Configuring Konsole

This document explains how to perform a basic configuration of KDE’s Konsole terminal emulator to improve readability.

Creating a Profile

To change fonts, colors, and other settings in Konsole, you need to create a profile to contain the settings. Konsole uses different profiles to manage color and font settings. The default profile is read-only, so it is necessary to create a new profile in order to make customizations.

Begin by opening a Konsole window either by going to the start menu and looking under the System category or by using the CTRL+ALT+T keyboard shortcut. Once Konsole is open, click the hamburger menu in the upper right corner of the window, then go to Settings, then to Configure Konsole. Go to the Profiles entry on the left side of the settings window, then click New on the right side. You can name the profile anything you want (the default “Profile 1” is fine for our purposes). To make this new profile launch automatically next time you run Konsole, check the box next to “Default profile.”

Changing the Font

To change the profile font, click the Appearance item on the left side of the profile editor. Look for a button that says “Choose…” – this button is next to the current font name and size, which defaults to Hack 10pt. Click the Choose button to open a font selection dialog.

Change the font from Hack to Inconsolata. Leave the style set to Regular. Increase the font size to at least 12. I normally set the size to 14, but you might want it even larger than that. If it is set too large, however, some programs that expect to be able to display at least 80 characters on the screen will start to wrap text. Therefore, you shouldn’t choose a massive font. Click OK when done selecting the font.

Changing Colors

Once the font has been selected, you will be back on the Appearance page of the profile editor. You can select a different color scheme from the area just above the font. I typically leave my color scheme set to Breeze, as I think it is a good set of colors. However, colors are a matter of personal preference, so set the color scheme to whatever you find most pleasant.

Switching Profiles

When you’re finished editing the profile, click the OK button at the bottom of the profile editor window, then click the OK button on the main Konsole settings window. It is possible to switch your open window to your new profile by going to the hamburger menu, then selecting Switch Profile, then clicking on the name of the profile you just created.

To check that your new profile is the default, close the Konsole window (or run the exit command in the shell inside the window). Restart Konsole, and you should find that it is using your new profile with its appearance settings.