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Ubuntu 20.04, Gedit 3.36.2. Suddenly it has a black background with white characters. Click on a line turns it into a long white highlight, hiding the text underneath. Also, tabs are now freaky.

How do I install a newer version, such as 3.38.1? Or an older version that works normally?

Dick Silbar

12/15: Thanks for telling me about Gedit reset preferences. Unfortunately, in flailing around, I un-installed Gedit, expecting that I could then re-install it. But, now I can't even bring up the Ubuntu Software Center!

So how do I reinstall from, say, apt-get (presumably as root)?

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    Before going through all that, have you inadvertently changed the color scheme?
    – KGIII
    Dec 14, 2020 at 18:35
  • This may help: askubuntu.com/questions/1035307/how-to-reset-gedit-preferences
    – FedKad
    Dec 14, 2020 at 19:18
  • 12/18: Problem resolved, with the help of several postings in Ask Ubuntu. The short answer is to click the menu (three horizontal bars, upper right) then Preferences and uncheck
    – Richard Silbar
    Dec 18, 2020 at 17:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The short answer: open the menu (three horizontal bars, upper right), select Prefences and uncheck the 'Highlight Current Line'.

Longer answer: from various entries elsewhere in Ask Ubuntu.

  1. In 20.04 the Ubuntu Software Center I was looking for was replaced by Snap Store, which can be started from the command line by $snap-store. (I have since added it to the vertical activities bar.)

  2. It was not clear that the first Snap Store had all the Gnome applications. By doing $killall snap-store, followed by a new $snap-store, I did see the Gnome apps, including gedit (which I had earlier uninstalled).

  3. There is a search icon in the upper left corner of the Snap Store window. Searching for "editors" brought up several, one of which is called Text Editor, which is in fact gedit, version 3.36.2. It is installable from Snap Store (and is free).

  4. In the comments that are at the bottom of the Snap Store window for Text Editor, a happy user named Darryl mentioned the simple fix to the highlighted line problem, mentioned above in the short answer.

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