Archives For November 30, 1999

Gnome’s top bar can auto-hide itself like the left dock panel does via a Gnome Shell extension.

In Ubuntu 18.04, you can enable the feature by installing the gnome shell extension easily from Ubuntu Software.

In Ubuntu 20.04, it’s still easy to install the hide top bar extension, though the Software utility does not longer handle the extension packages.

For Ubuntu 22.04 user, please scroll down and see the update section.

1.) Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then run the apt command to install the extension:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-autohidetopbar

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter.

2.) Once installed, restart Gnome Shell by pressing Alt+F2 and type r in the pop-up “Run a Command” box and hit Enter.

3.) Finally open either Extensions or Gnome Tweaks (both available to install in Software), and enable “Hide Top Bar” extension.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Update for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The extension works for Ubuntu 22.04 with GNOME 42, though it’s not available in system repository anymore.

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to install required packages first:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell gnome-shell-extension-prefs

Next, go to the link page below, install browser extension if prompt and turn on the slider icon to install the extension:

NOTE: The pre-installed Firefox (Snap) does not support installing Gnome Extensions! Use another browser or install Firefox as classic Deb.

It will work immediately after you installed it. To manage its behavior, search for and open “Extensions” app and click the related “Settings” button.

App to Manage your extensions

This simple tutorial shows how to auto-hide the top bar in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10 with the default Gnome desktop.

It’s easy to enable auto-hide the dock (left panel) feature as Ubuntu offers an option in the system settings utility. To run any maximized application window in full-screen like a video player does, you can also make the Gnome top bar auto-hide.

This can be done by a Gnome Shell extension called ‘Hide Top Bar’.

Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install hide top bar gnome shell extension.

UPDATE: For Ubuntu 20.04, install the extension by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-autohidetopbar

Once installed, launch the extension settings either from Ubuntu Software in the install page, or by going to Gnome Tweaks -> Extensions.

Enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the extension, simply run command:

sudo apt remove gnome-shell-extension-autohidetopbar