Tip Top Tips: KDE 6.x.y Change Shutdown/Logout Countdown (Leafpad Method)

Editor’s Note: Tip Top Tips is a semi-monthly column in The PCLinuxOS Magazine. Periodically, we will feature – and possibly even expand upon – one tip from the PCLinuxOS forum. The magazine will not accept independent tip submissions specifically intended for inclusion in the Tip Top Tips column. Rather, if you have a tip, share it in the PCLinuxOS forum’s “Tips & Tricks” section. Occasionally, we may run a “tip” posted elsewhere in the PCLinuxOS forum. Either way, share your tip in the forum, and it just may be selected for publication in The PCLinuxOS Magazine.

This month’s tip is from keltonix.

You can change the shutdown/logout countdown timer for KDE 6.x.y (on 2025-11-29, that's KDE 6.5.3) using a couple different methods. The following method uses the text editor Leafpad.

1. Press and release the Meta key (the Windows Start key on most keyboards).

2. Type: kdesu leafpad.

3. Press and release the Enter key.

The preceding actions will cause a prompt for the root user's password to appear.

4. Type your root user's password.

5. Press and release the Enter key.

The preceding actions will open an instance of Leafpad that has root user powers.

In Leafpad (with root user powers):

1. Press and release the keyboard combination: Ctrl+O

2. Navigate to: /usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.breeze.desktop/contents/logout

3. Select: Logout.qml

4. Click: Open

The preceding actions will open the file:
/usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.breeze.desktop/contents/logout/Logout.qml

in the Leafpad text editor.

1. In the Leafpad text editor, press and release the keyboard combination: Ctrl+F

2. Type: property real timeout

3. Press and release the Enter key

The preceding actions will magically take you to the line that reads:

property real timeout: 30

Change the 30 (which in this case represent seconds) to whatever you prefer, for example 7.

Press and release the keyboard combination: Ctrl+S

Close Leafpad.

Next time you shutdown or reboot your computer, the new countdown timer value will be in effect (until the next update of the file Logout.qml).