Mouse Tiler

KDE KWin Script for tiling windows.
Allows you to tile your windows with minimum effort by moving the mouse just a few pixels.

• Compatible with KDE Plasma 6+ (compatibility with previous versions is unknown).

• Tested on:

  • Fedora 42 KDE running Wayland and X11 with Plasma version 6.5.2 and 6.5.4
  • Debian 13 running Plasma version 6.3.6
  • FreeBSD 15.0 running X11 with Plasma version 6.4.5

Table of contents

• Features
  • Released so far
  • Planned for v1.0.0 (and beyond)
• How it works
• Installation
  • From KDE Store (Recommended)
  • From File
• Recommended setup
• Changing system settings
• Manually erasing settings
• Troubleshooting
  • Command line
• Compatibility
• Get in touch

Features

• Two mouse tiling modes - Popup Grid and Overlay ( similar to FancyZones ) - you can use one or both
• Manual text configuration of the modes
• Multi-monitor support
• Follow system theme or use one of pre-defined color themes
• Highly customizable, from tile size to grid position (over 20 settings)
• Tiling works using mouse, stylus, touch (including Wacom) - press Ctrl+Alt+I to toggle input modes, or change default input mode in settings

Feature Preview

Grid Tiler Default

Grid Tiler All Layouts

Overlay Tiler

Planned for the future (maybe)

The text configuration was meant to be just a temporary solution - an GUI designer was going to replace it (accessed via the Ctrl+. shortcut). However the GUI designer is a lot of work, probaly at least 1-2 weeks full time. Sadly I got rent to pay and a 3 year old son to feed and based on my previous project Remember Window Positions, I will not be able to feed us from my contributions to Linux. (After over 3 months full time work I earned $100 total which I apreciate but it's not possible to survive on). I might implement all/some of the features listed here in the future if the situation changes - but for now I need to do actual work that pays.

• Optional automatic tiling (when a new window opens, follow a set of rules to tile it such as 1st window: maximize, 2nd window: split horizontally and place on right...)
• GUI layout designer
• GUI popup tiler configuration
• GUI overlay tiler configuration
• Per screen layout configuration
• Default layout based on screen type (such as Standard - Wide - Ultra Wide - Rotated Standard - Rotated Wide - Rotated Ultra Wide)
• Theme color selection with preview of how the tiler looks
• Manual color editor

Feature requests to investigate

• Add additional titlebar button ? - System Settings > Colours & Themes > Window Decorations > ... > Configure Titlebar Buttons... (currently I do not believe this is possible to do from a KWin Script, but if anyone knows something I don't, please let me know)
• Re-investigate single key shortcuts (Alt / Shift / Ctrl)

How it works

Use one of two mouse adapted tilers (or both). The Grid tiler lets you quickly place your window by moving the window a few pixels. The Overlay tiler is a classical full screen overlay that lets you place your window into one tile, or span multiple tiles. Define your own layouts or use some of the many predefined ones.

Installation

From KDE Store (Recommended)

1. Open System Settings > Window Management > KWin Scripts.

2. Click the Get New... in upper right corner.
   
   

3. Search for Mouse Tiler and click on it (step 1 applies only with small window size)
   
   

4. Click Install
   
   

5. Enable Mouse Tiler
   
   

6. Click Apply
   
   

7. Click the configure icon to change the settings to your liking
   
   

Please note that changing settings requires some additional steps to apply due to a KDE limitation - see Changing settings below for more information.

From File

You can download the mousetiler.kwinscript file and install it through System Settings.

1. Download the .kwinscript file.
2. Open System Settings > Window Management > KWin Scripts.
3. Click the Install from File... in upper right corner.
   
   
4. Select the downloaded file and click Open
5. Enable Mouse Tiler
   
   
6. Click Apply
   
   
7. Click the configure icon to change the settings to your liking
   
   

Please note that changing settings requires some additional steps to apply due to a KDE limitation - see Changing settings below for more information.

Changing system settings

IMPORTANT

Due to a bug in KDE, changing user configuration requires reloading the script. (A reboot works too.)

To make setting changes effective, reload the script as follows:

1. In System Settings > Window Management > KWin Scripts, untick Mouse Tiler
   
   
2. Click Apply
   
   
3. Tick Mouse Tiler
   
   
4. Click Apply
   
   

Manually erasing settings

If there is ever need to manually erase user data (do not do this unless you are a developer or really need it).

The application/window data is stored in ~/.config/kde.org/kwin.conf under the key ....

The system user settings data is stored in ~/.config/kwinrc under [Script-mousetiler].

Troubleshooting

Command line

In case there are any issues (such as a crash - which should never happen but just in case), this is how to disable the script from command line (open a console with Ctrl+Alt+F5):

kwriteconfig6 --file kwinrc --group Plugins --key mousetilerEnabled false
qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure

If the mouse tiler configuration contains corrupted data, it can be manually deleted in the file: ~/.config/kde.org/kwin.conf under key TBD.

Compatibility

Compatible with:

• Remember Window Positions - use the Mouse Tiler to move your windows into position, and restore them next time you start the application. Ultimate combo. (Originally Remember Window Positions was meant to be part of the Mouse Tiler).

Get in touch

Join the official discord channel https://discord.gg/Js6AYsnQQj to discuss, report bugs or find guides.