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I want a keyboard shortcut that is equivalent to pressing the dotted "Show Applications" button on the Ubuntu dock. The closest thing in Settings > Devices > Keyboard is Show all applications (Super+A), but this shows not only all applications, but all activities as well (maybe a bug?). For example, here is a sequence of actions:

  1. I press Super+A to get up the applications dash.
  2. The applications dash pops up as expected.
  3. Now I want to close the applications dash, I hit Super+A OR Escape.
  4. It goes away, but now the activities dash is there instead of the desktop or whatever I had before Step 1).
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  • @pomsky Someone installed the OS for me and set up accounts, but this is been happening ever since I logged in for the 1st time. I just noticed something, when I do press "Show Applications", I still get the activities to show!
    – ToniAz
    Sep 4, 2018 at 14:59
  • @pomsky I understand that you're trying to help, but I'm reluctant to take screenshots of my dash. I just learned that the Superkey is supposed to open up the dash (list of installed applications), and not the activities. My Superkey opens up the activities (open applications).
    – ToniAz
    Sep 4, 2018 at 15:33
  • @pomsky Sorry for that. I read on a few blogs that superkey launches the applications, not the activities. Maybe that was for unity.
    – ToniAz
    Sep 4, 2018 at 16:09
  • @pomsky The pictures are exactly what I'm getting. But here is what I meant: 1) I press <Super>+<A> to get up the applications dash. 2) The applications dash pops up as expected. 3) Now I want to close the applications dash, I hit <Super>+<A> OR <Escape>. 4) It goes away, but now the activities dash is there instead of the desktop or whatever I had before Step 1).
    – ToniAz
    Sep 4, 2018 at 21:12

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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What you're describing is a standard behaviour.

  • Pressing Super brings up the "Activities" overview (same as clicking "Activities" in the top-left). Pressing Super again brings you back to the desktop.
  • Pressing Super+A brings up the applications list (same as clicking "Show Applications" icon in the Ubuntu dock).
    But pressing Super+A again or pressing Escape won't take you back to the desktop, it takes you to the Activities overview instead (standard behaviour from GNOME shell). Press only Super when you have the applications list open to get back to your desktop.
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  • Thank you. Marking solved because this is standard behavior.
    – ToniAz
    Sep 4, 2018 at 21:34
  • 1
    One of the less intuitive things imo ..
    – Stefan Falk
    Nov 14, 2019 at 22:37
  • 4
    what is Super??
    – Pavlos
    Mar 27, 2020 at 10:04
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    @Pavlos It's usually the key with the Windows logo.
    – pomsky
    Mar 27, 2020 at 16:16
  • It might be standard, but it is still bad behaviour.
    – Danijel
    Jul 5, 2022 at 12:33
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I actually created a lightweight deb installer to do this, check out my repo here https://github.com/milan102/Ubuntu-Launchpad

The installation instructions are in the github README. The program is a simple shell script that invokes the keyboard shortcut for showing applications (Super+A)

It's not a direct keyboard shortcut like you were asking, but it's pretty close.

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use dash to panel extension. It has the the setting to work with escape

I didn't actually found the setting. But escape started working once I installed it. It also has {click empty space to close overview} and lot more. It may help you

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