Simple Taskbar turns GNOME Shell's native panel into a configurable desktop taskbar. 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 mode and Windows XP Theme.
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. |
| 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 standard Taskbar defaults are applied 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.
Simple Taskbar uses GNOME's application favourites and their order. Changes to favourites are reflected in the taskbar and GNOME's original Dash.
The panel can be placed at the top or bottom of the screen. Applications and the Start button can be aligned left or centre independently, or the Start button can follow the application alignment.
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.
- Standard panel height: 32–80px.
- Application icons: 15–48px.
- Application spacing: 0–16px.
- Panel button padding: automatic or an explicit 0–20px value. Automatic uses Just Perfection's padding when available, otherwise 3px. An explicit value takes precedence without changing Just Perfection's setting.
- Default GNOME Panel mode uses 12px padding and restores Automatic when Taskbar mode returns.
- Light, dark or GNOME Shell-following panel themes.
- Adjustable transparency.
- Separate borders for light and dark themes.
- Optional translucent and blurred styling through Blur My Shell on the primary panel. Secondary panels use Simple Taskbar's own background.
Taskbar settings: general, application icons and panel appearance.
- 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.
The panel has separate Left, Center and Right item lists. 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 Left and Right lists.
Each list 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 list.
Reset All Settings restores the extension defaults without changing the taskbar favourites or Start Menu pins, including their order.
Taskbar settings: behaviour and optional panel items.
Taskbar settings: panel item placement and reset.
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: Grid Alt-Tab options.
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 and Pin to Taskbar actions.
- Dragging an application from All Apps onto the taskbar to pin it.
- Dark, light or GNOME Shell-following themes.
- Optional monitor-centred positioning.
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.
- 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.
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: Start button, menu and keyboard shortcuts.
Less commonly used taskbar, file manager and Start Menu options are on the Advanced page.
Running, focused and multi-window applications have separate indicators. Use rounded or straight indicator ends and optionally choose custom focused and unfocused colours.
Match Icon Color instead takes the focused indicator colour from the dominant colour of the application's own icon, so the indicator matches whichever application is in focus. It is off by default, and it is mutually exclusive with custom indicator colours: turning one on turns the other off.
The Advanced page also provides a custom panel colour and light or dark panel text.
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 horizontally. 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 taskbar 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 applications from only the current workspace.
- Show applications only on the monitor where their taskbar is displayed.
- Lock the taskbar against accidental rearrangement.
- Panel menus switch only after a click, instead of on hover.
- Notification banners align with the panel edge and clock position.
- Super+E opens the home folder with the default file manager.
- Nautilus can show Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos shortcuts in its application menu; they are enabled by default.
- Recommended applications can be based on frequently used apps, excluding apps already pinned to the Start Menu or taskbar.
- Open the Start Menu directly in All Apps.
- Show an account profile picture.
- Use an optional footer power menu with available Suspend, Restart, Power Off, Lock Screen, Log Out and Switch User actions. It replaces the Quick Settings power menu while enabled.
- Follow the panel's transparency in the Start Menu.
- Hide titles below pinned application icons.
Advanced settings: indicator appearance and application behaviour.
Advanced settings: behaviour, file manager and Start Menu options.
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 space and choose Taskbar Settings, 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 only while Taskbar mode is active; both remain available in Default GNOME Panel mode.
Blur My Shell panel styling is supported on the primary panel. 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.