Copy to / move to options are not available on the desktop

Desktop Environments Plasma
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In Plasma 6, within the Dolphin file browser settings, under the context menu tab, there are options for ‘copy to’ and ‘move to’. When I enable these options and right-click on any file or folder, these options appear. However, when I’m on the desktop and right-click on a file or folder, these options don’t appear. How can I enable them?

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this article is about congratulating Dolphin https://averagelinuxuser.com/configure-dolphin-file-manager/

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You can’t to my knowledge. The file manager and desktop have their own settings and are not linked.

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These are general settings and have nothing to do with the topic

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oh

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We hope to find a solution

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this may help
Why the options don’t appear on the desktop:

  • Desktop is a Widget, Not a Folder: The KDE Plasma desktop is not a regular folder but a widget. Because of this, it doesn’t have the same context menu functionality as a file manager like Dolphin. [1]
  • File Manager Actions: The “Copy to” and “Move to” options are specifically file manager actions provided by Dolphin, not a general system-wide function that applies to the desktop. [1, 13]
  • Context Menu Differences: The desktop’s right-click menu is different from Dolphin’s, and its options are not directly controlled by Dolphin settings. [1, 4]

How to Enable Similar Functionality

While you can’t directly add Dolphin’s “Copy to” and “Move to” to the desktop context menu, here are a few alternatives and workarounds:

  1. Drag and Drop:

    • You can drag and drop files from the desktop to other folders to move or copy them. When you drag a file, a menu may appear asking if you want to move, copy, or link the file to that location. [9, 12]

  2. Use Dolphin:

    • Open Dolphin, navigate to the location where the files on your desktop are stored (usually ~/Desktop), and use the “Copy to” and “Move to” options from there.
    • This is not ideal if you’re looking for a direct right-click solution on the desktop but it will achieve the same result.

  3. Alternative Context Menu Options:

    • Configure Desktop Menu: You can customize the desktop’s right-click menu to add other useful actions such as “Shutdown,” “Restart,” and “Log Out.”
      • Right-click on the desktop.
      • Select “Configure Desktop and Wallpaper”.
      • Go to “Mouse Actions.”
      • Click the gear icon next to the “Right Button” setting. Here you can customize what is available in the right click menu. [5, 6]
    • Application Launcher Menu: You can change the right-click menu on the desktop to an application launcher, which presents a more icon-based menu. To do this:
      • Right-click the desktop and select “Configure Desktop”.
      • Go to “Mouse Actions”.
      • Change the “Right Button” setting from “Standard Menu” to “Application Launcher.” [3, 11]

  4. Service Menus:

    • It’s possible to create custom service menus for Dolphin that can add more actions to the right click menu. This involves creating .desktop files in the ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus directory.
    • You can also create a service menu item that duplicates files and adds a timestamp and .bak suffix to the filename. [2]
    • While service menus can add more functions to Dolphin’s context menus, they do not affect the desktop’s context menu.

Feature Request:

  • The inability to use “Copy to” and “Move to” directly from the desktop context menu is a known limitation. If you strongly desire this functionality, you should consider submitting a feature request to the Plasma developers. [1, 13, 14]

In summary:

The “Copy to” and “Move to” options you see in Dolphin’s context menu are specific to Dolphin and cannot be directly added to the desktop’s right-click menu due to the desktop being a widget rather than a folder. While there’s no direct solution to add those options to the desktop, you can use drag-and-drop, use the options within Dolphin, or add different functionality to the desktop’s context menu. You can also submit a feature request to the Plasma developers if you would like these features added to the desktop context menu.

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