On a day like today, talking about an update other than Ubuntu doesn't seem too important, but we have to. In addition, what they have also released today is KDE Applications 20.04, which means that it is an update to the KDE application suite that comes with many new functions, among which I would highlight the many changes that have been introduced in Elisa, the new default player in Kubuntu 20.04.
As usual, and also common for us to mention it, KDE will publish several articles on this release. In the first they will tell us about their availability, but they have already published another more interesting in which they detail many of the new functions that have been included in this version. Below you have a summary of the most outstanding news that have been introduced in KDE Applications 20.04.
Highlights of KDE Applications 20.04
Okular
- Improved accessibility support for desktop systems and touch version users.
- Scrolling has been improved, both the one done with the mouse wheel and the one we do with the keyboard. For touch users, scrolling includes inertia.
Dolphin
- Improved support for interacting with remote files on systems like Samba or SSH servers.
- Now we can start watching movies stored in remote locations without having to download them.
- The mouse is no longer needed to move and focus on and off the terminal panel. Now we can use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + F4.
- Native support for 7Zip archives.
- Possibility of duplicating files with the shortcut Ctrl + D.
KMail
- Now we can export the messages to PDF and edit them with Markdown.
- Improved security when displaying a message when the composer opens after clicking on a link that asks us to attach a file.
Gwenview
- The amount has been repaired from or to remote locations.
- Gwenview no longer hangs on startup when the system clipboard contains KDE Connect text.
Elisa
- Now we can access the player from the system tray.
- New visual effect in random playback mode that makes it easy to rearrange our music in the lists.
- Now it shows what song is playing in text.
- In Elisa they have made many changes that they have not mentioned, but we do mention each week in the articles about the KDE news.
Kdenlive
- Configurable preview resolution makes editing faster.
- The preview also improves the multi-track view.
- Timeline has been improved.
- Several bugs have been fixed.
- Now we can drag the files directly to the timeline.
- New function to zoom in the frames.
KDE Connect
- Possibility of starting conversations with the SMS app.
- Remote media players are now displayed in the media applet.
- New connection status icons set.
- Improved call notification management.
Show
- New "Default" and "Revert" buttons.
- Now it will not only remember the user's default settings, but also the last selected area.
- Fixed various issues.
Other changes
- Lokalize supports Language-Tool's grammar correction.
- Konsole allows us to jump between tabs using the Alt + Number key. This will be possible in the first 9 tabs.
- Improvements in Yakuake.
- The System Preferences page has received improvements of all kinds.
- Krita improvements, including new brushes.
The release will be official this afternoon, but we will still have to wait some more time to see it as an update in Discover for most distributions. In fact, KDE usually waits until at least one maintenance update is released But, as it has not always been the case, we cannot know for sure when non-developer users will be able to install KDE Applications 20.04.
We do know that in order to use them sooner we have to add the Backports repository from KDE or use an operating system with special repositories like KDE neon. If there are no surprises, Kubuntu 20.04 will arrive with the KDE Applications 19.12.3, but we cannot confirm it yet due to not being able to install the Focal Fossa version of Kubuntu.