This single KDE Plasma feature solves Linux's biggest multi-monitor frustration

Published Jul 23, 2026, 6:30 AM EDT Umair Khurshid is a technology writer and developer with a strong focus on Linux, FreeBSD, cloud infrastructure, and automation. Before focusing on writing, Umair worked as a developer and DevOps engineer building and automating cloud-native systems. If you have ever worked with two or three monitors, you have probably run into the same problem. You arrange your workspace exactly the way you like it. Your editor sits on the main display, documentation is open on another monitor, and Slack, Discord, or a terminal stays visible on a third. Everything feels organized until you switch to another virtual desktop. Then the entire workspace changes; your documentation disappears, your chat windows vanish, and the terminal you were monitoring is gone. Before you can start working again, you are rebuilding a perfectly fine layout. KDE Plasma 6.7 has finally broken away from that model. Plasma has introduced per-screen virtual desktops, allowing each monitor to maintain its own set of virtual desktops. Instead of treating every display as one large workspace, Plasma now lets each monitor switch independently! Why synchronized desktops become frustrating What happens when every monitor changes together Virtual desktops are one of the oldest productivity features in Linux, and they serve a very real purpose. Instead of squeezing dozens of windows onto one desktop, you spread them across several workspaces. You might dedicate one desktop to programming, another to browsing the web, and another to email or messaging. Switching between them keeps everything organized without constantly minimizing and restoring windows. The system works beautifully on a single display. Once you add multiple monitors, however, the experience starts to fall apart. Nearly every desktop environment treats all connected displays as one virtual desktop. Switching workspaces means every monitor changes together. It doesn’t matter if you only want a fresh workspace on your primary display because every screen follows along. That approach doesn’t reflect how most people actually use multiple monitors. Your primary display is usually where active work happens. That’s where your editor, spreadsheet, or design software lives. Secondary displays serve a different role. They hold browser tabs, reference material, monitoring dashboards, music players, calendars, or communication apps that stay open throughout the day. Those supporting windows don’t need to move every time you switch projects. Imagine you are debugging an application and your center monitor contains an IDE and a terminal. Your left monitor displays API documentation, while your right monitor shows Slack and a log viewer. A new bug report arrives for an entirely different project. Ideally, you would like a fresh workspace for the new task while leaving everything else untouched. Instead, every monitor changes before you have written a single line of code; you are already spending time restoring your workspace. The interruption isn't a one-off incident, but it happens dozens of times every week. Eventually, many users stop relying on virtual desktops because the inconvenience outweighs the benefit. Per-screen virtual desktops fix the workflow One monitor changes while the others stay put Per-screen virtual desktops solve that problem in the most straightforward way possible. Each monitor now has its own independent collection of virtual desktops. When you switch desktops on your primary monitor, only that display changes. Every other monitor remains exactly where it is. The first time you use it, the behavior feels so obvious that it’s surprising it wasn’t always this way. Suppose you are working on three different projects throughout the day. Your center monitor switches between separate desktops for each project. One desktop contains a web application, another holds a backend service, and a third is dedicated to reviewing pull requests. Meanwhile, your documentation remains open on the left monitor from morning until evening. Slack stays visible on the right display, your terminal continues streaming logs without interruption. Nothing needs to be reopened or rearranged. The desktop simply adapts to the way you already work. Also, the benefits extend well beyond software development. Writers can keep research material visible while switching between different articles. Designers can dedicate one monitor to creative software while another displays client feedback or asset libraries. Sysadmins can leave dashboards and monitoring tools open while moving between maintenance tasks on their primary display. This is the kind of feature that keeps people on Plasma Desktop environments often compete by introducing features that look impressive in screenshots. New animations, redesigned menus, AI assistants, and visual effects naturally attract attention because they’re easy to demonstrate. The features that actually improve your day are usually much quieter. Per-screen virtual desktops belong firmly in that category. After a few days of using them, you stop thinking about the feature itself because you spend less time arranging windows and more time focusing on whatever you’re trying to accomplish. The larger your monitor setup becomes, the more valuable the feature is. Someone with two displays will appreciate it. Someone with three or four monitors may wonder how they ever managed without it. It’s also an example of what has made KDE Plasma such a compelling desktop environment over the years.