# The &dolphin; Handbook

Peter
Penz

    peter.penz@gmx.at

Orville
Bennett

    &Orville.Bennett.mail;

Michael
Austin

    tuxedup@users.sourceforge.net

David
Edmundson

    kde@davidedmundson.co.uk

Alan
Blanchflower
2006
Peter Penz
2006
&Orville.Bennett;
Michael Austin
&FDLNotice;
2008-03-05
1.0.2

&dolphin; is a file manager for &kde; designed with usability as a primary focus.

KDE
Dolphin
Filemanager
file
management

## Introduction

&dolphin; is a file manager for &kde; which aims to improve usability at the user interface level. &dolphin; is not intended to be a competitor to &konqueror;. &dolphin; focuses only on being a file manager whereas &konqueror; is a universal viewer of many file types. This development approach allows for concentrating on optimizing the user interface for the specific task of file management.

Please report any problems or feature requests to the &dolphin; author via the bug report dialog. This is accessible from the Help Report Bug... menu of the application.

## &dolphin; Interface

### &dolphin; Features

&dolphin; does not represent a wild departure from the &konqueror; file manager interface. There are certain paradigms in use however, which may require some readjustment on the user's part. An attempt is made below to explain these in an effort to provide a more enjoyable experience for our users.

#### &dolphin; User Interface

The default &dolphin; interface consists of a (1) menu bar, (2) toolbar, (3) location bar, (4) workspace, (6) Places Panel, (7) Information Panel and (8) status bar.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Screenshot

The location bar displays the path to the current folder. The location bar has two versions. By default location is chosen through the 'bread crumb' display. The bread crumb display makes each folder a link which can be used to immediately go to the entry. The `/home/peter/Documents` entry in the bread crumb view would become 'Home > peter > Documents' with Home, peter, and Documents being clickable links which are able go to there respective locations. This makes navigation to folders above the current folder easier and more intuitive. There is also the classic "location view" which is a text box in which you can type the full path of the folder you wish to view.

To switch from breadcrumbs to location view, simply click to the right of the breadcrumb area. To change back, click the newly appeared yellow arrow to the right of the location bar.

To change the default &dolphin; view, please see the settings section.

The workspace shows the contents of the current folder. The workspace can also be set to "Split" mode and show two folders simultaneously.

The status bar shows a limited amount of data relating to the file hovered over and the current folder. When a file is hovered over, the status bar shows the file name, the filesize and the file type &eg; JPEG. When no file has been highlighted or hovered over, the status bar shows the amount of files and folders in the current folder. At all times the status bar shows the amount of storage space that has currently been used on the current mount point, as well as the maximum space available on the mount point &eg; `/home/`.

#### &dolphin; Workspace

The &dolphin; workspace can display the contents of a folder in a variety of views. There are three viewing modes Icons, Details, and Columns. Each of these can have Preview enabled. This changes the icons into showing a preview of the file, rather than an simply icon.

The Icons view shows the contents of the folder via the file icon type &eg; an MP3 file will be represented with the icon for an MP3 file. Sub-folders are represented in the form of a folder icon. The folder icon is defined by the &kde; icon theme currently in use, however individual folders can have their icon changed manually if the user wishes. This can be done via the properties dialog.

The Details view lists the contents of a folder whilst also displaying additional properties about the file. The default &dolphin; configuration only displays the size of the file and the date it was last modified. The choice of additional information shown can be changed by right clicking on the column header and selecting the information you wish to view or in Settings Configure &dolphin;...

The Columns view allows multiple levels of the folder structure to be viewed at once. Each time a folder is clicked a new pane appears to the right of the current listing showing the contents of that folder.

The Preview view is similar to the icons view. The difference is that wherever possible previews of the files are shown. This function works for a number of image types including; JPG, PNG, XCF, SVG and numerous others. The previews view is also capable of showing the first 14 lines from text documents. &dolphin; is also capable of displaying a preview of &HTML; and PDF files in the previews view. It is also possible to modify the size of the previews via the Configure &dolphin; dialog.

Changing the view of the folder a user is working in is as simple as clicking the icon of the view they wish to use. This will cause the workspace view to change accordingly.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Workspace View Buttons

The workspace in &dolphin; is capable of showing two folders within the same window, known as split workspaces. In order to enable or disable the split workspace mode toggle the icon on the taskbar. Another way to enable or disable the split workspace mode is to use the View Split menu option.

If this option is enabled then the workspace will split apart. Two separate workspace areas will be available for use, along with two separate location bars. Clicking on either workspace will make it the active workspace. If the user toggles the split workspace mode off, then the currently active workspace will remain, while the inactive workspace will close.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; In Split Workspace Mode

&dolphin; is capable of remembering the workspace view on a per-folder basis. For example, if while viewing `/home/peter/Pictures/` the user choses to use the preview view, then the next time the user enters that folder, the view will be changed to the preview view. This is especially useful for folders containing mainly images. The feature only works for local folders which the user has read/write permissions to. &dolphin; will also remember the viewing mode it was in when last running &eg; single workspace or split workspace.

&dolphin; can also display files and sub-folders that are hidden in the current folder &eg; files such as `.dolphin` and sub-folder such as `.kde/`.

Hidden files and sub-folders can be distinguished from non-hidden file and sub-folders by their colouring. Hidden files/sub-folders are fainter than non-hidden files/sub-folders.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Showing Hidden Files/Sub-folders Enabled

To enable the showing of hidden files and sub-folders you can select View Show Hidden Files.

&dolphin; is able to sort the contents of a folder in a number of ways. These are; By Name, By Date, By Size and Descending order. These only apply to the current folder the user is currently in and do not affect other folders. As with the Views Modes the Sorting order is saved for this folder.

To change the way the folder is sorted, via the menu View Sort By (&eg; By Date).

#### &dolphin; Panels

&dolphin; allows a number of Panels to be placed in the workspace. These can be enabled in View Panels. Those chosen can then be dragged around the &dolphin; window by clicking and dragging the panel title. The panels available are described below.

##### Places

The Places panel is found 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. This list corresponds with the list of places in the breadcrumbs menu.

##### Information

The Information panel shows extended information about the selected file(s), including size, type, and date of last modification. Information also features a large preview of the selected file.

##### Folders

The Folders panel shows a tree view structure of the file system. It only shows folders. By selecting a folder the main &dolphin; area changes to show the contents of the selected folder.

##### Terminal

This panel opens a terminal inside the &dolphin; workspace. The terminal will open at the folder currently shown in the &dolphin; view. Changing folder in the main &dolphin; view will change the working folder of the terminal to match. Note: Changing folder in the terminal will not affect the &dolphin; view. The terminal only works with local media.

## Using &dolphin;

### &dolphin; Navigation

The main feature of &dolphin; that allows navigation of the file system is the work space. Clicking on a sub-folder within the current folder changes to this folder. Clicking on files within the workspace will open the file in the default application for that file type.

The toolbar is also used for navigating the file system. The toolbar contains two buttons essential for navigating the file system quickly and easily, these are; Back and Forward.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Toolbar Buttons

Other buttons can be added to the toolbar to further aid navigation or to provide shortcuts for functions within &dolphin; &eg; deleting a file.

&dolphin; continually shows the folder that it is currently viewing the contents of, via the location bar and the title bar. The location bar has two views available. The first is the folder path view. This shows the path to the current folder &eg; `/usr/share/apps/dolphin/`.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Displaying The Folder Path View

The second view is the breadcrumb view. This allows the user to move to a folder a number of folders back from the current one. This is achieved via a tab like interface where the name of each previous folder is displayed and can be clicked on to change into.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Displaying The Breadcrumb View

To switch from breadcrumbs to location view, simply click in the right part of the breadcrumb area or use View Navigation Bar Edit Location . To change back, click the newly appeared yellow arrow to the right of the location bar or use View Navigation Bar Show Full Location .

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Browse Button

With the folder path view the user is able to enter the whole path to the folder they wish to enter. In order to do so, the user can toggle the browse button to the folder path view or alternatively via the menu View Navigation Bar Edit Location then enter the path to the folder they wish to enter. The user will notice as they are entering the path, a box will open underneath the address bar showing the content of the folder they are currently heading to. The content of this box will change as they continue to enter the path to the folder, showing the folders and the files beginning with the characters being entered &eg; `/usr/share/apps/k` would display everything within the folder beginning with the k character.

If the breadcrumb view is enabled then the user is unable to enter the path to the folder. The user must manually navigate the file system by clicking the folders and sub-folders within the folders.

In order to aid the navigation of the file system, &dolphin; can use Places. Places can be set for any location on the file system including virtual folders such as "trash:/". Selecting a Place will display that folder or virtual folder in the workspace.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Bookmark Button Open

In order to select a Place, the location bar must be set to the breadcrumb view. Clicking the image of the home button (as set by the icon theme currently in use) will drop down a list of all the available bookmarks. The &dolphin; Places Panel also contains your Places list. This can be accessed via switching the sidebar to bookmarks mode. The user then clicks the desired Place to open that folder.

### &dolphin; Configuration

In order to configure &dolphin; the user needs to access the &dolphin; Configuration dialog. This can be accessed via the menu bar; Settings Configure &dolphin;... .

The &dolphin; Configuration dialog consists of three sections; Startup, View Modes, and General. Clicking one of these sections will make those options available accordingly. The options available are displayed to the right of the dialog.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Configuration Window Showing The General Options

The General option allows users to set a number of options for &dolphin;, these are; the default home location for the user &eg; /home/Peter, the default view mode (all folders will use this view unless they have already been changed) and wether or not split view is enabled by default.

Here's a screenshot of &dolphin; &dolphin; Configuration Window Showing The View Options

The View Modes option differs slightly from the General option in that it has four tabs in the options. The Icons tab allows users to set options to do with the Icons View Mode &eg; icon size. The Details tab allows users to set options relating to the Details View Mode &eg; what information about files are shown. The Previews to allows users to set options relating to the Previews View Mode &eg; the size of the preview images.

### Quick Tips

The following are a number of tips to save time when using &dolphin;.

#### Quick Bookmarking

To quickly create a bookmark of the folder currently being viewed, right click in the work space and via the menu select "Add to Places". The Bookmarking dialog will open, enter a name for the bookmark along with an icon to represent the bookmark.

#### Finding Files

&dolphin; is capable of searching for files in a filesystem. If &Ctrl;F is pressed or using Tools Find File... , &kfind; will open already set up to search within the current folder and any sub-folders contained within.

#### Mounting Storage Media

A quick way to mount Storage Media is to click on the device. This will mount and open the device in &dolphin;.

#### Undo Actions

&dolphin; is capable of undoing changes users have made to files. For example if a user sent a file to the Trash, &dolphin; can undo this and move it back to the folder it previously belonged in. To undo an action via the menu Edit Undo: (action name) , &eg; Undo: Rename or by pressing &Ctrl;Z.

#### 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, followed by a number for how many files that have been chosen to rename &eg; Tester 1.png, Tester 2.png, Tester 3.png. This is useful for when you have a number of audio files where you wish to number them via their track number, or for photographs taken from a digital camera.

If a user wishes to rename a batch of files they must first select the files to be renamed. This can be done via dragging the mouse over the files to be renamed, or via holding &Ctrl; and clicking each file to be renamed. The user must then open the batch-rename dialog, this, can be done via pressing F2 or via the File menu; File Rename... .

The user must then enter the name they wish to give the files. The # character must also be present within the name (failure to include the # key will result in an error as this indicates where the file number should be sequentially increased for each file.) The files will then be renamed with a number present within the file name.

#### Comparing A Selection Of Files

&dolphin; is capable of comparing a selection of files to see the differences between them. For a user to be able to compare files then the &kompare; application must be installed. &dolphin; can only compare the files that &kompare; is capable on analyzing.

If a user wishes to compare a selection of files, then first they must select the files to be compared. Then launch the &kompare; application via the Tools menu; Tools Compare Files . &kompare; will then open showing the differences between the files.

#### Filter A Selection Of Files

&dolphin; is capable of filtering a selection of files within the workspace via a text string. For example if a user wish to filter all of the MP3 files within a folder, they could filter for .mp3. This would then filter out all of the files that did not have .mp3 within their file name.

If a user wishes to filter a selection of files this can be done via the filter bar. The user then enters the text they wish to filter for within that folder. To enable the filter bar the user must press either the &Ctrl;I key or via the Menu Bar; Tools Show Filter Bar . To disable the filter bar the user must press either the &Esc; key, or via the Tools Show Filter Bar .

## Command Reference

### The main &dolphin; window

#### The File Menu

File Create New

  Creates a new object in the current folder.

&Ctrl;N File New Window

  Opens a new window.

&Ctrl;&Shift;N File New Tab

  Opens a new tab.

F2 File Rename

  Renames the currently selected document(s).

Del File Move to Trash

  Moves the currently selected file(s) to the trash.

&Shift;Del File Delete

  Permanently deletes the currently selected file(s). The files are not moved to the trash.

&Alt;Return File Properties

  Shows the properties dialog for the currently selected file(s).

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

  Exits &dolphin;.

#### The Edit Menu

&Ctrl;Z Edit Undo

  Undoes the last action performed by &dolphin;.

&Ctrl;X Edit Cut

  Cuts the currently selected file(s).

&Ctrl;C Edit Copy

  Copies the currently selected file(s).

&Ctrl;V Edit Paste

  Pastes the currently copied/cut files to the current folder.

&Ctrl;A Edit Select All

  Selects all files and folders in the current folder.

&Ctrl;&Shift;A Edit Invert Selection

  Selects all unselected items and deselects all selected items in the current folder.

#### The View Menu

&Ctrl;+ View Zoom In

  Increases the size of icons in the workspace.

&Ctrl;- View Zoom Out

  Decreases the size of icons in the workspace.

View View Mode...

  Changes the workspace view to show Icons (&Ctrl;1), Details (&Ctrl;2) or Columns (&Ctrl;3).

View Sort By

  Changes whether items are sorted by Name, Size, Date, Permissions, Owner, Group or Type. Descending reverses the sort order.

View Additional Information

  Displays additional information like Size, Date, Permissions, Owner, Group or Type in the different views.

View Preview

  Displays a symbolic preview of the file contents in the different view modes.

View Show in Groups

  Displays the content of the current folder grouped by file type.

&Alt;. View Show Hidden Files

  Shows all the hidden files and sub-folders within the current folder.

F3 View Split

  Enables and disables the split view workspace mode.

F5 View Reload

  Reloads the current folder.

View Stop

  Stops loading/reading the contents of the current folder.

View Panels

  Enables and disables the different panels, &eg; Places (F9), Information (F11), Folders (F7) and Terminal (F4).

&Ctrl;L View Navigation Bar

  Changes the address bar between the two modes; the line input mode Show Full Location and the breadcrumb mode Edit Location.

View Adjust View Properties...

  Opens the view properties dialog.

#### The Go Menu

&Alt;Up Go Up

  Changes to the folder above the current folder.

&Alt;Left Go Back

  Changes to the previously viewed folder.

&Alt;Right Go Forward

  Changes to the most recently viewed folder.

&Alt;Home Go Home

  Changes to the users home folder &eg; /home/Peter/.

#### The Tools Menu

&Ctrl;F Tools Find File...

  Opens &kfind; already within the current folder.

&Ctrl;I Tools Show Filter Bar

  Enables and disables the filter bar.

Tools Compare Files

  Compare the currently selected files with &kompare;.

#### The Settings Menu

&Ctrl;M Settings Show Menubar

  Hides and shows the menubar.

Settings Show Toolbar

  Hides and shows the toolbar.

Settings Configure Shortcuts...

  Opens the shortcut configuration dialog.

Settings Configure Toolbars...

  Opens the toolbar configuration dialog.

Settings Configure &dolphin;...

  Opens the &dolphin; configuration dialog.

#### The Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

## Miscellaneous Questions

Does &dolphin; intended to replace &konqueror;?

&dolphin; is not intended to be a competitor to &konqueror;: &konqueror; acts as universal viewer being able to show &HTML; pages, text documents, folders and a lot more, whereas &dolphin; focuses on being only a file manager. This approach allows to optimize the user interface for the task of file management.

How can I get involved with the development of &dolphin;?

The easiest way to get involved with &dolphin; is to drop the developers an email. If you email Peter Penz (Lead Developer/Project Leader), what you can do, how much time you can devote &etc; and he will let you know what you can do in the project. If you wish to contribute to the documentation email Michael Austin (Documentation Leader). He can then fill you in on the situation &eg; what needs to be added/finished, the procedure for submitting documentation.

The email addresses of Peter Penz and Michael Austin can be found on the main page of the documentation, or in the Credits section.

Where do I submit bug reports to?

Bug reports should only be submitted for released versions of &dolphin;, please do not submit bug reports for the Subversion release of &dolphin; as this is expected to break due to its constant development.

The official channel for submitting bug reports is via the &kde; bug tracking system. The &kde; bug tracker can be found at http://bugs.kde.org.

Where do I submit feature requests to?

The official channel for submitting feature requests is via the &kde; bug tracking system.

## Credits and License

&dolphin;

Program copyright 2005,2006 Peter Penz peter.penz@gmx.at

Contributors:

- Cvetoslav Ludmiloff ludmiloff@gmail.com

- Stefan Monov logixoul@gmail.com

- Michael Austin tuxedup@users.sourceforge.net

- &Orville.Bennett; &Orville.Bennett.mail;

Documentation copyright 2005 Peter Penz peter.penz@gmx.at

Documentation copyright 2006 &Orville.Bennett; &Orville.Bennett.mail;

Documentation copyright 2006 Michael Austin tuxedup@users.sourceforge.net

&underFDL;

&underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain &dolphin;

&install.intro.documentation;

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;

&documentation.index;