KDE Gear 26.04 Marks KDE’s 30th Anniversary With App Updates

KDE has released KDE Gear 26.04, marking the special “KDE at 30” edition in celebration of the project’s 30th anniversary.

One of the standout updates is in the Dolphin file manager, which now lets users assign keyboard shortcuts to nearly any menu option, plugin, or extension—making repetitive tasks, like switching between sorting methods, much quicker.

KDE’s personal information management tools have also been refreshed. Merkuro Calendar introduces a redesigned schedule view and event editor with a cleaner, more modern layout. Meanwhile, KOrganizer (part of Kontact) receives interface improvements for a more streamlined and informative experience, and KDE Itinerary enhances its dialogs while adding new travel data for Switzerland.

In Kdenlive, KDE’s non-linear video editor, new features include animated previews for compositions, allowing users to see transitions before applying them, along with support for mirroring the preview monitor to an external display.

Kdenlive also gains several workflow enhancements, such as importing clips directly into a chosen timeline position, zooming centered on the mouse pointer, automatic audio thumbnail generation, dynamic transition duration adjustment, and the ability to modify playback speed for multiple clips at once.

Other improvements across the suite include a redesigned welcome page for AudioTube, a new overlay feature in KClock for mobile lock screens during timers, and NeoChat gaining support for a rich text editor and threaded conversations.

For those interested, KDE Gear 26.04 source packages are available for manual compilation, with a full changelog detailing all updates. Most applications from this release are expected to arrive soon on platforms like Flathub and Snap Store, as well as in the repositories of rolling-release Linux distributions in the coming weeks.