A brief look at the main parts of Konqueror's window:

The Titlebar is the strip across the top of Konqueror's window, and operates in the same way as for other KDE applications. Right click on the central portion to bring up the neat Titlebar menu.

The Menubar is the strip containing the names of the drop-down menus, left click on a name to alternately show and hide that menu, or you can use Alt+the underlined letter in the name as a hot key, for example Alt+E to show the Edit menu. The various menus are described in the Menubar section of this document.

The Toolbar contains icons for commonly used operations. Hover the mouse pointer over an icon to see a brief description of what that icon does, left click to activate the icon. Click the right mouse button on a clear area of the Toolbar to change the appearance and position of the Toolbar.

The Locationbar shows the path to the directory, URL or file being viewed. You can type a path or URL here and press Enter or left click on the Go icon at the right hand end of the Locationbar to go to it. The black icon at the left hand end of the Locationbar clears the text entry box.

The Bookmark Toolbar is the area under the Locationbar in the previous screenshot. You can add frequently used bookmarks here, see the Organising Your Bookmarks section of this document.

The Window is the main area of Konqueror and can show you the contents of a directory, a web page, document or image. Using the Window menu you can split Konqueror's main window into one or more separate views, useful for drag and drop operations.

The Status Bar runs across the bottom of the window and often shows general information about whatever the mouse pointer is hovering over. If you have split the main window into a number of views you will get an Status Bar for each view, and it will include a small light at the left hand end to show which is the “active” view. Right clicking on the Status Bar brings up the Status Bar Right Mouse Button Menu.

You can find out a lot about how Konqueror works without needing to read this entire document if you take advantage of Tooltips and the What's This? feature.

If Tooltips have been enabled in KDE (K menu Control Center->Look & Feel->Widget Settings, Enable Tooltips) then when you hover the mouse pointer over a Toolbar button it should bring up a terse description of what that button does.

What's This? is invoked by the Menubar Help->What's This ? item, by Shift+F1, or by just left mouse button clicking on the question mark near the top right hand corner of Konqueror's window. It changes the cursor to show a question mark alongside the arrow.

When this question mark is visible, a left mouse button click won't actually do anything until you have clicked on a control (or the text alongside it) that supports What's This ?, in which case it will display a reasonably comprehensive description of what the control is supposed to do. Most of the dialog boxes that Konqueror brings up support the What's This? feature.

If you click the left mouse button on an item in Konqueror's window that item will be “activated”. Thus

Clicking the middle mouse button on a file or directory name or icon does essentially the same as left clicking except that it does it in a new Konqueror window.

Clicking the right mouse button on almost any part of Konqueror's window will bring up an appropriate context menu.

Konqueror gives you three ways to dispose of an unwanted file or directory:

The simplest way of removing a file or directory is to position the mouse pointer over its name or icon and press the right mouse button mouse button, which will bring up a menu containing the options Move to Trash, Delete and Shred.

Or, if you have “selected” the item, the Menubar Edit menu will give you the choice of “Move to Trash”, “Delete” and “Shred” options.

Del will move a selected item or items to Trash.

Shift+Del will really, truly and irrevocably delete the selected item or items.

Ctrl+Shift+Del will shred the selected item or items.

To copy a file or sub-directory between directories you can:

Moving a file or sub-directory between directories can be done in the same way as copying, except that you choose the Cut option or Ctrl+X instead of Copy. The item that you have Cut will be removed from the original directory when you do the Paste into the new directory.

You can also copy or move selected item(s) to another directory by using Edit->Copy Files or Edit->Move Files, or by selecting Copy To or Move To from the drop down menu you get when you right click on an file or directory name in the File Manager window.

Using Drag 'n Drop

Konqueror also supports Drag and Drop copying and moving of files and directories.

You can do this by having two instances of Konqueror, one showing the directory you want to copy from, the other showing the target directory. Position the mouse pointer over the item you wish to copy or move then, holding the left mouse button pressed, ‘drag’ it to a clear space in the target directory. Release the button and you will be presented with a menu choice of Copy or Move. Take care to ‘drop’ the item into an empty area of the target directory view - dropping it on top of another file name or icon can cause problems.

You can also set up Konqueror to show more than one directory within its window and drag & drop between them.

For this screenshot we have used the Menubar Window->Split View Left/Right option, also available with the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+L, to split the main Konqueror window into two views, each showing the contents of a different directory.

When the window is split into two (or more) views it is usually best to make sure that they are not linked - the little boxes at the bottom right of each view should be empty.

The ‘active’ view, that is the one whose path is shown in the Locationbar and which responds to navigation and Menubar commands, is shown by the little green light in the bottom left corner. To make a view active left mouse button click on an empty area of the view or on its Status Bar.

To remove an active view from Konqueror's window use the Ctrl+Shift+R hotkey, or the Menubar Window->Remove Active View option, or right mouse button click on the Status Bar and choose the Remove Active View option from the resulting menu.

You sometimes want to delete, copy or move a number of files that are similar in some way. For example you may wish to move all of the .png graphics files from one directory to another. Konqueror makes this easy by letting you select multiple files based on similarities in their file names.

Use the Menubar Edit->Select... item or the hotkey Ctrl++. This brings up a little dialog box in which you enter a filename containing the wildcard characters *, which matches any number of characters, and ? which matches a single character. Press OK and Konqueror will highlight all files with matching names. For example;

When you have selected a range of files, you can narrow down the selection by uing the Menubar Edit->Unselect... option or Ctrl+- to specify which of the selected files should be removed from the selection.

Use Ctrl+U or the Menubar Edit->Unselect All option or just left mouse button click on a clear area of the view to cancel the selection(s).

You can even invert the selection, that is deselect all selected files and select those that were previously unselected. Use the Menubar Edit->Invert Selection option or Ctrl+* to do this.

Once you have selected the right files then the normal delete, copy or move commands will act on all of the selected files at once.

When Konqueror is in File Manager mode picking Create New... from the Edit menu or from the drop-down menu you get by right clicking on a free area in a directory view gives you a sub-menu letting you create any of the following in the current directory:

The easiest way to change the name of a file or directory is to right click on it and select Rename.

Or, to change the name or permissions of a file or directory right click on its name or icon and select the Properties... item. Or, if you have “selected” the file or directory, then you can use the Menubar Edit->Properties option.

This will bring up the Properties dialog box which has two tabs:

Although Konqueror is a very powerful and flexible GUI file manager, there are occasions when the experienced Linux® user wants to get down to the basics and work at the text command line level.

She could, of course, open an instance of Konsole, perhaps with Konqueror's Menubar Tools->Open Terminal option or with Ctrl+T.

But Konqueror has yet another nice feature here, the Menubar Window->Show Terminal Emulator option opens up a terminal window as a new view within Konqueror, and as long as the link icon is visible at the bottom right corner of each view, the terminal will follow any directory changes you make in the normal file manager view.

Once you have a connection to the Internet, then you can surf with Konqueror just as you can with any other browser.

If you want to stop the download for any reason then use the Esc key, the Toolbar Stop button or the Menubar View->Stop item.

When you are viewing a web page you should see two new icons in the Toolbar, looking like magnifying glasses with small + and - symbols. Use these to adjust the size of the text in the page if you find it difficult to read, although whether this works or not will depend on how the HTML page has been constructed.

Some people seem to spend more time searching for a web page than actually reading it. Do you know that you can just type the subject you are looking for into the Locationbar window, and Konqueror will automatically submit it to a Web search engine? Try it by entering the name of your home town.

Or you can tell it to use a particular search engine. For example entering altavista:konqueror or just av:konqueror will use Altavista to do the search. For more details about Konqueror's advanced search features see the Enhanced Browsing section.

When you are viewing a web page you can save it (or at least the basic HTML or similar source text) to your local disk with Location->Save As.... If the page you are viewing uses frames, then you will also be given the Location->Save Frame As... option, left click in the frame you want to save first.

If the page uses a background image, you can get and save that with the Menubar Location->Save Background Image As... option.

But if what you really want is that glorious picture of the latest Ferrari, then right mouse button clicking on the image will give you a drop-down menu with a Save Image As... option. If you choose Copy Image Location instead then the URL will be copied into the clipboard so you can then paste it anywhere you wish. Be sure to respect the owners copyright, and ask for permission before using any pictures saved this way for anything other than your own viewing pleasure.

Right click on a link (which may be an image) and choose Copy Link Location. This copies the URL to the clipboard so you can then paste it into, say, an e-mail to a friend telling her about this wonderful new site.

Printing a copy of the page you are viewing is easily done with the Menubar Location->Print... or Print Frame option or with the Toolbar Print button.

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is one of the the earliest, and still perhaps the best, way of transferring files between computers over the Internet.

With FTP you can see files and directories on the distant computer just as if they were on your own system, download them onto your computer using Konqueror's normal Copy and Paste or Drag 'n Drop methods and, if allowed, upload files from your machine to the other computer's filesystem. To try it, type the URL

ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde

into the Locationbar and press Enter. As long as you are connected to the Internet, and as long as the KDE's FTP site is not too busy, you should end up seeing the /pub/kde directory at ftp.kde.org

When you access an FTP site it will usually need some form of username and password from you. To simplify things, most FTP sites that offer files for free downloading will accept the word anonymous as a username and your email address as a password, and to make your life even easier Konqueror will automatically supply these without troubling you.

Sites that are more concerned with security will need a proper username and password, in which case Konqueror will ask you for them or you can include the username in the URL you type into the Locationbar, as for example

ftp://username@ftp.cia.org

Konqueror will then prompt you for the password.

Choose Settings->Configure Konqueror...->File Manager or from the K menu select Preferences->File Browsing->File Manager. This will bring up a dialog box with four tabbed pages; Behavior Appearance, Trash, and Previews.

What Konqueror does when you click on a file name or icon is determined by the file type and the list of actions that Konqueror keeps for the various file types and can be changed to suit your taste or to add a new file type.

For example Right click on a text (.txt) file and select the Edit File Type item. This will bring up a dialog box as shown below.

Under the General tab, the Application Preference Order section defines what appears in the Open With menu for this type of file. You can change these applications and their order. You can also change the icon that Konqueror uses for this file type by left mouse button clicking on the icon, and you can add the extensions (Filename Patterns) for any other types of file that you want to be handled in the same way.

The Embedding (which actually refers to the Preview) tab page controls what happens when you left mouse button click on a filename.

Konqueror can be configured to associate any file type with an installed application.

For example, the Targa image type doesn't exist in Konqueror. If you have such a file on your disk, it will have a question mark as an icon. If you left mouse button click on it, Konqueror will ask you which application you want to use. You could just type in the name of a suitable application each time you select a Targa file, but the best approach is to tell Konqueror what to do with a Targa image.

Let's add the Targa mime type to Konqueror.

Open the Settings->Configure Konqueror...->File Associations dialog box and click on the Add... button at the lower left, this will bring up a little dialog box. Select Image in the Group drop down box, type Targa in the Type name Text Box, and press OK.

Now have a look at the upper right hand corner of the File Associations Dialog Box. Click on the icon and choose a nice one, here the best seems to be the image icon. In the Filename Patterns Text Box, add the patterns *.tga and *.TGA by clicking on the upper right Add... button. This means that every file with the .tga or .TGA (case is important) extension will now be considered as a Targa image.

Konqueror now knows what a Targa file is, but it doesn't know what to do with it. We need to tell Konqueror which application to launch to view a Targa file. At the lower right hand corner in the Application Preference Order area, click on the Add... button bring up the following Dialog Box.

You can choose an application from the Known Applications List Box, but as we want to use Gimp which is not listed, type gimp into the Add Application box.

Gimp is really nice but it is big and not designed for quick viewing. Click once more on the Add... button at the lower right hand corner of the File Associations Dialog Box to bring up the little Application Dialog Box, and in the Add Application Text Box, type xv or the name of any other suitable application you can have on your system.

Now you have two application in the list. The first one will be the default application, you can arrange them as you prefer with the Move Up and Move Down buttons.

All Targa files will now be recognized by Konqueror.

Choose Settings->Configure Konqueror...->Konqueror Browser or from the K menu select Preferences->Web Browsing->Konqueror Browser. This will bring up a dialog box with five tabbed pages; HTML, Appearance, Java, JavaScript and Plugins.

Use the Menubar Settings->Configure Konqueror...->Enhanced Browsing or the K menu Preferences->Web Browsing->Enhanced Browsing selection to bring up the KDE Control Module Enhanced Browsing dialog box.

If the Enable Internet Keywords box is checked you can simply type normal words and phrases such as linux into the Locationbar and you will either be redirected to the appropriate site or presented with a list of possible links. To do this Konqueror submits the word(s) to www.internetkeywords.org which will redirect you if it finds a matching Internet Keyword.

The Search Fallback drop down box lets you pick a search engine that will be used if an exact Internet Keyword match isn't found. If you select None then www.internetkeywords.org will be used.

If you check the Enable Search Shortcuts box Konqueror will let you use the Shortcuts defined in the selection box to choose a particular search engine. For example you can type av:linux into the Locationbar to search for “linux” using Altavista.

Use the Menubar Settings->Configure Konqueror...->Cookies... or the K menu Preferences->Web Browsing->Cookies selection to bring up a dialog box with two tabbed pages; Policy and Management.

The Proxy configuration dialog box is invoked with the Menubar Settings->Configure Konqueror...->Proxy option, or with the K menu Preferences->Web Browsing ->Proxy choice.

A “proxy” connection to the Internet is one that is made through another machine, usually a LAN (Local Area Network) server, and can give you improved security by separating the computers connected to the local network from the wide open world of the Internet itself. A proxy server can also cache downloaded files to give you faster access to recent downloads.

Proxy servers are traditionally associated with a local intranet within an organisation, but are now also used by some Cable Network ISPs who connect their customers living near to each other onto a local area network to improve the overall average performance of the cable network.

If you are on a LAN, the proxy is perhaps the only way you can connect to the web, in which case you need to ask your system administrator or ISP for connection details.

To configure Konqueror to work with your proxy server, open the Proxies Configuration dialog box, check Use Proxy and fill the fields according what your system administrator or ISP has told you.

Of course, the proxy shouldn't be used to access a machine on your local network. So, in the No Proxy for: field, type the names of local machines on your network separated by commas. This is usually the domain name of your ISP or your company. For example, if you're on the Ireste school network, you would type ireste.fr, intranet, “intranet” being the machine where the intranet web server is located. This is important if you are on a LAN because the proxy won't find the internal machines.

Choosing the Menubar Settings->Configure Konqueror...->Crypto or the K menu Preferences->Personalization ->Crypto option brings up a dialog box that lets you configure SSL, certificates and other cryptography settings. Use the Default settings unless you really know what you are doing.

Some web sites tailor their HTML pages according to the browser you are using to view them. This is done to cope with differences between browsers and is done by the web server asking for the browser's “User Agent” and then comparing it against a list of known browsers. Unfortunately very few web sites recognise “Konqueror”.

To overcome this problem, you can control what Konqueror reports as it's User Agent. Selecting Settings->Configure Konqueror...->User Agent or the K menu Preferences->Web Browsing->User Agent will bring up a dialog box allowing you to set the User Agent string for selected sites (for example www.kde.org) or domains (kde.org).

To add a new site or domain specific browser-identification string press the New button, fill in the details in the pop up dialog then press the Update List button. A list of suitable alternative identities is given in the drop down selection box. Note that wildcard characters such as * are not allowed in the site or domain name. Do not forget to press the Apply before closing the User Agent configuration dialog.