How to disable system tray notifications in 14.04?

Question

I don't like, need nor want the notification bubbles which pop up in the top right corner of the screen. I've looked around quite a bit but can't identify how to disable them?

NotifyOSD Configuration let's me change the look of them, but not get rid of them. Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Answer 1

To completely turn off notifications, open a Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type the following command:

sudo mv /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service.disabled

Finally restart your system to open a new session without notifications bubbles.

Answer 2

Effectively disable notifications without messing with your system

A shamelessly ugly, but guaranteed perfectly working solution below. Although it is ugly, I can't see a real downside, and when no other options seem to exist or work, I believe we are excused.

The solution

From this nice answer, we learn that you can keep an eye on upcoming notifications. If we edit the command in that answer a bit, to simply kill the notification before it actually pops up, we effectively disable notifications. The set up:

1. Create a small script with the following content:

   #!/bin/bash
   
   dbus-monitor "interface='org.freedesktop.Notifications'" | grep --line-buffered "string" | grep --line-buffered -e method -e ":" -e '""' -e urgency -e notify -v | grep --line-buffered '.*(?=string)|(?<=string).*' -oPi | grep --line-buffered -v '^\s*$' | xargs -I '{}' pkill notify-osd
   

2. Save it as nonotifications.sh, and make it executable

3. Test- run it by running in a terminal:

   /path/to/nonotifications.sh
   

   (keep it running)

4. If all works fine, add it to your Startup Applications. Choose Dash > Startup Applications > Add. Add the command:

   /bin/bash -c "sleep 15 && /path/to/nonotifications.sh"
   

Additional options

The fun part is that the solution can be connected to a script, as mentioned here, to (for example) only allow certain notifications, or only disable specific ones.

Answer 3

You can use Dconf Editor to disable the notifications. To install dconf editor, just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

sudo apt-get install dconf-editor 

Once installed, type dconf in Dash, and then click on dconf Editor. Once open navigate to com --> canonical --> indicator --> and disable the ones you want.