KDE Dolphin file manager restores Miller columns view after 15-year absence

KDE developer Méven Car has reintroduced the Columns view to Dolphin, a Miller columns interface that disappeared in 2011 with the Dolphin 2.0 transition to the KItemViews engine. The feature displays folders in side-by-side columns, preserving parent directory visibility while navigating deep hierarchies without losing spatial context.

The implementation supports keyboard navigation via arrow keys and Enter, adjustable column widths with manual, auto-fit, and fixed modes, and preserves existing Dolphin functionality including sorting, grouping, hidden files, zoom, and previews across all columns. Session restoration reopens previous column states, while the location bar, window title, file operations, and integrated terminal track the active last column. The feature is currently available for testing via dolphin-git on Arch Linux AUR or through kde-builder, with a November 12 deadline for inclusion in Dolphin 26.12 or deferral to Dolphin 27.04 in April 2027.

What changes in Dolphin's Columns view implementation

• View engine integration: The new Columns view is built atop the modern KItemViews engine that replaced the original implementation in 2011, resolving the architectural barrier that prevented restoration for 15 years.
• Keyboard navigation model: Left and Right arrow keys move between columns with Enter to open selections, enabling efficient traversal without mouse dependency for power users.
• Column width management: Three sizing modes are supported—manual drag adjustment, content-aware auto-fit, and fixed width—addressing varying content density across directory types.
• Session state persistence: Open column configurations are serialized and restored when Dolphin resumes a previous session, maintaining user workflow context across restarts.
• Scope limitation: The implementation is currently Dolphin-specific and not exposed to Konqueror or other applications embedding Dolphin's file view component, limiting ecosystem-wide adoption.

Why it matters

The restoration of Miller columns addresses one of KDE's longest-standing user-requested features, reducing friction for developers and system administrators who navigate deep filesystem hierarchies. For Linux desktop users, this narrows a persistent capability gap with macOS Finder and provides a genuine alternative to tree views in competing file managers, potentially influencing distribution defaults and user migration patterns within the Plasma ecosystem.