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I used to have a hierarchical menu at the top left, that let me launch applications, similar the old-fashioned Windows start menu. The nice thing about this is that one may organize the launchers, instead of having all at the same level, as in the Dock. In Unity, for instance, Drawers intended to allow for a similar capability.

How can I get this menu in Ubuntu 20?

I know I can simply search for an app in Activities. The menu I am referring to is not a replacement for that, but complementary. In this menu, I can explore what is available, in an organized manner.

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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You can gain an Applications Memu functionality by installing a Gnome Extension. The Applications Menu extension might be just the extension you are looking for.

Make sure the Gnome Shell Integration browser add-on is installed:

$ apt search chrome-gnome-shell
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
chrome-gnome-shell/focal,focal,now 10.1-5 all [installed,automatic]
  GNOME Shell extensions integration for web browsers

If not installed install with:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Other extensions can be found on the Gnome Extensions web site.

From my experience the fewer Extensions to meet your needs the better.

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  • Good. Why do you mention "From my experience the fewer Extensions to meet your needs the better."? What gets worse when adding extensions? I guess one might expect, generically speaking, a penalty in performance. But perhaps that only occurs with a large number of extensions, or specific heavy extensions. Did you find anything worth commenting?
    – sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio
    May 6, 2020 at 15:00
  • If there are issues with an extension it can be more difficult to isolate and troubleshoot when you have many extensions installed. In addition, extensions need to be updated when new versions are released by the developer so this adds another level of maintenance requiring the user's attention. The maintenance task has been made somewhat easier in Ubuntu 20.04 with the addition of the Extensions App. I hope this sheds light on my "fewer the better" opinion.
    – sc608
    May 6, 2020 at 16:00
  • I guessed there is nothing particular to do to update extensions. The same as for any other package installed with apt-get... Thanks
    – sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio
    May 6, 2020 at 16:42
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There is an extension which provides this menu and many other very useful extras. Install with 

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions

To be clarified:

  1. It is mentioned at various places that having installed the browser integration extension is mandatory. I guess I did not explicitly install it at any point, and I am not sure how to check if I have it.

  2. I am not certain this may interfere with chrome-gnome-shell, if both are installed.

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