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How to Show/Hide Trash Icon in Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop

Last updated: March 22, 2022

Ubuntu 22.04 finally merged desktop icon settings into System Settings (Gnome Control Center). However, it only provides few options to toggle display ‘Home’ folder, change icon size and new icon position.

By right-clicking on desktop and select ‘Desktop Icons Settings’ from pop-up menu, it will bring up the ‘Appearance‘ settings page as the picture below shows:

Ubuntu 22.04 only provides few Desktop Icons options

What if you want to show the trash can, removable devices (e.g., USB drive) on desktop? They are hidden settings! Here I’m going to show you how to configure them in Ubuntu 22.04.

Single Command to Toggle Display Trash Icon on Desktop

The gsettings command is always the most efficient way to configure hidden settings in Ubuntu.

If you’re OK with Linux commands, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and paste the command below into it.

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.ding show-trash true

By hitting enter, you should see the trash can desktop icon immediately!

To hide the icon again, simply run the command below to reset the key:

gsettings reset org.gnome.shell.extensions.ding show-trash

In addition, you may hide the Trash icon from left dock via command:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-trash false

Use Dconf Editor to toggle display Trash icon & more Desktop Icons Settings:

The ‘Dconf Editor‘ tool provides a graphical interface to configure these hidden settings in Ubuntu.

1.) Firstly, search for and install Dconf Editor in Ubuntu Software.

Ubuntu Software always sucks! It does not launch in my case at the moment of writing this tutorial. So, there’s no screenshot for it.

You may also run the command below in terminal to install the ‘Dconf Editor’ tool.

sudo apt install dconf-editor

2.) Search for and launch the tool from ‘Activities’ overview screen:

3.) When the app opens, navigate to org/gnome/shell/extensions/ding. Scroll down, and you’ll see the on/off switch for the ‘show-trash’ key, as well as many other settings for desktop icons.

That’s all. Enjoy!

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    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 Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated!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 ubuntuhandbook1@gmail.com Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1 |

    6 responses to How to Show/Hide Trash Icon in Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop

    1. shreyas May 14, 2022 at 11:38 am

      works

    2. Don June 19, 2022 at 11:36 pm

      Thanks for the accurate and detailed info!

    3. Joe July 7, 2022 at 3:16 pm

      thanks very much for editor

    4. Michael Teubner August 23, 2022 at 2:10 am

      Unfortunately, like so many “new features” in Ubuntu 22.04, this doesn’t work. Why do we even need it and why doesn’t someone develop a work-around that actually works?

    5. Lindsay Haisley December 22, 2022 at 1:30 am

      In Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS this switch seems to have been moved to:

      /org/mate/caja/desktop/trash-icon-visible

    6. Jvonne Rampoldi September 24, 2024 at 1:16 pm

      Many thanks!