, right-click on the task manager, and choose the type of presentation. On top of the three available options, you can also choose how to cycle through tasks, whether to show thumbnails, how many rows to display, and so forth. All good.

Alternatives

From one of me old Plasma tutorials ... still valid, still superb.

The one problem would be what happens when you open multiple windows (instances) of one program when using the icons-only option. The programs all get grouped, and even if there's available space to expand this list on the task manager, you won't see them.

Grouped windows

You could say, all right, this doesn't help me, I want to see them all. With the conventional task manager, you have a different problem - not enough space. The tasks will all be shown to the right of your pinned icons, not unlike Windows & Quicklaunch. This isn't bad, but it does not scale for too many open windows.

Classic layout

So what then? Is there a midway optimum?

Selective grouping

Yes, there is. When using the icons-only mode, right-click on any one icon of interest. Click More, and then go down to: Allow this program to be grouped. Uncheck this box. This will now expand the specific program group, and only that one. The windows associated with the program (and you can also tweak HOW Plasma decides what those are) will now be all shown as individual icons. You don't over-expand your task manager, and you don't need to work with a limited, tedious icons-only view where cycling through multiple windows takes ages. This is the best of all worlds.

Selective grouping

Group, expanded

Conclusion

The Plasma desktop environment proves once again its awesome powers, way beyond anything else in the Linux world and beyond. Phenomenal options, deep thought, and maximum flexibility. The only downside to this sweet feature is that it's somewhat "hidden". I would expect the selective group/ungroup toggle to be more prominent, and perhaps even exposed through global options. The users may wrongly assume that they must either use only icons or only windows. In fact, the name of the alternative is a bit misleading. Technically correct, but still not 100% intuitive.

Perhaps the only thing Plasma could do better now is to allow window titles to be shown, so you get the Windows-like behavior, too. But Windows will eventually collapse the tasks once the taskbar gets full, whereas Plasma will still let you expand them where and when you need it. In a way, these two methods solve the same problem, from two opposite directions. Well, there you go. I hope you'll find this option useful. As I've recently started writing a history book, and I need access to hundreds of documents and references at any one time, this is a major productivity saver. We shall talk about my new writing endeavors separately. For now, see ya.

Cheers.