Enable Transparent Panel, Titlebar in Ubuntu 13.04, 13.10 Unity

Last updated: October 25, 2013

This tutorial shows you how to enable transparent top panel and titlebar in Unity Desktop, tested in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, 13.04 Raring.

Transparent Panel in Unity:

The CompizConfig Settings Manager has the opition to set panel opacity. It’s a little different to Ubuntu 12.04 Precise. Now the option is under Ubuntu Unity Plugin -> General tab.

To get totally transparent panel:

Panel Opacity

Background Color

To install CompizConfig Settings Manager, click the link below to bring up Ubuntu Software Center and click install button.

click to install CCSM

Transparent titlebar in Unity:

Without installing special themes, you can directly adjust window titlebar transparency in Ubuntu Unity via Dconf Editor which is installed by default.

Open dconf editor, then navigate to org/compiz/gwd. Change the value of “metacity-theme-active-opacity” and “metacity-theme-inactive-opacity” to set transparent titlebar for both focus & un-focus windows.

In Unity transparent panel in ubuntu, transparent titlebar in ubuntu, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

Ji m

Twitter

I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via [email protected] Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1

11 responses to Enable Transparent Panel, Titlebar in Ubuntu 13.04, 13.10 Unity

Moose August 31, 2013 at 10:28 pm

You can not get the panel to be “totally transparent”, even with the setting at 0. Which is annoying.
- Moose August 31, 2013 at 10:43 pm
  
  I got it to be fully-transparent by setting the Background Color opacity to 1 (instead of 0), and *then* setting the panel opacity to 0.
  - Andreas Gundlach October 25, 2013 at 12:32 pm
    
    Hi…
    …doesn’t work for me, I have no option called “backgroundcolor opacity” – only the background color option with a value-range from 0 to 255. But this doesn’t bring full trancparency either. It just reduces saturation… Is there a way to fix this?
    
    Thnaks – Andreas
    - Panda October 25, 2013 at 1:06 pm
      
      “only background color option with a value-range from 0 to 255” set that value to 1. Then set the Panel Opacity value to 0
      - davidleo February 16, 2014 at 11:36 pm
        
        Thanks for this solution dude, I hated that only 12.04 would let me get complete transparent panel…
        
        sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
        
        In unity plugin reset the background color and the panel opacity…
        
        Drag the color opacity down to around 3-10 and then set the opactiy to 0
        
        It didn’t work with just entering number 1 for opacity in background color, i had to manualy drag the bar down to like 3 or as low as it could go below 0.
        
        This worked for 14.04
        
        Thanks again man,
        David
  - Jimmmy Diety June 4, 2014 at 11:03 am
    
    This worked for me. Thanks, Moose!
Kris December 6, 2013 at 7:54 pm

thank you so much, first way i found to work
Jesus April 9, 2014 at 3:26 am

Thank you, you save me!!!
Daniel September 16, 2014 at 3:23 pm

Does this apply to Ubuntu 14.04?
MKK December 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm

dud what about upper and lower panels in ubuntu 14.04 with gnome flash-back ?? any ideas ??
v_v April 4, 2015 at 5:28 pm

Thanks for help.
But Titlebar transparent no work for me, I don’t know why. use 14.04 version.