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In gnome-shell there is an extension that removes the window borders, close buttons, title bar, etc on maximized windows to save screen real estate.

How can this behavior be replicated in KDE?

5 Answers 5

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Note: In recent versions of KDE Plasma (5.18+), Latte dock is interfering with the particular setting described in this answer (After every restart, the user has to run the command in this answer once again, because Latte overwrites the configuration file). The workaround is to let Latte dock manage the borderless window configuration. See this answer for more details.


To remove the borders of maximized windows in KDE Plasma 5, run the following commands:

kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kwinrc --group Windows --key BorderlessMaximizedWindows true
qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure

This is equivalent to doing the following:

  1. Edit the file ~/.config/kwinrc to add the line:

    BorderlessMaximizedWindows=true
    

    under the [Windows] section, so that it looks something like this:

     [Windows]
     BorderlessMaximizedWindows=true
     ActiveMouseScreen=true
     AltTabStyle=KDE
     AutoRaise=false
     AutoRaiseInterval=750
     BorderSnapZone=10
     CenterSnapZone=0

    In older versions of KDE, the file may be located at:

    ~/[.kde|.kde4|.kdemod4]/share/config/kwinrc

  2. Restart KWin by running:

     kwin --replace
    

    If that does not work, try one of the following, depending on which display server you are using:

     kwin_x11 --replace
     kwin_wayland --replace
    

Go crazy and maximize every window in sight! Remember that you can unmaximize them from the window menu (Alt + F3) or from the task manager in your panel. If quick tiling is enabled (System Settings → Desktop → Screen Edges → Window Management), you can also use Alt + Left mouse button to unmaximize windows by dragging them.

References

4
  • So much easier to do in XFCE4…
    – Geremia
    Jul 11, 2016 at 15:27
  • Great answer! Thank you very much. I wonder how come this is not configurable on some UI. Feb 16, 2019 at 15:37
  • I used to use this KWin script but modified to apply to all windows store.kde.org/p/1199110 Nice that the same effect is now built in as a setting, I wonder why there's no GUI toggle for it in the system settings. Thanks for the tip!
    – Richrd
    Apr 14, 2021 at 12:23
  • Can I achieve "no borders" for certain windows too? I want to remove the borders of the terminal window
    – von spotz
    Jun 6, 2021 at 17:40
6

In Kubuntu 18.04, one can toggle borders (including the titlebar) and the maximized state of windows relatively simply.

In System Settings, choose Shortcuts > Global Shortcuts > KWin. In there, scroll to Hide Window Borders and set a shortcut. I chose Meta+D and clicked Apply.

Toggle borders Now I can toggle borders by just pressing Meta+D.

Still, while in System Settings > Shortcuts > Global Shortcuts > KWin (in Kubuntu 18.04.1 LTS, Kwin corresponds to System Settings Module), scroll further down to Maximize Window. Here, I chose Meta+X and clicked Apply.

Maximize Windows Now I can toggle between a non-maximized window and a maximized one by just pressing Meta+X.

Obviously, I can use both Meta+D and Meta+X on the same window whenever I want.

4

Remove top border or title bar in KDE/Kubuntu while retaining the windows button (Window Buttons Applet)

Requirements:

1.Latte Dock - Install from discover,right click on the dock, layouts>preferences>borderless> tick borderless>under layouts

  • Requires
  • Qt >= 5.9
  • KF5 >= 5.38
  • Plasma >= 5.12
  • KDecoration2 >= 5.12
  • Qt elements: Gui Qml Quick
  • KF5 elements: CoreAddons Declarative Plasma PlasmaQuick extra-cmake-modules Install

2.Window Buttons Applet - Download from (present under files tab) https://store.kde.org/p/1272871/

3.Follow this:

  1. Copy and paste this command in terminal

Before running the installation script you have to install the dependencies needed for compiling.

Ubuntu

sudo apt install g++ extra-cmake-modules qtbase5-dev qtdeclarative5-dev libkf5declarative-dev libkf5plasma-dev libkdecorations2-dev gettext

Building and Installing

2.use your package manager to download cmake,I'm using Muon package manager and had cmake already installed Steps: Click on installation and then apply changes Now you can run the installation script.

sh install.sh

3.Right click >Desktop Add widgets,search windows button and drag it to top right corner, then edit its settings and lock your widgets.

Always backup your kde customization

Video Demonstartaion:https://youtu.be/4YnTnjyq40Y

This how your desktop will look after that with minimize,maximize and close buttons on the top right without borders enter image description here

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  • Does this plugin allow to move maximized window by start dragging top panel?
    – 4xy
    Mar 19, 2020 at 19:09
  • No I guess not maybe they updated it a while ago,I no longer use it.
    – A.K.
    Apr 12, 2020 at 11:11
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Go to System Settings->Window Management->Window Rules->New..

Add Window class choose “Regular Expression” from the drop-down and put “.*” in the input.

Click the Appearance & Fixes tab. Check “No titlebar and frame”, select “Force” from the drop-down, and select the “Yes” radio.

Save and close everything.

Your title bars will disappear but you will need to use the keyboard to close windows, minimize...

1

F11

In several applications --- Firefox, Google Chrome, Geany, Konsole are examples --- you can toggle borders (including the titlebar) and the full screen state of windows with the function key F11.

This works in Kubuntu (I tested in Kubuntu 18.04.1 LTS right now). F11 works also in standard Ubuntu and the other Ubuntu community flavours.

4
  • I think what F11 does depends on the active window's application. If it's Firefox or Chromium browser, F11 makes the window full-screen. Same with Geany. But LibreOffice and Kate, for example, don't behave that way.
    – DK Bose
    Aug 15, 2018 at 1:02
  • @DKBose, That's right. Some application programs grab F11 for some special task. So 'use F11, when in works, it is convenient', otherwise your method is good (I upvoted it).
    – sudodus
    Aug 15, 2018 at 12:23
  • @DKBose, Thanks for the edit :-) I made a small modification, but I the main part and spirit of your modification of my answer is still there.
    – sudodus
    Aug 16, 2018 at 14:02
  • Windowed - floating Youtube/every website extention is fantastic for removing border and open yt or other videos that can become full screen but just in a window chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/windowed-floating-youtube/… Apr 9, 2023 at 21:07

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