How can I configure Unity?

Question

Are there any configuration options for the Unity desktop?

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There are multiple valid answers for this question spanning over several versions of Ubuntu. For your convenience an index of each below (How can I tell which Ubuntu release I'm using?):

• 12.04
• 11.10
• 11.04

If you're looking to configure Unity 2D, look here.

Answer 1

Ubuntu 11.04

There are two options to edit the settings. Either using the CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) or the Configuration Editor (gconf-editor). I'll describe both ways.

CompizConfig Settings Manager

1. Warning: CCSM is in universe and not shipped by default for a reason, it can be flaky, so be careful in there, it can break things, if you find yourself with a broken window manager, see this question to reset your configuration.

2. Install the CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM).

3. Hit Alt-F2 and input about:config and hit enter.

You can now configure quite a few different settings. Like key shortcuts, the launcher behavior and appearance of the Launcher.

On the Behaviour tab you can configure:

1. The Hide Launcher sets the launchers hide behavior.

   • Never - The launcher will never hide.
   • Autohide - The launcher will hide automatically based on time.
   • Dodge Windows - The launcher will hide when a window would overlay it.
   • Dodge Active Window - The launcher will hide only when an active window would overlay it.

2. The key to show the launcher which by default is the Super key. This will also affect the key used to show the dash (if tapped) and the shortcuts shown when keeping Super pressed.

3. The key to put keyboard-focus o the launcher so you can navigate using your keyboard (default Alt + F1).

4. The key to open a Search Command dash where you can enter a command name you want to execute. (dafault Alt + F2).

5. The key to open the first panel menu (default F10).

On the Experimental tab (might change hence the name):

1. The Backlight Mode sets how the icons are back-lit.

   1. Backlight Always On - the icon back light will always be on.

   

   1. Backlight Toggles - the icon back light will be on as long as the application is running.

   

   1. Backlight Always Off - pretty much the opposite of the first option.

   

   1. The Launch Animation sets how the icons are animation.

      • None - no animation will be shown.
      • Pulse Until Running - the icon's back light will pulse till it loads up.
      • Blink - the icon's back light will blink.

   2. The Urgent Animation sets how an icon will inform you of something important.

      • None - no animation.
      • Pulse - it will pulse.
      • Wiggle - it will wiggle.

   3. The Panel Opacity sets the opacity of the panel.

   4. The Launcher icon size sets the size of the launcher in pixels.

   5. The Hide Animation sets how the launcher hide and unhide.

      • Fade on bfb and Slide - fades based on the position of your cursor in the bfb (big funny button - the one in the top left of your panel with the Ubuntu circle of friends on it) and slides.
      • Slide only - it will only slide.
      • Fade only - it will only fade.

   6. The Dash Blur sets the level of blur in the dash

      • No Blur
      • Static - snapshot of the desktop that doesn't get updated (in cases where the drivers can't handle it)
      • Realtime - Updating of things behind the dash in real time (Not implemented yet)

Configuration Editor (gconf-editor)

1. Open up the Configuration Editor by Pressing Alt + F2 and typing gconf-editor

2. Navigate to apps -> compiz-1 -> plugins -> unityshell -> screen0 -> options.

Now you can set settings described above. Clicking on an item will show a short description in the Key Documentation panel.

Configuration Editor (dconf-editor)

There are also some options you can edit using dconf-editor (needs to be installed first by installing dconf-tools at Ubuntu Software Center or by clicking here):

1. Open up the Configuration Editor by pressing Alt + F2 and typing dconf-editor

2. Navigate to Desktop -> Unity to find the first two options:

   • form-factor: The form factor chosen will affect the size of the Dash. Desktop uses a fixed sized Dash, Netbook will always maximize the Dash to screen size, Automatic decides whether to use Desktop or Netbook based on the screen resolution.
   • home-expanded: Whether the home screen of the Dash should be expanded (Expanded) or not (Not Expanded).

3. Navigate to Desktop -> Unity -> Devices

   • devices-option: Key for setting the devices that will be shown on the launcher. Never -> never show devices on the launcher, OnlyMounted -> only show devices that are mounted, Always -> also show unmounted devices.
4. Navigate to Desktop -> Unity -> Launcher
   • favorites-migration: This is a detection key for the favorite migration script to know whether the needed migration is done or not. You don't want to change that.
   • favorites: This is a list of desktop files that show up in the launcher.
5. Navigate to Desktop -> Unity -> Panel
   • systray-whitelist: List of programs that are allowed to put icons in the panel's tray area: [''] -> none , ['all'] -> all programs, or a list of program names.

Launcher & Menus (unity-preferences)

There is another option to configure how to show the launcher then it is hidden.

1. Open the Launcher & Menus configuration utility by pressing Alt + F2 and typing unity-preferences.

   

   • Pushes the left edge of the screen will make the launcher appear about one second after pushing the cursor to the left edge of the screen.

   • Touches the top left corner of the screen will make the launcher appear immediately when the cursor touches the top left corner of the screen.

2. Select the desired option.

Answer 2

Ubuntu 11.10

This answer has been written taking this as base and modifying it for Ubuntu 11.10

There are two options to edit the settings. Either using the CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) or the dconf-editor.

Note that (some?) changes only appear after logging out and in again (i.e. restarting X).

CompizConfig Settings Manager

1. Warning: CCSM is in universe and not shipped by default for a reason, it can be flaky, so be careful in there, it can break things, if you find yourself with a broken window manager, see this question to reset your configuration.

2. Install the CompizConfig Settings Manager (Click the link)

3. Hit Alt+F2 and type about:config and hit enter.

You can now configure quite a few different settings, like key shortcuts, the launcher behavior and appearance of the Launcher.

On the Behaviour tab you can configure:

1. The Reveal Mode sets from which edge the launcher will reveal.

1. The Edge Reveal Timeout sets the waiting time (in ms) before the launcher is revealed when a window is touching the edge.

2. The Hide Launcher sets the launchers hide behavior.

   • Never - The launcher will never hide.
   • Autohide - The launcher will hide automatically based on time.
   • Dodge Windows - The launcher will hide when a window would overlay it.
   • Dodge Active Window - The launcher will hide only when an active window would overlay it.

3. The key to show the launcher which by default is the Super key. This will also affect the key used to show the dash (if tapped) and the shortcuts shown when keeping Super pressed.

4. The key to put keyboard-focus on the launcher so you can navigate using your keyboard (default Alt + F1).

5. The key to open a Search Command dash where you can enter a command name you want to execute. (dafault Alt + F2).

6. The key to open the first panel menu (default F10).

On the Switcher Tab:

1. Automatically grid windows on timer in switcher: Turn this off if you want don't want to automatically expand multiple windows in alt-tab.

2. Bias alt-tab sorting to prefer windows on the current viewport: Select this if you want alt tab to prioritize the order in which applications are shows in alt-tab. Applications in your current workspace are listed first.

On the Experimental tab (might change hence the name):

1. The Backlight Mode sets how the icons are back-lit.

   1. Backlight Always On - the icon back light will always be on.

1. Backlight Toggles - the icon back light will be on as long as the application is running.

1. Backlight Always Off - pretty much the opposite of the first option.

1. Edge Illumination Toggles - the edge illumination will be on as long as the application is running.

1. Backlight and Edge Illumination Toggles - the backlight and edge illumination will be on as long as the application is running.

1. The Launch Animation sets how the icons are animated.

   • None - no animation will be shown.
   • Pulse Until Running - the icon's back light will pulse till it loads up.
   • Blink - the icon's back light will blink.

2. The Urgent Animation sets how an icon will inform you of something important.

   • None - no animation.
   • Pulse - it will pulse.
   • Wiggle - it will wiggle.

3. The Panel Opacity sets the opacity of the panel.

4. The Launcher Opacity sets the opacity of the Launcher.

5. The Launcher icon size sets the size of the launcher in pixels.

6. The Hide Animation sets how the launcher will hide and unhide.

   • Fade on bfb and Slide - fades based on the position of your cursor in the bfb (big funny button - the one in the top left of your launcher with the Ubuntu circle of friends on it) and slides.
   • Slide only - it will only slide.
   • Fade only - it will only fade.
   • Fade and Slide - it will fade and slide.

7. The Dash Blur sets the level of blur in the dash.

   • No Blur
   • Static - snapshot of the desktop that doesn't get updated (in cases where the drivers can't handle it)
   • Active Blur - This means it actively blurs what is behind it.

8. The Automaximize value sets the minimum value to trigger automaximize.

9. Show Devices sets when to show devices in the launcher.

   • Never - Devices are never shown in the launcher.
   • Only Mounted - Device that are mounted are shown in the launcher.
   • Always - Devices are always shown in the launcher.

Configuration Editor (dconf-editor)

There are also some options you can edit using dconf-editor (needs to be installed first by installing dconf-tools at Ubuntu Software Center or by clicking here):

1. Open up the Configuration Editor by pressing Alt + F2 and typing dconf-editor

2. Navigate to Desktop -> Unity to find the first two options:

   • form-factor: The form factor chosen will affect the size of the Dash. Desktop uses a fixed sized Dash, Netbook will always maximize the Dash to screen size, Automatic decides whether to use Desktop or Netbook based on the screen resolution.

   • home-expanded: Whether the home screen of the Dash should be expanded (Expanded) or not (Not Expanded).

Extra tip for changing dash/launcher color

A new feature for Unity in 11.10 is the ability to change the color of the dash/launcher to match the user's current wallpaper. To take advantage of this, simply set a new wallpaper for your desktop, and the color will change automatically to match.

Note that more advanced control over the dash/launcher color (i.e., setting them to separate or arbitrary colors regardless of the wallpaper chosen) is currently not possible...at least not through an option. The dash/launcher color can actually be arbitrarily set by using an image editor to change the center pixels of your chosen wallpaper to the desired color. (See the OMG! Ubuntu article documenting this here.)

Answer 3

Ubuntu 12.04

overview

The default configuration option installed as standard is User Interface.

There are three further unity configuration options used in this answer that can be installed:

• MyUnity
• dconf-editor
• ccsm

Note: In previous answers, the utility CCSM was extensively used as the primary configuration tool. The use of this tool is strongly not recommended and can break your desktop. In this answer, CCSM is only used where the other tools do not offer the configuration options discussed.

Note that some changes only appear after logging out and in again (i.e. restarting X).

User Interface

1. Hit the Dash and search for appearance

From the Appearance tab you can configure the:

• wallpaper
• theme
• size of the launcher icons

From the Behaviour tab you can configure the:

• how to invoke the launcher by moving the mouse (hot-spot) - either left-side of the screen or the top-left corner
• how quickly the launcher is revealed - lower the slide bar, the longer the mouse needs to be at the hot-spot to be revealed.

MyUnity

1. Hit Alt+F2 and type myunity and hit enter.

You can now configure quite a few different settings, like the launcher behavior, dash configuration, panel transparency, desktop icons and various font settings.

Launcher

1. color - Launcher background color
2. size - Launcher icon size
3. Transparency - Background transparency of the launcher
4. Show devices - Show removable USB drives as an icon

5. Behavior - How the launcher interacts with windows

   • Fixed - The launcher will never hide.
   • Hidden - The launcher will hide when a window would overlay it.

6. Display - What effect the launcher should use when hiding i.e. to fade away or to slide (or both)

7. Backlights - Style of icon background

   • Icons On - the icon back light will always be on.

• Active Icons On - the icon back light will be on as long as the application is running.

• Icons Off - No backlights on icons

• Only Icons Edge - the edge illumination will be on as long as the application is running.

Launcher Quicklists

This option allows you to create quicklists - quicklists are a submenu that are displayed when you right-click a launcher icon.

For example - shutter

Dash

1. Display available apps - control whether similar applications from the software center should be displayed
2. Display recent apps - control whether applications you have recently used should be displayed

3. Blur - how or if Dash background is displayed - default is to blur the background

   • Off - No Blur
   • Smart - Active Blur - This means it actively blurs what is behind it.
   • On - snapshot of the desktop that doesn't get updated (in cases where the drivers can't handle it)

4. Dash Size - whether the dash shows in netbook or desktop style depending on the screen resolution

Panel

1. Transparency - how transparent the top-panel should be displayed
2. Transparency Maximized Toggle - if you are using a transparent top-panel this toggle controls whether an application that is maximised has its decoration also displayed transparently or in the theme colour.

Desktop

1. This tab determines whether the icons shown in the image appears on the desktop
2. Window animation - whether the launch and minimize window effect is displayed or not
3. v desktop & h desktop - controls the number of vertical and horizontal workspaces (default 2x2)

Fonts

1. Font antialiasing - how smooth the fonts are displayed
2. Font hinting - adjust the display of the outline font
3. System/Document/Desktop/Window Title/Monospace - change the font for the desktop type

Themes

Any themes that you have installed or manually installed (/usr/share/themes or ~/.themes) together with manually installed icons (/usr/share/icons or ~/.icons) can be chosen.

Configuration Editor (dconf-editor)

Where an option is not described, then this functionality can be achieved through MyUnity described above.

1. Open up the Configuration Editor by pressing Alt + F2 and typing dconf-editor

2. Navigate to Desktop -> Unity to find the options below:

   • home-expanded - Whether the home screen of the Dash should be expanded (Expanded) or not (Not Expanded).

   • sub-key Dash - home-lens-ordering - List of lens ids specifying how lenses should be ordered in the Dash home screen.

   • sub-key Devices - favorites - List of device uuid for favorites on the launcher.
   • sub-key Launcher - favorites - list of icons (their .desktop names) shown by default on the launcher
   • sub-key Panel - systray-whitelist - List of client names, resource classes or wm classes to allow in the Panel's systray implementation. A value of [All] will allow any system-tray based application that is not by default a indicator to be displayed

CompizConfig Settings Manager

1. Hit Alt+F2 and type ccsm and hit enter.

Where an option is not described, then this functionality can be achieved through MyUnity described above.

On the Behaviour tab you can configure:

1. The key to invoke the HUD - Head Up Display - by default this is the Alt key.

1. The key to show the launcher which by default is the Super key. This will also affect the key used to show the dash (if tapped) and the shortcuts shown when keeping Super pressed.

2. The key to put keyboard-focus on the launcher so you can navigate using your keyboard (default Alt + F1).

3. The key to open a Search Command dash where you can enter a command name you want to execute. (dafault Alt + F2).

4. The key to open the first panel menu (default F10).

5. The key to define the Application switcher (default Super+Tab

6. The key to define the Reverse the Application switcher (default Shift+Super+Tab

On the Switcher Tab:

1. Automatically grid windows on timer in switcher: Turn this off if you want don't want to automatically expand multiple windows in alt-tab.

2. Bias alt-tab sorting to prefer windows on the current viewport: Select this if you want alt tab to prioritize the order in which applications are shows in alt-tab. Applications in your current workspace are listed first.

3. Show minimized windows in switcher: Turn this off if you don't want minimized windows appearing in the switcher

On the Experimental tab (might change hence the name):

1. The Launch Animation sets how the icons are animated.

   • None - no animation will be shown.
   • Pulse Until Running - the icon's back light will pulse till it loads up.
   • Blink - the icon's back light will blink.

2. The Urgent Animation sets how an icon will inform you of something important.

   • None - no animation.
   • Pulse - it will pulse.
   • Wiggle - it will wiggle.

3. Launcher Reveal Pressure - amount of mouse pressure required to reveal the launcher when the mouse is located at the launcher hot-spot

4. Launcher Edge Stop Overcome Pressure - amount of mouse pressure required to push into the next monitor

5. Pressure Decay Rate - the rate at which the mouse pressure decays

6. Edge Stop Velocity - the maximum velocity at which the mouse will still be stopped

   • Fade on bfb and Slide - fades based on the position of your cursor in the bfb (big funny button - the one in the top left of your launcher with the Ubuntu circle of friends on it) and slides.
   • Slide only - it will only slide.
   • Fade only - it will only fade.
   • Fade and Slide - it will fade and slide.

7. The Automaximize value sets the minimum value to trigger automaximize.

8. Enable Shortcut Hints Overlay - pressing and holding the Super key displays the keyboard shortcuts overlay. This can be disabled through this setting.

9. Menus Fade-in duration - duration (in milliseconds) that the global menu fade-in animation takes to display when the mouse moves into the global menu region.

10. Menus Fade-out duration - duration (in milliseconds) that the global menu fade-out animation to display when the mouse moves into the global menu region.

11. Menus discovery duration - number of seconds the global menu should display when an application is first started

12. Menus discovery fade-in duration - duration (in milliseconds) that the fade-in animation takes when the global menu is displayed for an launched application

13. Menus discovery fade-out duration - duration (in milliseconds) that the fade-out animation takes when the global menu is displayed for an launched application

Answer 4

You can use Confity ( Download Link )

Simple and lightweight graphical user interface to configure Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 and above.

Answer 5

A new simple Unity tweaking tool, but very powerfull, is "MyUnity":

You can do a lot of thing, more than many other tools. From now, he is in italian, but I think that english translation will come sooner.

Now available in English, refer to OMG!Ubuntu article from December 11.

Answer 6

Next Ubuntu Tweak release (0.6) will include some tweaks to configure Unity :

Answer 7

There is an unofficial Compiz plugin that allows you to move the Unity launcher to the bottom (looks out of place and ugly there in my opinion).

More information about it at: http://www.webupd8.org/2011/10/how-to-move-unity-launcher-to-bottom-of.html

Personally would wait for an official plugin for this but if you are feeling feisty...

Use at your own risk.

Answer 8

Unity is configured through compiz. Install the CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) from the Software Centre, and look under the desktop section for Unity options.

Unity 2D settings can be configured with a tool available here: http://marianochavero.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/a-simple-gui-for-unity-2d-settings-ubuntu-11-04/

Answer 9

Aside from the CCSM (Compiz Config Settings Manager) configurations described in another reply to this thread, you can also change what menu options appear when you right-click on an application launcher (icon) in Unity through custom launchers and so-called quicklists.

For example, you can add STOP, PLAY, PAUSE, NEXT, PREVIOUS to your Banshee icons, you can add your favorite folders to your Nautilus (file browser) icon, you can add common SSH servers to your terminal icon, etc.

To find examples and instructions of said quicklists, see another popular question: List of custom Launchers & Quicklists for Unity.