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14

Is there a way to the switch gnome-shell window buttons to the left? I've gotten so used to them being on the left that them being on the right has thrown me way off.

(gnome shell has them defaulted to the right corner)

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1  
You've only said left. Apparently, they're on the left side and you want them on the left side. – Kris Harper Nov 12 '11 at 1:42
4  
So left it is, right? RIGHT? Right. – Bruno Pereira♦ Nov 12 '11 at 1:44
Leave the on the left. They're just fine there, since if you'd look at hot map of the screen, you'd see that mouse pointer is more often located on the left part of the screen, not on the right — it means it'd track less to the buttons. – poige May 21 at 3:55

9 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

For 10.10

The more simple way to do that is: Alt+F2 → gconf-editor

Navigate to apps → metacity → general, and double click on the entry: button_layout, then enter close,minimize,maximize:. You can also use spacer at some point to add a space.

For 11.04 and 11.10

Alt+F2 → gconf-editor

Navigate to desktop → gnome → shell → windows, and double click on the entry: button_layout, then enter close,minimize,maximize:. You can also use spacer at some point to add a space.

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3  
If you want the buttons on the left, then the colon needs to be at the end of the list instead of the beginning. – cscarney Jan 23 '11 at 22:43
on 11.10, I had to make the change in desktop --> gnome --> shell --> windows. To restart gnome shell, press Alt-F2, and type rt. – eug Oct 30 '11 at 0:27
up vote 34 down vote

For Ubuntu 12.04 and newer

You will need dconf-editor, which is part of the dconf-tools package. Install it first:

dconf-tools

Start dconf-editor:

Alt+F2 → dconf-editor

Go to org → gnome → shell → overrides → button layout. Change it to close,minimize,maximize:

No need to restart the shell.

Note: This also changes the cancel button in the overlay mode.

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1  
I think it will be great to attach this answer to the accepted one. – lig Sep 8 '12 at 11:41
up vote 9 down vote

If you're using Gnome Shell and you want the window buttons on the left, use this command:

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/overrides/button-layout "close,minimize,maximize:"

Then restart the shell: press Alt+F2, type r and press Enter.

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I am surprised this option isn't in gnome-tweak – Christopher Manning Dec 2 '11 at 6:08
Yeah. Makes sense that it should be there. – jfmessier Dec 14 '11 at 20:18
1  
It is in gnome-tweak: Advanced Settings (application) > Shell > Arrangement of Buttons > pick all – SeanJA May 11 '12 at 13:55
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Except there it won't let you change them to the left, which is what OP was asking for. – Sean Aug 10 '12 at 15:28
1  
This does't work for Ubuntu 12.04 – BuZZ-dEE Sep 27 '12 at 16:14
up vote 7 down vote

If you have installed Ubuntu Tweak, go to Window Manager and change the Place from left to right or vice versa. This will change all windows' Titlebar button layout, not only gnome shell.

alt text

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up vote 4 down vote

Do what hrhnick said, except use this command instead:

gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout -t String minimize,maximize,close:" where "minimize,maximize,close:

Then hit Alt+F2 and type

gnome-shell --replace

and hit enter

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up vote 3 down vote

The workspace window view of gnome shell uses the same button layout as the window manager (albeit only for the close button). (relevant code)

If you set your close window buttons to the left using gconf, the close button on the window preview in workspace view will also display on the left.

Using gconf-editor, change /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout to close,minimize,maximize: and re-login to see the change.

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Yep, I can confirm that that is exactly how I have that setting in my gconf, but the close button is still on the right. Maybe it's a bug. Note that it was working properly until I installed some gnome-shell theme extension. I'm betting that relevent js file got overwritten. I'll look into it. Thanks. – Gaidin Oct 20 '11 at 14:04
The workspace.js file in my /usr/share/gnome-shell/js/ui/ folder is different than the one you linked me to, but it still contains that same function, albeit in a different place. Doing a direct replace of the workspace.js file with the one in the bzr repository you linked to just breaks gnome shell. Something in the theme extention must be making some assumptions. – Gaidin Oct 20 '11 at 14:18
I expect we'll see many problems with shell extensions that just monkey patch the UI functions and lead to confusing results. I'm pretty sure what you are seeing is an extension that positions that button. Can you provide a link to the theme extension please? Edit: Also, which version of ubuntu are you using, and is the gnome-shell package from that version's ubuntu repository? – Niel Thiart Oct 20 '11 at 16:35
I'm using 11.10, and I'm using the gnome shell extension repository from here (webupd8.org/2011/10/official-gnome-shell-extensions.html). THe ppa is here: ppa:webupd8team/gnome3 – Gaidin Oct 20 '11 at 18:53
1  
I've also just discovered that it's not the theme extension that's causing the problem is the Native Window Placement extension. Thanks for sending me down the right path. I'll submit a bug report to the extension developer. – Gaidin Oct 20 '11 at 18:54
up vote 3 down vote

open up terminal and run gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout -t String minimize,maximize,close: where "minimize,maximize,close:" is equal to the layout you want.

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up vote 1 down vote

This command should work: gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:minimize,maximize,close" (Assuming you want to move them from left to right, which is what I interpreted from your question...assuming move from left to left was a typo :-) ).

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Actually, I wanted to move them from right to left. – jfmessier Dec 14 '11 at 20:18
up vote 1 down vote

Fire up the terminal and run the following command to move the close button (X) to the left:

gconftool --type string --set /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout "close:"

Then restart GNOME Shell: Alt+F2, type r, and press Enter.

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