Simple Taskbar

Simple Taskbar turns GNOME Shell's native panel into a configurable desktop taskbar. It combines pinned and running applications with GNOME's Activities, clock, calendar, Quick Settings and extension indicators, without replacing those Shell components.

Simple Taskbar currently supports GNOME Shell 50.

Preview

_{Taskbar mode using the dark and light themes.}

At a glance

• See pinned and running applications together on the panel.
• Combine application windows always, only when the taskbar is full, or never; buttons are always combined by default.
• Launch, focus, minimize and open new application windows from their icons.
• Preview open windows by hovering over an application.
• Use the taskbar on every monitor.
• Place the panel at the top or bottom of the screen.
• Align applications and the Start button to the left or center, independently or together.
• Move the clock and Quick Settings between the left, center and right.
• Adjust panel height, icon size, spacing, transparency and colour scheme.
• Use auto-hide, workspace scrolling and current-workspace isolation.
• Push against the bottom screen edge to toggle Overview.
• Open an Eleven-style Start Menu with pinned apps, search and recommendations.
• Switch to a native GNOME-style panel whenever taskbar applications are not wanted.

Choose your panel style

Mode	Behaviour
Taskbar	Shows GNOME favourites and running applications, starts on the desktop and hides the original Overview Dash.
Default GNOME Panel	Hides taskbar applications, restores the original Overview Dash and places a native-style panel on every monitor.

Default GNOME Panel mode normally keeps GNOME's startup Overview. When Ubuntu Dock or Dash to Dock is active, it starts on the desktop instead.

Both modes remain customizable after being enabled. Panel position, height, theme, item placement, multi-monitor support and other appearance settings continue to work.

_{Default GNOME Panel mode using dark and light themes.}

Application taskbar

Simple Taskbar uses the same favourites and ordering as GNOME's original Dash. Pinning, unpinning or rearranging a favourite updates the Dash as well.

Application buttons support:

• Left click: launch, focus or minimize the application.
• Middle click: open a new window.
• Right click: open GNOME's application menu.
• Drag: while buttons are combined, rearrange favourites or drag a running application into the favourite section to pin it.
• Hover: show live previews for open windows. A preview can activate or close its exact window.

Running, focused and multi-window applications have dedicated indicators. Clicking an application with multiple windows can spread only that application's windows across the Overview, including windows on other workspaces. The preview flyout remains available as an alternative.

The Combine Application Buttons setting provides three modes:

• Always: use one button for every application. This is the default.
• Only When Full: show a separate button for every window until they no longer fit. Visible window labels shrink evenly from 140px to a minimum of 40px before buttons are combined.
• Never: keep every window in a separate button regardless of available space.

Window labels are shown by default in Only When Full and Never modes and can be hidden to use separate icon-only buttons. If the resulting button list is wider than the available panel area, scroll over the applications with a mouse wheel or touchpad to reach buttons outside the visible area. Scrolling over applications does not trigger workspace switching.

Optional controls can:

• Show running applications from only the current workspace.
• Show running applications only on the taskbar for their monitor.
• Hide favourite applications that are not running.
• Lock the taskbar against accidental rearrangement.
• Show the desktop from a narrow button at the panel edge.

Panel customization

The settings provide control over:

• Top or bottom panel placement.
• Panels on secondary monitors.
• 32–80px panel height.
• 16–48px application icons with 0–16px spacing.
• Left or centered application alignment.
• Left or centered Start button placement, adjustable padding and a custom icon. By default, the Start button follows the application alignment and appears immediately before centered applications.
• Show or hide the Activities button, place it on the left or right, and choose its position within the right-side system cluster.
• Left, center or right placement for the clock and Quick Settings.
• Light, dark or Shell-following themes.
• Adjustable transparency and Blur My Shell integration on the primary panel.
• Animated auto-hide on every panel.
• A bottom hot edge that toggles Overview, with an optional ripple animation.
• Workspace switching by scrolling over empty panel space.
• Notification banners that follow the panel edge and clock alignment.
• Click-only switching between open panel menus.
• A configurable Task Manager entry in the empty-panel context menu.

Theme note: Follow system theme follows the GNOME Shell theme rather than the application colour preference alone. It switches to the light taskbar only when GNOME Shell itself uses a light theme after dark mode is disabled in Control Center. Ubuntu supports this through its light Yaru Shell theme. Stock GNOME installations, including Fedora's default configuration, keep the Shell dark when applications use light mode; select Light manually in the extension settings to use a light taskbar in that situation.

_{Application icon, panel mode and appearance controls.}

_{Behaviour, panel item and reset controls.}

Optional folder menu

Add a folder button to the panel for quickly opening files from a selected directory with their default applications.

_{Open files quickly from the optional custom folder menu.}

Eleven-style Start Menu

The Eleven-style Start Menu is enabled by default and includes:

• A separately configurable pinned-app grid with drag-and-drop reordering.
• GNOME global search, including system providers and results contributed by compatible extensions.
• An All Apps view.
• Recommended applications.
• GNOME application context menus with open-window, launcher-action, App Details, Quit, Pin to Start and Pin to Taskbar actions. When a supported desktop-icons extension is active, applications can also add or remove a desktop shortcut.
• Dark, light and GNOME Shell theme options.
• Optional true monitor centering.
• Super opens the Start Menu by default and moves Overview to Super+Tab. The shortcut can instead use Super+Tab, a custom binding or be disabled.
• Super+E opens the home folder with the system’s default file manager by default and can be disabled.

The bottom hot edge is enabled by default, providing another quick way to use Overview after its Super shortcut has moved. Its ripple animation is optional and disabled by default.

The original GNOME Applications button can be restored instead, or both Start buttons can be hidden. Right-clicking the Eleven-style Start button opens its settings page.

_{The Eleven-style Start Menu using dark and light themes.}

_{Start button and Eleven-style Start Menu controls.}

Install

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 the running Shell does not discover a newly installed extension immediately.

Open the settings

Use Extension Manager, right-click empty taskbar space and choose Taskbar Settings, or run:

gnome-extensions prefs simple-taskbar@sultech

Reset All Settings restores the extension defaults without changing GNOME's taskbar favourites or their order.

Compatibility

Simple Taskbar supports GNOME Shell 50. Other GNOME versions are deliberately not declared until they have been tested.

Because Simple Taskbar and Dash to Panel both restructure GNOME's main panel, Dash to Panel remains disabled while Simple Taskbar is active. Dash to Dock and Ubuntu Dock are disabled only while Taskbar mode is active so that two docks do not compete for the same screen edge. Both docks remain available in Default GNOME Panel mode.

Blur My Shell styles are supported on the primary panel. Secondary panels use Simple Taskbar's own background and transparency.

Development

GNOME Shell caches imported extension modules for the lifetime of the Shell process. Disabling and re-enabling an extension cannot load edited JavaScript into that same process.

On Ubuntu, install Mutter's development helper:

sudo apt install mutter-dev-bin

Then run:

./dev.sh

The helper compiles the GSettings schema, creates this development symlink and starts a fresh GNOME Shell 50 session in a window:

~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/simple-taskbar@sultech
    -> /path/to/simple-taskbar

Close the nested Shell and run ./dev.sh again after changing JavaScript. The real desktop session remains running.

If a copied installation already occupies the destination, disable it and move or remove that directory before running the helper. Backup extension directories should not be kept under ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions, because GNOME Shell still scans them.

Use Looking Glass or the journal when diagnosing runtime problems:

journalctl -f -o cat /usr/bin/gnome-shell

Build a package

Create the complete installable archive with:

./package.sh

The resulting archive is:

dist/simple-taskbar@sultech.shell-extension.zip

The package contains the runtime modules, preferences, schema, licence and bundled Start icon. Development scripts and generated schema binaries are not included. An alternative output directory can be supplied:

./package.sh /tmp/simple-taskbar-package

Privacy

Simple Taskbar does not collect telemetry, access the network or run bundled external programs.

Uninstall

gnome-extensions disable simple-taskbar@sultech
rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/simple-taskbar@sultech

Licence

Simple Taskbar is distributed under GPL-2.0-or-later.