Each desktop mode keeps its own settings. Taskbar, Dock and Default GNOME Panel also support separate horizontal and vertical profiles, which can be disabled in the mode options. Start Menu pins are shared across modes.

Export and import profiles containing panel settings, Dock settings and Start Menu pins from General → Profiles and Reset. Imported values outside the current setting limits return to their defaults. Reset All Settings is available there too and preserves taskbar favourites and Start Menu pins.

The mode options on the General page let you choose whether to hide GNOME's Overview Dash and start the session on the desktop. Startup changes apply at the next login. Windows XP and Windows 10 apply their own styling, with conflicting controls disabled while active.

Default GNOME Panel mode can show labelled running windows on horizontal panels, with their own icon, interaction and indicator settings. In Dock mode, the GNOME panel and Dock have separate Overview options.

Simple Taskbar follows GNOME's application favourites and their order, so pinning anywhere updates the taskbar, the Dock and GNOME's own Dash together.

• Click actions — choose from Cycle Windows + Minimize, Cycle Through Windows, Toggle Single / Preview Multiple, Toggle Single / Cycle Multiple, Toggle Single / Spread Multiple, Toggle Windows, Raise Windows and Launch New Instance
• Modifier clicks — Shift+click, Ctrl+click, middle-click and Shift+middle-click each take their own action, including Quit and Minimize Window
• Hover action — show window previews, show a tooltip, or do nothing
• Window previews with separate show and hide delays up to 2000ms, and optional middle-click to close the window
• Window peeking brings the hovered window to the front temporarily, with its own delay and an adjustable opacity for the other windows
• Spread windows — one click spreads just that application's windows in Overview, including windows on other workspaces
• Scroll over an icon to switch workspace or cycle that application's windows, with an adjustable delay
• Drag to reorder pinned applications and move running groups
• Grouping — Always (one icon per application), Only When Full (split until space runs out) or Never (one per window)
• Window titles beside split icons, with adjustable font size, weight, a 30–1000px maximum width and an optional fixed width, or hidden entirely
• Notification badges showing unread counts on application icons
• Progress bars for file transfers and installations reported by supported applications, with running-indicator or custom colours and automatic or manual thickness; disabled by default
• Overflow — a Taskbar Flyout or Application List popup for what does not fit. Dragging works across visible and overflow entries, and the popup stays open while dragging
• Scrolling taskbar when overflow is off, moving through applications instead of switching workspaces
• Pinned launchers — keep favourites as launchers and show their windows separately
• Keep pinned windows together — place a pinned application's windows beside its pinned button when grouping is Only When Full or Never; unavailable with separate pinned launchers
• Visibility — hide pinned applications, hide unpinned ones, or hide pinned applications on secondary monitors only
• Isolation by current workspace or by the monitor the taskbar is on
• Separators between pinned and running applications, and between applications and locations

• Icon size 13–128px, spacing 0–16px, and a minimum size for when space runs short
• Icon edge padding 3–20px to control the space between icons and the panel edges
• Alignment — left or centre on horizontal panels, top or middle on vertical panels
• Hover animation — Simple, Ripple or Magnify, each with a tunable profile: duration, rotation, travel, zoom, curve convexity and how many neighbouring icons react. The Dock grows with magnified icons; magnification is unavailable while application labels are visible or for running windows in Default GNOME Panel mode
• 23 click animations — Bounce, Jump, Heartbeat, Squish, Jelly, Spin, 3D Spin, Horizontal Flip, Roll, Zoom Out & Fade, Squeeze, Glow, Dim, Tada, Swing, Shake, Nudge Up/Down/Left/Right, Pulse Larger, Pulse Smaller and GNOME Launch Zoom
• Hover and focus effect — Glass, or Classic with its own hover and pressed colours, highlight border radius, focused-application highlight, opacity, and an option to take the colour from the icon itself
• Highlight dimensions — adjustable size and length, plus configurable space beside running indicators
• Window minimize effect — GNOME's default or Magic Lamp
• Running indicators — eight styles (Rounded, Dots, Squares, Dashes, Segmented, Solid, Ciliora, Metro) on any edge of the icon, 1–5px thick, optionally stretched to the icon's full length, with custom focused and unfocused colours or Match Icon Color taken from the application's own icon

• Thickness up to 175px, with a 30px minimum in Default GNOME Panel mode; the minimum in taskbar mode depends on icon edge padding
• Match thickness to icon size, or set the thickness manually and let oversized icons shrink to fit
• Position on the top, bottom, left or right edge
• Dynamic Panel Mode sizes the taskbar to its contents and expands as items are added, up to 1–90% of the monitor
• Floating Panel Mode adds a small gap from the screen edge that closes for maximized windows; it works on its own or with Dynamic Panel Mode, with a corner radius up to 64px
• Themes — light, dark, or follow GNOME Shell
• Custom colours, gradients, gradient direction, and light or dark panel text
• Transparency and separate borders per light and dark theme
• Dynamic transparency for the taskbar and Dock independently, based on all windows, the focused application's windows, the focused window or maximized windows, with adjustable trigger distance, transparency when no window matches, and animation duration
• Blur My Shell translucency and blur on primary and secondary panels, with Simple Taskbar's own background as the fallback on secondary panels

• Auto-hide with animation on every panel, revealed at the screen edge
• Dodge windows — hide for all windows, the focused application's windows, only the focused window, or only maximized windows, with an optional pointer reveal
• Intellihide options — instant, delayed or pressure-based edge reveal, adjustable hide delay, optional pointer reveal over fullscreen applications, reveal while the Overview is open, and an option to limit reveal to a dynamic or floating taskbar's own edge
• Hot edge at the bottom that toggles Overview, with adjustable activation pressure and an optional ripple
• App Grid layout — automatic sizing or custom dimensions of 2–12 columns and 2–10 rows, available under General → App Grid
• Scroll over empty space to switch workspace, cycle windows or change volume, with an adjustable delay
• Application volume mixer in Quick Settings for individual streams, going above 100% when GNOME's over-amplification is on
• Tray icons gathered behind a panel arrow, positioned where you want it
• Task Manager entry in the panel menu — any installed application, defaulting to Resources and falling back to GNOME System Monitor or Mission Center when it is missing
• Multi-monitor — show the taskbar on every connected monitor
• Click-to-open menus instead of switching panel menus on hover
• Notification banners aligned to the panel edge and clock position
• Lock the taskbar against accidental rearrangement

Three item groups — Left, Center and Right on horizontal panels, or Top, Middle and Bottom on vertical ones — hold the Start and Activities buttons, Applications, Folder Menu, the tray icon arrow, the System Menu (Quick Settings, volume, network and power), Clock and Show Desktop.

• Item ordering with Move Up and Move Down inside each group, around a fixed box row for other GNOME Shell and extension items
• Button padding — Automatic follows Just Perfection when present and 3px otherwise, while an explicit 0–20px value takes precedence. Default GNOME Panel mode starts at 12px; each mode remembers its own value
• Quick Settings icon spacing — use GNOME's default or set 0–20px between status icons
• Folder Menu opens files from a chosen directory with their default applications
• Show Desktop minimises visible windows and restores them on the next click. By default, restoring a window yourself cancels the saved group, so the next click hides visible windows again. Turn off Cancel Show Desktop When a Window Is Restored in its cogwheel to keep restoring the remaining hidden windows
• Show Desktop appearance — adjustable button width, an invisible-button option and a custom separator colour
• Reset All Settings restores defaults without touching taskbar favourites or Start Menu pins

• Common folders, Trash, and connected drives and volumes, in the taskbar and the Dock independently
• Drive entries can be limited to mounted drives, or include network volumes
• Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos shortcuts in the Nautilus application menu

Dock mode moves applications out of the panel into a separate Dock, with its own copy of the icon, effect, indicator, overflow and isolation settings.

• Placement on any edge, independent of the taskbar's own position
• Maximum length from 1–90% of the monitor, or a full-width Dock reaching the edges
• Corner radius up to 64px, plus independent themes, transparency, gradients, text colour, borders and Blur My Shell
• Full-width Dock thickness can follow icon size or be set manually
• Floating option for both the Dock and the full-width Dock, keeping a small gap from the screen edge
• Auto-hide with the same window-dodge modes, its own reveal and hide timings, reveal in Overview, and an option to limit reveal to the Dock's own edge
• Scroll over empty Dock space to switch workspace, cycle windows or change volume
• Shown on every connected monitor, with its own item order and locations

The Eleven-style Start Menu is enabled by default.

• Pinned grid with drag-and-drop ordering and optional titles under icons
• Folders created by dragging one pinned application onto another, with renaming, a Move out of folder action, and Open All from the folder's menu or with middle-click
• Global search through GNOME, including compatible system and extension providers
• All Apps view with selectable categories or one alphabetical list, and the option to open there by default
• Application menus — open windows, launcher actions, App Details, Quit, Pin to Start, Pin to Taskbar or Dock, and desktop shortcuts when a supported desktop-icons extension is active
• Drag from All Apps onto the taskbar or Dock to pin
• Recommended applications, which can exclude what is already pinned
• Running indicators under applications that are open
• Folder shortcuts beside the Settings icon, plus the account profile picture and a footer power menu
• Keyboard navigation with Tab and the arrow keys, and delayed tooltips carrying names and descriptions
• Type to search while a menu item is focused, without first selecting the search field
• Themes — dark, light or follow GNOME Shell, with panel-matched transparency and optional monitor-centred positioning

The Start button can be the Eleven-style button or GNOME's original Applications button. It follows application alignment or takes a manual position, with custom padding, an optional separator and a bundled or personal icon. In Default GNOME Panel mode it can sit in the Dock or in the panel, with its own position. Padding stays inside the clickable button so it can reach the screen edge; either button can be hidden, and right-clicking the Eleven-style button opens its settings. Its context menu can offer Installed Apps, Event Viewer, System, Network Connections, Disk Management, Terminal, Task Manager, File Explorer, Run and Desktop.

Grid Alt-Tab replaces the application switcher with a responsive grid of live window previews, keeping normal Alt+Tab and Shift+Alt+Tab selection. It is enabled by default, supports pointer and arrow-key navigation, and activates the selected window when Alt is released.

• Maximum preview card size, 120–500px
• All workspaces or only the current one
• All monitors or only the monitor showing the switcher
• Popup on the current monitor or always the primary

Open the preferences from a terminal with:

gnome-extensions prefs simple-taskbar@sultech

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 nested GNOME Shell 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.

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