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I know there are supposed to be several ways to do this, but I will explain why they don't work for me.

  1. Super+D and Super+Ctrl+D both result in this bug. So does the "Show Desktop" button in the Unity launcher and the "Show Desktop" that appears in the Alt+Tab app switcher. I'm guessing that all four execute the same command(s).

  2. I use Docky. But the Docky docklet "Show Desktop" does not work due to this bug.

  3. I don't use the Unity launcher (I hide it) but I guess, as a last resort, I wouldn't be uninterested in ways that involve it. I read about something called "My Unity," but I couldn't find out how to install it. Anyhow, I am primarily interested in a way that uses a keyboard shortcut or Docky.

So there are three really nice ways to hide all windows and show the desktop that, unfortunately, don't work at the moment.

In this question I am asking for:

  1. A way to solve one or more of these bugs.

  2. More ways to accomplish the same thing, without the bugs. I prefer ways that don't depend on the Unity launcher, but I'd still like to hear about those that do.

I'm on Ubuntu 14.04, 64-bit.

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  • 1
    How about Ctlr + Super + D as depicted in this question: askubuntu.com/questions/154023/…
    – Parto
    Mar 31, 2016 at 6:31
  • @Parto are you suggesting that may not cause the same bug that Super + D causes?
    – Fiksdal
    Mar 31, 2016 at 6:33
  • I don't think it will. Try it out and tell me.
    – Parto
    Mar 31, 2016 at 6:34
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    If you don't mind using workspaces, you could also just use CTRL+ALT+ARROW to switch to an empty workspace where you would see the desktop as well.
    – Byte Commander ♦
    Mar 31, 2016 at 6:34
  • @Parto I just tested it, and unfortunately, the two shortcuts cause exactly the same bug. By the way, what is the difference between Super+D and Super+Ctrl+D?
    – Fiksdal
    Mar 31, 2016 at 7:06

2 Answers 2

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You can use multiple workspaces and switch to a new empty workspace instead of minimizing all windows on the current one to see the desktop.

To enable workspaces, open System Settings → Appearance, switch to the Behaviour tab and tick the Enable workspaces checkbox.

Then you have 4 workspaces (2x2) between which you can switch using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Arrow ↑←↓→.

To move the focused window on a different workspace, you can select Move to workspace up/left/down/right or Move to another workspace from the window title bar's context menu, or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Arrow ↑←↓→.

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  • But if I open something from the desktop then, it will then be in the new workspace, right?
    – Fiksdal
    Mar 31, 2016 at 7:31
  • @Fiksdal Yes, each workspace can have open windows. Not sure, but there should be a command to move all windows back to workspace 1 at once...
    – Byte Commander ♦
    Mar 31, 2016 at 8:21
  • And what is that command?
    – Fiksdal
    Mar 31, 2016 at 8:30
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    I am not sure. You could ask that as new question or take a look here: askubuntu.com/q/470324/367990 but it's not very helpful for Unity Desktop...
    – Byte Commander ♦
    Mar 31, 2016 at 8:34
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Probably not as good as Byte Commander's solution, but there's another workaround : when pressing Alt + Tab you see list of windows to switch to , among which there is "Show Desktop" option. If you hover mouse to it while still holding the key combination and click, it will show the desktop

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  • Do you know whether this uses the same command as Super+D and the shortcut in the Unity Launcher? If yes, isn't is likely to result in the same bug that is referred to in OP? I'll test it the next time I have access to an Ubuntu system.
    – Fiksdal
    Apr 4, 2016 at 7:35
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    @Fiksdal I would assume it's the same action/command that is being called. Try it out, see if it helps. It's hard to say what your issue is related to, so I would try out variety of methods. There probably is a dbus command for that but i haven't found one yet
    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Apr 4, 2016 at 7:50
  • Will try it, just need to get back to the Ubuntu machine I manage first. It belongs to someone else.
    – Fiksdal
    Apr 4, 2016 at 7:52
  • Sorry about the long delay, but I can confirm, that this results in the same bug as described in OP. Will update OP.
    – Fiksdal
    Apr 15, 2016 at 15:24

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