Cfrgtkky

I am migrating from Unity to GNOME. One item I am missing is a "Show desktop" button (aka "minimise all windows") in the dash. How can I add this functionality to the GNOME dash (or Ubuntu dock in Ubuntu 17.10 and later), even if it means making a custom .desktop file?

(I know that I can use the Ctrl + Super + D keyboard shortcut to show the desktop and that I can install an extension to add a "Show desktop" button to the top bar, but I specifically want a button in the dash.)

I found a way to do that:

1. 
   

   Open a terminal and install wmctrl:

   
   
   

   sudo apt-get install wmctrl
   
   

   
   


2. 
   

   Create a shell script named show-desktop.sh (I put it in my home folder)

   
   
   

   gedit ~/show-desktop.sh
   
   

   
   
   

   place this code in there:

   
   
   

   #!/bin/bash
   
   status="$(wmctrl -m | grep "showing the desktop" | sed -r 's/(.*)(ON|OFF)/2/g')"
   
   
   
   if [ $status == "ON" ]; then
   
       wmctrl -k off
   
   else
   
       wmctrl -k on
   
   fi
   
   

   
   
   

   and make it executable:

   
   
   

   chmod +x ~/show-desktop.sh
   
   

   
   


3. 
   

   Create a file show-desktop.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications/ folder:

   
   
   

   gedit ~/.local/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop
   
   

   
   
   

   Add this text and save (don't forget change the value on <your user>):

   
   
   

   [Desktop Entry]
   
   Type=Application
   
   Name=Show Desktop
   
   Icon=user-desktop
   
   Exec=/home/<your user>/show-desktop.sh
   
   

   
   



4. Open the dash, search for show desktop and add it to the favorites.