Simple Taskbar turns GNOME Shell's native panel into a configurable desktop taskbar and can provide a separate application Dock. It keeps GNOME's Activities, clock, calendar, Quick Settings and extension indicators while adding pinned applications, running applications, window previews and an optional Eleven-style Start Menu.
Simple Taskbar supports GNOME Shell 48, 49 and 50 only.
Taskbar, Windows XP Theme and Dock modes.
Hide pinned titles enabled; show recommendations off.
| Style | What it does |
|---|---|
| Taskbar | Shows GNOME favourites and running applications on the panel, starts on the desktop, and hides GNOME's original Overview Dash. |
| Dock | Shows application buttons in a separate Dock while leaving the main panel available for GNOME and extension items. |
| Default GNOME Panel | Hides taskbar applications and Start buttons, restores GNOME's original Dash in Overview, and keeps the panel customisation options. |
| Windows XP Theme | Applies a Windows XP-inspired appearance with a 30px panel, 16px application icons, fixed spacing, XP artwork and a classic taskbar layout. |
Default GNOME Panel mode normally keeps GNOME's usual startup Overview. Dash to Dock and Ubuntu Dock can change that startup behaviour when they are active.
Windows XP Theme applies its own dimensions and layout. Controls that conflict with the XP appearance are disabled while it is active, and the previously active panel mode and its settings are restored when it is turned off. Default GNOME Panel mode keeps panel position, height, themes, item order and multi-monitor settings available, while taskbar application and Start button controls remain disabled until Taskbar mode is restored.
The Taskbar page groups its settings into General, Application Icons, Panel Appearance, Taskbar Behaviour, Panel Items and Locations sections. Most detailed controls are arranged in expandable rows.
Simple Taskbar uses GNOME's application favourites and their order. Changes to favourites are reflected in the taskbar and GNOME's original Dash.
The Application Icons section contains expandable rows for icon sizing and spacing, application interaction, application layout, running indicators, application overflow and application isolation.
Application icons range from 15–63px with 0–16px spacing. A configurable minimum icon size can be used when space is limited. On horizontal panels, application icons can be aligned left or centre; on vertical panels they can be aligned top or middle.
Application buttons support:
- Left click to launch, focus or minimise an application.
- Middle click to open a new window, or close all its windows when Middle Click Closes Applications is enabled.
- Right click to open GNOME's application menu.
- Dragging to reorder pinned applications and move running application groups.
- Hovering to preview open windows. A preview can focus or close its exact window.
Click an application with multiple windows to spread only those windows in Overview, including windows on other workspaces.
Applications can be displayed in three grouping modes:
| Mode | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Always | One button per application. This is the default. |
| Only When Full | Separate buttons while they fit, then combine them. |
| Never | One button for every window. |
When buttons are not combined, window labels can be hidden so that the buttons show icons only. If the taskbar is full, application overflow can show extra buttons in a popup. When overflow is disabled, a taskbar wider than the available panel area can be scrolled along its length. The overflow popup has a taskbar-style flyout and an application-list style. Dragging works across the visible and overflow buttons, and the overflow popup remains open while dragging. With overflow disabled, scrolling over an overfull taskbar moves through its buttons instead of switching workspaces.
Other application options include:
- Show or hide favourite applications that are not running.
- Use pinned applications as launchers while showing their running windows in separate buttons.
- Show a separator between pinned and running applications.
- Show applications from only the current workspace.
- Show applications only on the monitor where their taskbar is displayed.
Running applications can use rounded or straight indicators with custom focused and unfocused colours. Match Icon Color instead takes the focused indicator colour from the application's own icon and is mutually exclusive with custom indicator colours.
- Panel thickness: 32–80px.
- Panel position: top, bottom, left or right edge of the screen.
- Light, dark or GNOME Shell-following panel themes.
- Custom panel colours, gradients, gradient direction and light or dark panel text.
- Adjustable transparency.
- Separate borders for light and dark themes.
- Optional translucent and blurred styling through Blur My Shell on the primary and secondary panels. Secondary panels use Simple Taskbar's own background when Blur My Shell is not styling them.
Taskbar settings main page.
The Taskbar Behaviour section contains expandable rows for visibility, workspace scrolling and panel and notification behaviour.
- Animated auto-hide on every panel.
- A bottom hot edge that toggles Overview, enabled by default, with adjustable activation pressure and an optional ripple animation.
- Workspace switching by scrolling over empty panel space, with an adjustable delay between workspace changes.
- An application volume mixer inside Quick Settings, enabled by default, for adjusting individual streams or opening GNOME's Volume Levels settings.
- Tray icons collected behind a panel arrow, enabled by default.
- A Task Manager action in the empty-panel context menu. It opens the selected installed application; the default is Resources, followed by GNOME System Monitor and Mission Center when the selected application is unavailable.
- The taskbar can be shown on every connected monitor.
- Panel menus switch only after a click, instead of on hover.
- Notification banners align with the panel edge and clock position.
- The empty-panel context menu can lock the taskbar against accidental rearrangement.
The Panel Items section includes panel button padding, optional item visibility and item ordering. Automatic padding uses Just Perfection's padding when available, otherwise 3px; an explicit 0–20px value takes precedence. Default GNOME Panel mode uses 12px padding and restores Automatic when Taskbar mode returns.
The panel has three item groups: Left, Center and Right on horizontal panels, or Top, Middle and Bottom on vertical panels. These can contain:
- Start and Activities buttons.
- Applications.
- Folder Menu.
- Tray icons.
- Quick Settings.
- Clock.
- Show Desktop.
Activities and Show Desktop can be shown or hidden, and Folder Menu is optional. The Folder Menu opens files from a selected directory with their default applications. Show Desktop is a narrow button that minimizes or restores all windows and is limited to the outer item groups.
Each group also has a fixed box row for other GNOME Shell and extension items. Managed items can be placed before or after that row. Move Up and Move Down keep each item within its current group.
Reset All Settings restores the extension defaults without changing the taskbar favourites or Start Menu pins, including their order.
The taskbar and Dock can show selected common folders, Trash, and connected drives and volumes. Drive options can limit entries to mounted drives or include network volumes. Nautilus can also show Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos shortcuts in its application menu; these shortcuts are enabled by default.
The Dock page groups its settings into General, Application Icons, Dock Appearance, Dock Behavior, Dock Items and Locations sections. Most detailed controls are arranged in expandable rows.
Dock mode moves application buttons out of the main panel into a separate Dock. It can be placed at the top, bottom, left or right edge, limited to a percentage of the monitor length or extended fully to the monitor edge, and shown on every connected monitor.
The Dock's Application Icons section provides the same sizing, interaction, layout, indicator, overflow and isolation controls for Dock applications. Its appearance and behaviour sections provide independent themes, transparency, borders, Blur My Shell, auto-hide, window dodge, edge reveal and workspace scrolling. The Dock Items section controls the order of the Start Menu and Applications, and its Locations section can show folders, Trash, drives and volumes.
Dock settings main page.
Grid Alt-Tab is enabled by default. It replaces the normal application switcher with a responsive grid of live window previews while preserving normal Alt+Tab and Shift+Alt+Tab selection.
It supports pointer and arrow-key navigation and activates the selected window when Alt is released. Configure:
- Maximum preview card height.
- All workspaces or only the current workspace.
- All monitors or only the monitor showing the switcher.
- The current monitor or always the primary monitor for the popup.
Window Switching settings main page.
The Start Menu page groups its settings into Start Button, Eleven-style Start Menu and Keyboard Shortcuts sections. Most detailed controls are arranged in expandable rows.
The Start button can use the Eleven-style button or the original GNOME Applications button. It can follow application alignment, use a custom padding value and use a bundled or personal icon. Both Start buttons can be hidden. Right-click the Eleven-style button to open its settings.
Its context menu can also provide Installed Apps, Event Viewer, System, Network Connections, Disk Management, Terminal, Task Manager, File Explorer, Run and Desktop shortcuts.
The Eleven-style Start Menu is enabled by default. It provides:
- A separate pinned-app grid with drag-and-drop ordering.
- GNOME global search, including compatible system and extension providers.
- An All Apps view with selectable categories, or one alphabetical list.
- Scrollbars for long pinned and All Apps views.
- Delayed tooltips with application names and descriptions.
- Keyboard navigation with Tab and the arrow keys.
- Application menus with open-window, launcher-action, App Details, Quit, Pin to Start, Pin to Taskbar or Dock, and desktop shortcut actions when a supported desktop-icons extension is active.
- Dragging an application from All Apps onto the taskbar or Dock to pin it.
- Dark, light or GNOME Shell-following themes.
- Optional monitor-centred positioning.
The Start Menu Options row controls recommended applications, opening directly in All Apps, the account profile picture and the footer power menu. Recommended applications can exclude apps already pinned to the Start Menu or taskbar or Dock. The Start Menu Appearance row controls the theme and panel transparency, and whether titles are shown below pinned icons.
The Folder Shortcuts row can place Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos beside the Settings icon. The Right-click Menu Shortcuts row controls which system shortcuts appear on the Start button context menu.
- Super opens the Start Menu by default and moves Overview to Super+Tab.
- Turn off the Super shortcut to use Super+Tab for the Start Menu instead.
- When both built-in shortcuts are off, a custom shortcut can open the Start Menu.
- Super+E opens the home folder with the default file manager.
- Super+1 through Super+9 activate the corresponding GNOME favourite; activating the focused application again minimises its windows.
Shortcuts can be disabled, and the extension checks for conflicts between its own shortcuts. It does not change GNOME's saved shortcuts. When the Start Menu uses the Super key, the previous Mutter overlay-key setting is restored when the extension is disabled.
Global search results can request that provider-supplied text be copied to the clipboard when a result is activated.
Start Menu settings main page.
The About page can export and import profiles containing panel settings, Dock settings and Start Menu pins.
Install Simple Taskbar from GNOME Extensions or Extension Manager.
To install the current source version:
git clone https://github.com/Sultech/simple-taskbar.git
cd simple-taskbar
./package.sh
gnome-extensions install --force dist/simple-taskbar@sultech.shell-extension.zip
gnome-extensions enable simple-taskbar@sultech
Log out and back in if GNOME Shell does not discover a newly installed extension immediately.
Use Extension Manager, right-click empty taskbar, panel or Dock space and choose the corresponding settings item, or run:
gnome-extensions prefs simple-taskbar@sultech
Simple Taskbar supports GNOME Shell 48, 49 and 50. Other GNOME versions are not declared until they have been tested.
Dash to Panel is disabled while Simple Taskbar is active because both extensions restructure GNOME's main panel. Dash to Dock and Ubuntu Dock are disabled whenever Taskbar, Dock or Windows XP Theme mode is active; both remain available in Default GNOME Panel mode.
Blur My Shell panel styling is supported on the primary and secondary panels. When a supported desktop-icons extension is active, Start Menu application menus can also add or remove desktop shortcuts.
GNOME Shell caches imported extension modules for the lifetime of the Shell process. Disable and re-enable is not enough to load edited JavaScript into the same process.
On Ubuntu, install:
sudo apt install mutter-dev-bin gettext
Then run:
./dev.sh
The helper compiles the schema, creates a development symlink under
~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/ and starts a fresh GNOME
Shell 50 development session in a window. Close that window and run
./dev.sh again after changing JavaScript. The real desktop session
remains running.
If a copied installation already occupies the destination, disable the
extension and move or remove that directory before running the helper. Do not
keep backup extension directories under
~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions, because GNOME Shell still
scans them.
For runtime problems, use Looking Glass or the journal:
journalctl -f -o cat /usr/bin/gnome-shell
Building requires msgfmt from GNU gettext,
glib-compile-schemas and gnome-extensions:
./package.sh
The package is written to:
dist/simple-taskbar@sultech.shell-extension.zip
An alternative output directory can be supplied:
./package.sh /tmp/simple-taskbar-package
The archive contains the runtime modules, preferences, schema, licence, bundled artwork, attribution notices and compiled translations. Development scripts, translation sources and generated schema binaries are left out.
Simple Taskbar does not collect telemetry, access the network or run bundled external programs. GNOME's global search providers remain responsible for their own results. Some providers can ask Simple Taskbar to copy result text to the clipboard when that result is activated.
gnome-extensions disable simple-taskbar@sultech
rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/simple-taskbar@sultech
Simple Taskbar is distributed under GPL-2.0-or-later. Bundled third-party icon credits and trademark notices are listed in ASSET-CREDITS.md.