Ever since I got into Linux six months ago, I’ve fallen in love with KDE Plasma. I’ve added it to pretty much every distro I’ve tried: Fedora with Plasma, EndeavourOS with Plasma (a default, but still), Arch Linux with Plasma, and one time, just the plain KDE Plasma OS. For me, KDE Plasma is the BBQ sauce of Linux desktop environments: you can slap it on anything and it’ll taste great.

So, you can imagine that I’m always watching the KDE blogs like a hawk to see what’s coming next to my beloved environment. Today, the developers posted an update on how progress is going with version 6.6.0, and one of the highlights made my jaw drop.

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By 
Joe Rice-Jones

Feb 12, 2025

KDE Plasma 6.6.0’s new screen recorder feature feels like magic

Image Credit: Stanislav Aleksandrov

As part of its weekly digest, KDE posted an update on everything being worked on for future versions of Plasma. The highlight feature is coming in 6.6.0, and it lets you hide windows from a screen cast.

Now, I’m not going to lie; when I first read that, I wasn’t really excited for it. Then I watched the demo that the developer, Stanislav Aleksandrov, posted for the feature, and I have to say that I am stunned. You can see it at the top of this section.

My absolute favorite part is how hidden windows are handled. When I think of a feature that “hides windows from a screencast,” I imagine it adding a blur filter or a black box over it. This tool makes it look so much cleaner in that it acts like the window isn’t there at all. That means you can place a hidden window over a visible one without blocking the view. Not only that, but anything a hidden window spawns will also be invisible, so you can perform actions in it and your viewers will be none the wiser. Amazing stuff.

That’s not all that’s coming to KDE Plasma version 6.6.0, though. It’ll also include a way to modify the blur effect behind windows, in case you’re not a fan of them. Plus, if you open the Kickoff Application Launcher and your cursor just so happens to be in the same spot as an application in said launcher, it’ll no longer automatically select it. Very handy if you like pressing the Start key and then hitting Enter to quickly boot the first entry on your favorites.

If you want to read more, check out the KDE blog post for this week.