Questions tagged [unity]
For questions regarding the Unity desktop environment, including configuring and using Unity. Unity has been the default Ubuntu desktop environment from Ubuntu 11.04 to Ubuntu 17.04.
9,947
questions
565
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35
answers
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Unity doesn't load, no Launcher, no Dash appears
When I login, nothing happens.
I am presented with my desktop wallpaper.
No Dash, no Launcher, nothing.
526
votes
11
answers
435k
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What are Unity's keyboard and mouse shortcuts?
In Unity, are there any pre-defined shortcuts, e.g. to open the dash or unhide the launcher?
491
votes
8
answers
153k
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How do I modify or disable the HUD's use of the Alt key?
A number of games, Emacs, and the terminal make extensive use of the Alt key. Can Unity be configured to respect this key, rather than launching the HUD with it?
464
votes
16
answers
512k
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How can I edit/create new launcher items in Unity by hand?
Will Unity allow making custom launcher icons from .desktop files or via menu editing system? (Right now the launcher doesn't give the option to "keep in launcher" on all programs.
For some programs ...
408
votes
11
answers
129k
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How do I disable mouse magnet on middle edge with multi monitors?
I use Ubuntu 12.04 on a two screen setup. Multiscreen on 12.04 has generally become much better, but there is one thing that really gets on my nerves: there's a mouse magnet of sorts on the middle ...
398
votes
6
answers
525k
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How do I turn on workspaces? (Why do I only have one workspace?)
It appears that Unity on Raring only comes with a single virtual desktop (aka workspaces) by default, and CCSM's Wall plugin has no way to add more. Is this configurable at all?
305
votes
11
answers
501k
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How can I configure Unity?
Are there any configuration options for the Unity desktop?
There are multiple valid answers for this question spanning over several versions of Ubuntu. For your convenience an index of each below (...
273
votes
12
answers
168k
views
How can I remove Amazon search results from the dash or disable the feature?
How can I disable Amazon search results in the Dash?
258
votes
7
answers
381k
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Can I move the Unity launcher?
I can’t get used to the new Unity system. I’d like to move the left Unity panel to the bottom of screen (like Windows 7 – more similar is better).
But I can't find a way. Is it possible?
250
votes
16
answers
276k
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How to pin Eclipse to the Unity launcher?
How can I pin eclipse indigo 3.7 I have 'installed' at /opt/ to the taskbar?
I have tried launching eclipse and right-clicking to choose the 'keep in launcher' option. But when I click that icon, ...
220
votes
16
answers
84k
views
How to change tooltip background color in Unity?
In a lot of applications the tooltips are just plain ugly (White text on black background, way too much contrast) or even unreadable (black or dark blue text (Hyperlinks) on black background). I want ...
201
votes
8
answers
62k
views
keyboard shortcut to switch between windows within an application
Is there a keyboard shortcut, or can I somehow bind a shortcut, to switch between windows within an application (similar to opt+~ on macOS)?
Ideally, I'd like Alt+Tab to be unaffected or to be ...
195
votes
10
answers
185k
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How can I reduce or increase the number of workspaces in Unity?
I was reading about how to get multiple workspaces in the mutter version of Unity, however since Compiz is replacing Mutter how do I go about adding and removing workspaces in Compiz version of Unity?
189
votes
9
answers
77k
views
Is there an easy way to rearrange or move the icons in the Unity launcher?
It looks like the only time that you can choose where an icon goes on the unity launcher, is when you add it. Is there a way to rearrange the order of an icon after it has been added?
186
votes
36
answers
149k
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What lenses for Unity are available?
This question is present as a matter of historical interest. While you are encouraged to help maintain its answers, please understand that "big list" questions are not generally allowed on AskUbuntu ...
184
votes
12
answers
229k
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How do I reset my Unity configuration?
I've been messing around with Unity and broke something, how do I "start over"?
168
votes
10
answers
284k
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How do I disable the screensaver/lock?
When I'm watching a film in Mythtv the screen turns to black every 10 - 15 mins and I have to log back into Ubuntu. Very annoying!
How do I disable the black screen / screensaver / logout in Unity?
...
167
votes
3
answers
53k
views
What's the right terminology for Unity's UI elements?
I've sent a few mails to the Ayatana mailing list regarding some UI suggestions for Unity, but I'm afraid I keep confusing the right terms for the UI element, so I would like to have some ...
165
votes
7
answers
1.1m
views
How can I uninstall a nvidia driver completely ?
As expected, Nvidia drivers have reduced my customizations. I can't login to Unity 3D session. I can't find any content to help me to uninstall the driver and I don't know what to do as I have never ...
164
votes
7
answers
104k
views
Missing date & time applet from top Unity panel
I like Unity very much. Recently, I installed Compiz manager and Nautilus Elementary also then tried to Play. During some of my playing around, Unity's clock applet has vanished.
I want to make it ...
163
votes
2
answers
207k
views
What is the "show desktop" keyboard shortcut?
I just upgraded to 11.10 from 11.04. Previously the shortcut to show the desktop was Super +D (same as in Windows), But now it is not working. What is the new shortcut?
156
votes
10
answers
187k
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How can I find *.desktop files?
To the best of my knowledge, all shortcuts in the Unity Launcher have a corresponding *.desktop file. I have one shortcut (for skrooge) that doesn't have an icon. How can I find the *.desktop file ...
155
votes
6
answers
113k
views
Where are the Unity Launcher .desktop files?
I'd like to know which folder the Unity Launcher .desktop files are stored in, as they're not anymore in /.gconf/desktop and I need to add a custom application to the launcher bar (adding it in /usr/...
152
votes
4
answers
151k
views
How do I set focus follows mouse?
Is there a way to set up "focus follows mouse" behavior in Unity?
152
votes
11
answers
133k
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How can I keep recent files from appearing in Unity?
I sometimes browse erotic media files but I would like to avoid having them appear in files & folders / recent. How can I do that?
The old "making .recently-used.xbel a folder" trick from 10.10 ...
151
votes
6
answers
106k
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How can I remove duplicate second Unity Launcher on a Dual Screen setup?
On my dual screen display I have a Unity Launcher on the left hand screen and also on the right hand screen. Both work perfectly fine.
However, I don't want this second launcher present on my right ...
144
votes
13
answers
67k
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How to ungroup windows on Unity task switcher?
I'm playing with ubuntu 12.04, precise pangolin, and there's an issue I can't see how to solve.
If I have three instances of, let's say, Firefox, in the switcher appears a single Firefox icon, I have ...
143
votes
3
answers
271k
views
How do I quickly switch between workspaces in unity?
I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 with Unity and would like to switch between workspaces with a keyboard shortcut.
Is there any way to achieve this?
137
votes
46
answers
208k
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What Custom Launchers and Unity Quicklists are available?
Please note that right now, most of the information contained below is outdated and cannot be updated. Be careful, most of this won't work on Ubuntu 12.04 and newer.
Creating a custom launcher for ...
135
votes
12
answers
127k
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How can I set default terminal used in Unity?
How can I set the default terminal used in Unity?
I would like to use the Ctrl+Alt+T hotkey to start a non-default terminal. The default terminal is gnome-terminal.
Where can I change the default ...
134
votes
2
answers
32k
views
External links are opened as blank tabs in new browser window in Chrome
Since I installed Ubuntu (fresh install on a new machine), and set Google Chrome as default browser, whenever I open links from external apps these are open as blank tabs in new browser window (no ...
134
votes
3
answers
102k
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Set variable in .desktop file
Is there a way to set the enviroment variable in .desktop file?
I'm trying to run application (eclipse) with custom gtk style, so basically I want to get the following result by runing a .desktop file:...
129
votes
8
answers
86k
views
How do I enable or disable the global application menu?
I'm fairly excited for Unity, as it looks like a promising new direction for Ubuntu. However, I do have a concern - will it be possible to use Unity without the global menu?
I have my window manager ...
127
votes
6
answers
85k
views
Keyboard shortcut to move windows between monitors?
I remember there used to be a setting under Compiz that set a keyboard shortcut for moving applications between physical (but combined as a single xscreen) screens, similar to moving between logical ...
125
votes
4
answers
52k
views
How to separate opened windows in alt+tab switcher in Ubuntu 18.04?
When I have multiple windows of an application opened e.g. Chrome main window and Incognito window, and I press Alt+Tab to switch between them, I see only one Chrome icon. I have to then press down ...
121
votes
5
answers
75k
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Unity: How do I revert Alt-tab behavior to switch between windows on the current workspace?
Enabling Bias alt-tab sorting to prefer windows on the current viewport as described here made no difference. How can I get back the exact same behavior as 11.04, so that alt-tab only switches between ...
118
votes
15
answers
172k
views
How to efficiently switch between several terminal windows using the keyboard?
Alt+Tab lets me only switch between windows belonging to different applications.
I often use about four terminal bound applications at the same time (e.g. IPython, VIM, fish for system and fish for ...
118
votes
10
answers
83k
views
On Unity: What can replace Gnome 2 system monitoring in the top Panel?
I'm used to having System monitoring in the top Gnome Panel: CPU, Temperature, Net, Fan-Speed. (see screenshot below)
In Unity, the Top Panel is locked for window name and global menu, so I can't add ...
116
votes
9
answers
123k
views
How can I configure Unity's launcher auto-hide behavior?
This has been an issue for me with Unity since its release.
I'd like to make the the launcher auto-hide. Especially on Netbooks, where screens are small, the launcher is quite wide, making it ...
114
votes
10
answers
150k
views
How can I create launcher icon for PhpStorm?
I have PhpStorm on my PC, to launch it I have to go to phpstorm/bin/ and launch phpstorm.sh, how can I pin this to launcher so that I dont have to go into folders every time?
106
votes
2
answers
216k
views
Creating a .desktop file for a new application
I just installed the lastest version of UGENE. I works fine but in order to use it, I have to enter the following in the terminal: cd ugene-1.11.5/ then execute ./ugene -ui to launch UGENE GUI.
This ...
104
votes
2
answers
143k
views
Where are the Unity desktop wallpapers located?
Please see the picture below. Where are the Unity desktop wallpapers located?
102
votes
7
answers
20k
views
How can I remove "Show Desktop" from the Alt-Tab (application) switcher?
Is it possible to remove "Show Desktop" from the Alt+Tab application switcher?
102
votes
2
answers
38k
views
What are some of the issues with CCSM and why would I want to avoid it?
I've seen some people complaining about how unstable CompizConfig Settings Manager ("CCSM") is and how it can break people's desktops if they're not careful.
What are some of the known problems with ...
100
votes
11
answers
276k
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How to launch application as root from Unity Launcher?
Mainly I am looking for a way to pin an application to the Unity launch bar, and run it as root.
Currently, even if I start the application with sudo, and pin it after it starts, it will start as ...
97
votes
4
answers
152k
views
How do I add an application to the dash?
I just installed Oneiric Ocelot, and I can't figure out how to add an application, which is stored in my home directory, to the dash. I can create a launcher, but I want it in the dash also.
97
votes
14
answers
40k
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Can I use the Unity launcher icon to minimize applications/windows?
I don't know if this is a feature or a bug, but clicking on an active application's launcher icon doesn't minimize it. It is terribly inconvenient for folks using a persistent Unity bar to click ...
92
votes
9
answers
59k
views
Am I using Unity or Unity 2D?
Unity and Unity 2D look very much alike, so how can new users easily find out whether they are running Unity or Unity 2D?
92
votes
7
answers
150k
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How to remove icons/shortcuts from Unity menu?
I have installed Chromium and Tweet Deck on it (trough Chrome Store), now I uninstalled Tweet Deck and after that Chromium, the problem is, when I installed Tweet Deck it asked me if I want to create ...
91
votes
12
answers
249k
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How can I move all the window controls to the right (or left)?
Downloaded Ubuntu tweak and set window controls to the right side. Only some programs follow the rule. Pidgin as an example has window controls on the right. But Chrome, Thunderbird, Geany, still have ...