Unity Launcher "Stuck" icons

Question

I'm trying to make my ubuntu clean and tidy, and there is a few launchers on the unity-bar i would love to get rid of. For example, I love the feature with the desktop-switcher. But, I am only using my keyboard for that function, and the icon on the unity-bar is annoying me (since i am never using it). I can't just put it in the trash, it's stuck on the bar. I've tried to go to the appearance settings, and ticked away the checkbox for the desktop-switcher. The thing is, it disables the whole feature, and that's annoying.

Another example; Mounted hard-drives and USB-pens? Why do they have to appear on the bar as well as other things? And the "Show Desktop" Icon?

Those icons are taking too much space on the bar, and i want them gone,

If you have any smart ideas on how i could customize Unity for my purposes, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks!

Answer 1

First install dconf-tools, if you don't have it already installed.

Then open dconf-editor (search for it in the Dash) and browse to com → canonical → unity → launcher, and edit the favorites field by removing the , 'unity://expo-icon' string:

After this, your Workspace Switcher icon will disappear from the launcher.

For mounted hard-drives and USB-pens, just right click on their icons and select Unlock from Launcher:

See also:

• How can I remove launcher drive icons?