Use Kfind in Dolphin to search for files

Ok, as many of my fellow KDE users know Kfind (the KDE file search utility) is no longer integrated into Dolphin or even launchable from a toolbar button any longer. Never fear though, there is a simple work around to still make it easy to use Kfind to search for files/folders from Dolphin. What you need to do is to right click on a folder that you want to search and choose 'Open With', then choose 'Other...' (at the bottom of the list of applications). Now you should be presented with a list showing the various application categories and a text entry field at the top, in the text entry field type in 'kfind' (without the quotes), now before you click 'Ok' make sure there are NO checks in any of the checkboxes on that window, otherwise you'll possibly run into problems (such as a console shell opening before Kfind opens and remaining open while Kfind is running, or possibly Kfind being launched by default when you double click on a folder with the intent to open it to browse it's contents, or if some other application tries to open a folder to show you the contents of it). As long as you have made sure there are no checkboxes checked you can now click 'Ok'. Kfind should open now with the 'Look in:' field filled in with the folder you clicked on. Of course you could always just launch Kfind from the launcher too and then browse to the folder you want it to search, but if you want a permanent easy way to launch Kfind without leaving Dolphin read below.

WARNING MAKE SURE YOU READ AND UNDERSTAND THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW BEFORE PROCEEDING TO IMPLEMENT THEM ON YOUR SYSTEM, FAILURE TO DO SO COULD CAUSE PROBLEMS!! IN EITHER CASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK, I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIFFICULTIES YOU MAY ENCOUNTER. THE STEPS OUTLINED BELOW HAVE BEEN TESTED AND KNOWN TO WORK ON KUBUNTU 12.04 32 BIT, WITH KDE VERSION 4.10.0.0 (AND A FEW VERSIONS PRIOR TO THAT), AND DOLPHIN VERSION 2.2. BUT SHOULD ALSO WORK WITH ANY VERSION OF KDE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO EDIT THE FILE ASSOCIATIONS AS OUTLINED.

If you want to make Kfind permanently available in the 'Open With' menu it takes a little more work. You'll need to create a file association for it to associate it with directories. You can do this by going into 'System Settings'>'File Associations' and expanding the section labeled 'inode' and choosing 'directory', then on the right side click the button labeled '+ Add...' and enter 'kfind' (without the quotes), don't check any checkboxes on that little window though. Then you'll need to move the newly created entry which will be labeled 'Find Files/Folders' down so that it's below your File Managers entry (in my case I moved it below the entry for Dolphin since I use Dolphin as my file manager). Once you've done that go ahead and click 'Apply' and you should be all set now. Now when you choose 'Open With' when you right click on a directory/folder you should see an entry for 'Find Files/Folders' (which is Kfind), you should also be able to right click on any empty space in the folder you're currently viewing (assuming you're not viewing in tree view, but have actually opened the entire folder in a tab/window of it's own) and be able to choose 'Open With' there to have Kfind search for items in the current folder. I hope this helps, Aeronya Arai