How can I reduce or increase the number of workspaces in Unity?

Question

I was reading about how to get multiple workspaces in the mutter version of Unity, however since Compiz is replacing Mutter how do I go about adding and removing workspaces in Compiz version of Unity?

Answer 1

12.04

The number of workspaces can be safely set without using CCSM through MyUnity

Move the slide-bars to change the number of horizontal & vertical workspaces

for example 4x1

Answer 2

11.10 and below

The options for the number of workspaces can be found in compizconfig-settings-manager under General Options. Do not set horizontal workspaces below 2 or the workspace switcher button won't work.

MyUnity can be used also in 11.10 and below, with additional steps.

In a terminal, use sudo add-apt-repository ppa:myunity/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install myunity to install MyUnity. Then, use the steps described above to 12.04.

Answer 3

By running ccsm from a terminal or from System Settings -> CompizConfig Settings Manager:

Warning: ccsm can lead to unwanted effects that may be hard to overcome and may leave you without a desktop (see also this question for more background information).

Choose General Options -> Desktop Size:

Push the slider to the desired number of virtual desktops. In addition you may need to adapt the view of the workspace switcher to the desired rows and columns.

Answer 4

It looks like mutter (the window manager) reads from metacity's gconf entries.

So, to change the number of workspaces, I used:

gconftool-2 --type=int --set /apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces 2

… and it works!

The switcher looks better with four though.

You can edit also using the Configuration Editor: open apps > metacity > general and change the value of the number of workspaces.

Answer 5

You could also use the newly created quicklist from me, which can be found here:

Quicklist to Add/Remove workspaces rows/columns

Answer 6

Install compizconfig-settings-manager, launch it through System Settings (in the Personal section), then go to General Options (in the General Section), now in the tab Desktop Size you can change the number of vertical or horizontal desktops.

Answer 7

You can open a terminal and set as you want.

With this command you set the number of horizontal viewports (at this example I am changing it to "3"):

gconftool-2 --type int --set /apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/hsize 3  

And with this you set the number of vertical viewports (at this example I am changing it to "4"):

gconftool-2 --type int --set /apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/vsize 4

Answer 8

I used CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM). Open CCSM, select General Options then go to the Desktop Size tab.

You can adjust the number and the layout of the workspaces by using the Horizontal Virtual Size and Vertical Virtual Size sliders to adjust the number of "columns" and "rows" respectively.

Using this method does not appear to change the settings mentioned above in gconf editor.