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If the workspace is switched while a program loads, its window will open in the newly-active workspace. Is there any way to change this?

I'd much prefer that the program open in the workspace it was originally launched from.

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  • Please file a launchpad bug for this.
    – Dave
    Aug 3, 2012 at 14:18

2 Answers 2

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That's not configurable, but it may be a bug. I would report it if I were you. Launchpad.net is the place to do so.

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  • I don't think it's a bug; many people would prefer it the way it is. However, it would be great to have this as an option that you can turn on or off, or even specify per application through Compiz. Oct 1, 2013 at 11:02
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By design, applications launch in the active workspace by default. In order to change this behaviour, you would need to set it to be bound to a workspace using the window rules plugin or a similar plugin.

It will load into the active workspace when the application window opens. This means if you are in workspace two, and you click the launcher in workspace 1, it will open in workspace 2.

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  • The active workspace at what time? If I click the icon in workspace 1, but then switch to workspace 2 to carry on with my work while the application loads, It stands to reason that I wanted it to load in workspace 1 and NOT Load in workspace 2 and steal focus from my active app while you're at it. In my opinion this is definitely a bug, although it probably won't be regarded as such by the Unity team...
    – jfoucher
    Nov 5, 2011 at 7:58
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    I don't think it is a bug. When you double-click on an icon, the OS would have to 'remember' where you did it so it can activate the window on that specific workspace which would need weird error handling. Theoretically you could load a large app and while it loads you could delete that specific workspace.
    – karatedog
    Nov 5, 2011 at 14:21
  • @karatedog - that's an extreme edge case that should not prevent the OP's expected behavior. Workspaces are, by definition, spaces in which you can do work (office, personal, social, media, virtualmachines, develop, etc.) -- when I start apps when in a workspace, they should open in that workspace because that's where I told the computer I want to work on that app.
    – Dave
    Aug 3, 2012 at 14:17
  • @HDave Then we agree to disagree :-) It is a design question IMHO. It is possible it has been tightly fixed into some underlying code and it is not possible to change the behavior at higher levels. (Anyway I think most of the OS code is about "extreme edge cases" at the driver levels).
    – karatedog
    Aug 6, 2012 at 7:34
  • Agree it is a design decision. It goes to the purpose of workspaces, which Ubuntu/Unity/Gnome have never really defined or supported all that well: askubuntu.com/questions/87320/…
    – Dave
    Aug 6, 2012 at 14:02

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