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Plank-Reloaded – The Simplest Dock that’s Fully Functional

Last updated: January 30, 2025 — 3 Comments

Remember Plank, the simplest dock on the planet? There’s now a free open-source fork to make it fully functional in recent Linux Distributions.

Plank is a 14 years old application that provides an iOS bottom bar style dock app launcher, that’s great for lightweight Linux Desktops. The goal is to provide just what a dock needs and absolutely nothing more.

Plank seems not in active development, though it still works in recent Linux Distributions. However, it has compatibility issues and broken docklets/applets. For those who’re still using or prefer this dock, there’s now an open-source fork worth a try.

Plank in Linux Mint 22

It’s Plank-Reloaded, a fork of the original Plank project that focuses on Cinnamon desktop compatibility and modernized features.

With the new dock, the Clock docklet will no longer crash. And, it features updated digital clock layout as well as a calendar when clicking on the icon.

The Battery docklet has been updated with modern UPower integration. And, the “Matte” theme has been updated to look better, along with a light variant that based on the Arian theme.

New Plank Matte and Matte-light Themes

Other changes include general code cleanup and bug fixes. If you like it, you may report issues and request features by visiting the project page.

How to Install Plank-Reloaded

NOTE: Plank so far does NOT work on Wayland.

According to this feature request, the software developer is going to add pre-built .deb packages for Debian/Ubuntu, and Flatpak package for all Linux users.

At the moment, Arch & its based systems can install from the AUR repository.

While Ubuntu & Linux Mint users (tested on Linux Mint 22.1 & Ubuntu 24.04) can run the commands below one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to build from the source (this is the official guide with minor modification).

First, remove plank in case you installed the original plank package from system repository:
```
sudo apt remove plank libplank-common libplank1
```

Then, install the dependency libraries for building/running the dock:

sudo apt install git autogen autoconf autopoint libtool make valac libgnome-menu-3-0 libgnome-menu-3-dev libxml2-utils libgee-0.8-dev libbamf3-dev libwnck-3-0 libwnck-3-dev bamfdaemon

Next, clone the source:

git clone https://github.com/zquestz/plank-reloaded.git

Navigate into the source folder you just cloned:
```
cd plank-reloaded
```
Finally, run command to configure, build, and install plank-reloaded:
```
./bootstrap
```
```
make -j2
```
```
sudo make install
```
Here, -j2 option in second make command means to start 2 thread in parallel. You may change the number according how many CPU cores you have.

After successfully built the Plank-Reloaded, you may either run plank command in terminal to start the dock, or add it as startup program to auto-start at login.

Uninstall:

Until you removed the source folder, you may navigate into that folder in terminal and run command below to uninstall:

sudo make uninstall

In App Review App Launcher, Dock

Hide Number Badges from Left Dock in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: May 4, 2024 — Leave a comment

Don’t like the green number badges on the left (or bottom) dock app icons? Ubuntu (since 23.10) now has hidden option to show/hide it.

Ubuntu since 23.10 has introduced some visible changes, such as enhanced tiling window support, remove ‘minimal installation’ and drop some pre-installed applications.

The Ubuntu Dock has been updated to the latest version 84 with more options to control the emblems visibility.

Don’t know if Ubuntu 22.04 will update its Ubuntu Dock extension with the new features, but Ubuntu users of 23.10 and 24.04 can now follow the steps below to toggle display the green number badges.

Option 1: Use Dconf Editor (Graphical Way)

Firstly, search for and install the “Dconf Editor” tool from Ubuntu Software.

Then, launch “Dconf Editor” and navigate to ‘org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock’. Finally, scroll down, find out and turn off the “show-icons-notifications-counter” option.

And, the change applies immediately when you toggle off that option.

Option 2: Use “Extension Manager”

So far in the development release, ‘Ubuntu Dock’ provides a configuration dialog like other extensions.

First, search for and install “Extension Manager” (or Gnome Extensions) from Ubuntu Software.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, launch either “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” app. Click on ‘Settings’ or gear icon for the Ubuntu Dock extension to open the configuration dialog.

Finally, navigate to ‘Launchers’ tab, scroll down and turn off the “Show the number of unread nofitications” option.

Option 3: Run single command in terminal

For those who are familiar with Linux command, this thing can be done simply by running a single command in terminal.

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-icons-notifications-counter false

In Howtos Dock

Ubuntu 22.04 Adds Apparent Options to Hide Mounted Drives / Trash from Dock

Last updated: September 25, 2023

Boring with the external disk partitions, USB drive, as well as Trash icons displayed on the left panel (aka, Ubuntu Dock)? Ubuntu 22.04 now has the options in system settings to toggle display these icons.

It’s not hard to do the tweaks in previous Ubuntu editions. Usually, we just need to run single command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal):

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

Or, install and use the advanced ‘Dconf Editor‘ configuration tool to look for and change the key values.

Hide Mounted Drives & Trash from left panel in Ubuntu 22.04

In the daily build of the next Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, it now includes the options in the ‘Appearance‘ tab of system settings. So, users don’t have to search for the commands or look through the keys to do the trick.

1.) Firstly, open ‘Settings‘ either from start menu or top-right corner system tray menu. When it opens, navigate to ‘Appearance’ tab and click on ‘Configure dock behavior‘ in the right.

2.) In will pop-up a small dialog with toggle icons and check-boxes to show/hide the volumes and trash icon on Ubuntu Dock.

Just change the settings as you wish. The change will take effect immediately.

~~NOTE: Ubuntu 22.04 is not officially released at the moment, things can be changed and even removed in the final freeze.~~

In Howtos Dock

Dash-to-Plank – Plank Dock Integration in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: April 22, 2021

Prefer Plank dock launcher? Dash-to-Plank is the GNOME Shell extension to integrate it in Ubuntu.

Besides Dash-to-Dock and Dash-to-Panel, this is the third ‘Dash-to’ extension I’ve heard about. It’s Gnome Shell integration for Plank, the simplest dock on the planet.

Why Plank?

For me, the only reason to use Plank instead of Ubuntu Dock (Dash-to-Dock) is that there are tons of Plank themes available in the web, so I can change its look and feel at will.

Install Dash-to-Plank:

1.) Firstly, you have to install plank by running command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal):

sudo apt install plank

Though I’m not sure, before installing the extension system restart is required.

2.) Install the chrome-gnome-shell package if you’re first time to install a Gnome Shell extension.

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

3.) Finally go to the extension web page and turn on the toggle icon to install it.

Don’t see the toggle icon? Click the link ‘Click here to install browser extension’ to install browser extension and refresh the web page.

That’s it!

In addition, the extension does not remove the default Ubuntu Dock. To get rid of it, disable ‘Dash’ via another extension.

In Howtos Dock

How to Get Windows 7+ Style Single Bottom Panel in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: September 20, 2018

This quick tutorial is for those who want to remove the top and left panel, instead use Microsoft Windows style a single bottom panel in Ubuntu 18.04 Gnome desktop.

Without installing other desktop environments, e.g., Cinnamon and KDE, this can be done easily via Gnome shell extensions called dash to panel.

Dash to panel combines the top panel and left dock launcher into one single panel. So your Ubuntu deskop will look like:

1. To install the extension, search for and install Dash to Panel extension in Ubuntu Software utility:

Once installed, restart your machine to apply changes.

2. To configure the panel appearance, either use Gnome Tweaks or right-click on application menu and select “Dash to Panel Settings”.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos dash to panel, Dock

Replace Left Panel with Mac OS Style Dock Launcher in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: January 26, 2019

For those who want to change the look and feel of the left panel “Ubuntu Dock” in Ubuntu 18.04, Dash to Dock is a Gnome extension that replaces left panel with Mac OS style Dock application launcher.

Dash to Dock is a popular Gnome extension that Ubuntu Dock (the default left panel) is forked from. With it, you can get Ubuntu 18.04 desktop looks like: