How GNOME drives me Crazy on Ubuntu

If you’re using Ubuntu with the default GNOME desktop, you’ve probably experienced this:

You click a pinned app in the dock (for example Firefox), and instead of switching to your already open window… GNOME shows you thumbnails of all open windows.

This makes me crazy. I need additional click to switch the app.

I don’t want previews.
I just want it to switch to the next window.

Luckily, Ubuntu makes this easy to fix.

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Why This Happens

Ubuntu uses a modified GNOME dock called Ubuntu Dock, which is based on Dash to Dock.

By default, clicking a pinned app:

• Shows window previews if multiple windows are open.

But we can change that behavior.

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The Fix: Make Click Cycle Through Windows

Step 1 – Open Dock Settings

Run this command in Terminal:

gnome-extensions prefs [e-mail]

Step 2 – Change Click Behavior

1. Go to the Behavior tab.
2. Find Click action
3. Change it to:

Cycle through windows

That’s it.