Dash To Panel v24 Released With Vertical Panel Orientation, Update From GitHub Feature
Dash to Panel, an icon taskbar for Gnome Shell, was updated to version 24, bringing support for vertical panel orientation (left or right of monitor), the ability to update the extension directly from the GitHub releases, and more.
The Gnome Shell Dash to Panel extension combines the Dash with the top panel into a single dock. This way you have running applications (and favorite/pinned applications), the tray, the system menu, and date / time indicator on a single panel.
Don't confuse Dash to Panel with the somewhat similar Dash to Dock extension (from which the Ubuntu Dock was forked from).
The extension comes with many features, including live window previews, panel intellihide, multi-monitor support, customizable appearance (including custom styles for the running application indicator), and more. There are also various minor, but useful features like launching applications pinned to the panel using the keyboard, add a Show Desktop button to the panel, isolate running apps by workspace or monitors, or dynamic panel transparency. It supports GNOME Shell 3.18 and newer.
The latest Dash to Panel v24 brings support for vertical panel orientation, allowing users to place it on the left or right side of the monitor (previously you could only use it as a horizontal panel). This was a much requested feature, dating to the very early days of Dash to Panel, and is especially useful with ultra wide (and not only) monitors where the vertical real estate is quite important.
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Another important update with this Dash to Panel v24 release is the ability to update the extension directly from the GitHub repository, useful because extensions need to be reviewed before they are updated on extensions.gnome.org, and that can take quite a while in some cases. This option is not enabled by default - enable it from the Dash to Panel
Settings -> About. It's worth mentioning that since this updates directly from GitHub, it means that the release is not reviewed like it is with the releases from extensions.gnome.org!More Dash to Panel v24 changes:
- Respect Ubuntu-specific option to disable hot corners
- Added an option to modify the intellihide delay
- GNOME 3.34 compatibility improvements, including fix for window previews, fixed intellihide animation, hotcorner fix for Wayland, and more
- Increased maximum pressure threshold
- Window previews manual styling
- Close preview when entering full-screen mode
- Fix regression error on <= GNOME 3.22 Handle scrolling of application launchers in vertical orientation
Install Dash to Panel
It's worth noting that Ubuntu users don't need to disable the Ubuntu Dock to be able to use this extension, because Dash to Panel automatically disables Ubuntu Dock / Dash to Dock. In case you want to go back to using the default Ubuntu Dock, disable Dash to Panel using GNOME Tweaks; Ubuntu Dock may not show up immediately after doing this, in which case you can restart GNOME Shell (
Alt + F2, then type r, or logout/login).Dash to Panel requires Gnome 3.18 and newer, and it can be installed from extensions.gnome.org.
At the time I'm writing this article, the latest Dash to Panel v24 is in the review queue, and has not yet been published on extensions.gnome.org (which currently has v23).
Those wanting to install the latest Dash to Panel v24 without having to wait for it to be published on extensions.gnome.org can download the latest release (
dash-to-panel@jderose9.github.com_v24.zip) from the extension GitHub releases tab, extract it, then copy the resulting folder to ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions, and remove the _v24 from the folder name so that it's name is dash-to-panel@jderose9.github.com.Or download and install Dash to Panel v24 using these 2 commands (requires
git and unzip):wget -O /tmp/dash-to-panel.zip https://github.com/home-sweet-gnome/dash-to-panel/releases/download/v24/dash-to-panel@jderose9.github.com_v24.zip
unzip -o /tmp/dash-to-panel.zip -d ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/dash-to-panel@jderose9.github.comOnce the extension is installed (either manually or using the command I mentioned), restart Gnome Shell if you're on Xorg (press
Alt + F2 and type r, then press the Enter key) or restart your session (logout/login) if you're on Wayland, and enable Dash to Dock using Gnome Tweaks app.To access the Dash to Dock settings you can right click the applications button and choose
Dash to Panel Settings, or from GNOME Tweaks.For future releases you'll be able to update Dash to Panel directly from GitHub, using its new update from GitHub feature.
