KDE integration

QOwnNotes can be built with optional KDE Frameworks integration. The KDE build is the same application with the same settings, notes and interface, but it integrates more closely with the KDE Plasma desktop.

Tips

The KDE build is currently only available for Linux and Qt6. All features check whether the needed desktop services are available, so the KDE build also works on other desktops.

Features

Plasma global shortcuts

All actions from the Shortcuts settings are registered in Plasma's shortcut settings (System Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts → QOwnNotes). You can assign shortcuts in either place, and changes are synchronized in both directions. Actions are shown with their menu path (e.g. Note → New note).

If the Plasma shortcut service isn't running, the usual global shortcut implementation is used instead.

Desktop notifications

Notifications are sent as native KDE notifications, which you can configure in System Settings → Notifications → Applications → QOwnNotes.

  • Scripts can show notifications with script.showNotification(text, title).
  • You get a notification if the current note was changed outside QOwnNotes while QOwnNotes is in the background.

Clicking a notification brings QOwnNotes to the front.

Crash reporting

If QOwnNotes crashes, the KDE crash handler (DrKonqi) can help you to create a useful bug report, if it is installed. Reports are never submitted automatically.

Plasma activities

The note folder and workspace links to Plasma activities use the PlasmaActivities library, which reacts faster to activity changes.

Color schemes

In the Interface settings you can select one of the installed KDE color schemes for the QOwnNotes interface, independently of the color scheme of your desktop. The default, System default, keeps using the colors of your desktop.

Tips

The colors of the note editor still come from the editor color schema, so you may want to choose a matching one. The dark mode theme takes precedence over the selected color scheme.

Window activation

On Wayland, QOwnNotes is brought to the front when you start it again while it is already running, use a global shortcut of the desktop portal or click on a notification. On X11 the KDE build also passes the startup information to the window manager, so the launch feedback ends properly.

Sending notes

The Note menu has a Send note to submenu, and the context menu of the note list has a Send notes to submenu. They let you send note files with KDE Connect to your phone, by email or Bluetooth, or to other available targets.

Notes are sent as they are stored on disk, so encrypted notes stay encrypted.

You can search your notes in KRunner and Plasma's application launcher. Type at least three characters to see matching notes from the current note folder of every running QOwnNotes instance. Selecting a result opens the note in QOwnNotes.

QOwnNotes needs to be running to show results. You can turn the search off in System Settings → Search → Plasma Search.

Tips

The KRunner search is part of all Linux builds of QOwnNotes, but it is only active if the KRunner plugin file org.qownnotes.QOwnNotes.desktop is installed in share/krunner/dbusplugins, which the KDE build does automatically.

Building the KDE version

To build the KDE version, you need Qt6 and the KDE Frameworks 6 development packages (Extra CMake Modules, KColorScheme, KCoreAddons, KCrash, KGlobalAccel, KNotifications, KWindowSystem and Purpose), as well as PlasmaActivities. Turn on the integration with the CMake option QON_KDE_INTEGRATION:

cmake -S src -B build-QOwnNotes-kde \
  -DQON_QT6_BUILD=ON -DQON_KDE_INTEGRATION=ON \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build-QOwnNotes-kde --parallel

With Nix you can also build the qownnotes-qt6-kde package of the QOwnNotes flake: nix build '.?submodules=1#qownnotes-qt6-kde'. For more information take a look at Building QOwnNotes.