We’ve seen converting images and resizing them does not need to be a complicated process. These are basic functions that shouldn’t take much more than a right-click. We can’t complain that Windows or any other OS does not offer the functionality built-in. After all, how many people even care about converting or resizing images? But we can say you probably do since you’re here. Today, we’ll see how to convert and resize images with a right-click in Dolphin. Dolphin is the default file manager on the KDE Plasma desktop, which comes pre-built in Kubuntu.
Previously, we’ve seen how to convert and resize images on Ubuntu. Ubuntu uses Nautilus as the default file manager like several other Linux distributions. The Plasma desktop does not seem very friendly to Nautilus, however. Thus, Nautilus can’t integrate very well with it. Also, you don’t need Nautilus if you already have Dolphin. Compared to Nautilus, Dolphin is a much more feature-packed file browser.
KDE Image Menu
Dolphin is much more customizable than other file explorers, not just Nautilus. It lets you add or remove features as well. The options on the right-click context menu are called services in Dolphin and you can add to them easily. KDE Image Menu is one such service and it’s normally just called Kim for short.
Dolphin’s inbuilt services downloader lets you easily download and install image-editing tools that work off a right click. However, they can only convert PNG to JPG or vice versa and aren’t as helpful as Kim. Kim not only lets you resize images, but it also lets you compress them without resizing them. It not only lets you convert images but rotate them also, and turn them grayscale or sepia. You can create GIFs, a photo montage, a flash or HTML gallery, and a lot more.
How to install KDE Image Menu
Kim is a little outdated sadly and you cannot install it by simply clicking Install from the Dolphin services installer. Installing Kim is still not very difficult if you can copy and paste text from here to a Terminal. Before getting to that, you’ll need to download the Kim archive package from the link below.
- KDE Image Menu (Kim)
Right-click the downloaded package and select Extract > Extract archive here. You will then have a folder named kim4. Open this folder, in Dolphin of course, and then press F4. Pressing F4 opens a Terminal right inside Dolphin within the folder you’re currently in. See? Dolphin is dope. You can also open a separate Terminal window if you want, but make sure to navigate to the kim4 folder in the Terminal. Now copy and paste each of the following commands in the Terminal one by one and keep pressing Enter.
sudo cp src/kim_*.desktop /usr/share/kservices5/ServiceMenus/ sudo cp src/bin/kim_* /usr/bin/ sudo chmod a+rx /usr/bin/kim_* sudo chmod a+r /usr/share/kservices5/ServiceMenus/kim_*.desktop sudo mkdir /usr/share/kim sudo cp COPYING /usr/share/kim/kim_about.txt sudo mkdir /usr/share/kim/slideshow/ sudo cp src/slideshow/* /usr/share/kim/slideshow/ sudo mkdir /usr/share/kim/gallery sudo cp src/gallery/* /usr/share/kim/gallery
Edit, Rotate, Convert, and Resize Images
Once you’ve executed the commands, restart Dolphin. Navigate to an image in Dolphin, right-click it, and mouse over to Actions. Here, you should have three Kim entries – Compress and Resize, Convert and Rotate, Treatment and publication. If you can’t see Kim under Actions, sign out of the current session and then sign in again, or reboot your PC once. I’d recommend a complete reboot if nothing else works.
Read Next: Make Your KDE Plasma Desktop Look Like MacOS
