How can I make gnome-shell treat both monitors in the same way?

Question

Gnome-shell seems to like to leave one monitor as "fixed" when you switch workspaces.

Additionally, there is no preview in the Activities view of my secondary monitor.

Also, on the second monitor, where there should be either empty desktop space, or a copy of the panel, I just have a white bar.

How can I get gnome-shell to treat my secondary monitor like the primary one?

Solution 1

Setting workspaces-only-on-primary false (using gsetting, gconftool, GNOME Tweak or whatever – see all other answers) only solves the first problem:

Gnome-shell seems to like to leave one monitor as "fixed" when you switch workspaces.

For the second problem

Additionally, there is no preview in the Activities view of my secondary monitor.

there is a GNOME extension called Multi Monitors Add-On that Just Works™. (See also How do I install and manage GNOME Shell extensions?)

Solution 2

14.04

In later versions of Gnome, you have to open gnome-tweak-tool and, under "Workspaces", change the "Workspaces only on primary display" setting.

Solution 3

I could not find the /desktop/gnome/shell/windows key mentioned by Martin, but the source he's quoting says to run:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.shell.overrides workspaces-only-on-primary false

This fixed it instantly for me. Thanks, gregcor (the source).

Solution 4

Regarding the fixed second monitor, there's an easy way to fix that as I have just found out. If I may quote:

1. Download gconf-editor – this is probably available in your distribution’s package manager.
2. Start gconf-editor – the “Run Command” menu is still available in GNOME 3 by pressing Alt-F2.
3. In the tree on the left, navigate to /desktop/gnome/shell/windows
4. UNCHECK the box next to workspaces_only_on_primary

Source: http://gregcor.com/2011/05/07/fix-dual-monitors-in-gnome-3-aka-my-workspaces-are-broken/

Solution 5

You can do this by installing GNOME Tweaks from Ubuntu Software. After installation, it shows in apps drawer as Tweaks. The package name is actually called gnome-tweak-tool.

The option you are looking for is located in the Workspaces tab, and it is called Workspaces span displays.

View more solutions

Comments

[Alex]

Thanks for that! That solves the problem in terms of switching workspace with the keyboard, but in the activities view the second monitor shows windows from the second monitor of all workspaces. Hopefully they work on multi monitor support in the future.

[volley]

Alas, this didn't work for me in Ubuntu 14.04. (see my follow up question askubuntu.com/questions/558717/… )

[Sebastian Barth]

I use 14.04 with gnome-shell from standard repositories and this does not work for me. The switch does not change anything.

[cam]

Don't have enought reputation to comment fossfreedom answer and Ted Barth comment, so I add a new answer: on 14.04, this trick works, but you need to reboot to apply changes.

[Kalamalka Kid]

there is no "Workspaces only on primary display" menu item in Ubuntu 14.04

[Alessandro Cuttin]

this need to be done again after you upgrade to 16.04 ;)

[Stephen McAteer]

See other answers ... this solution is depreciated.

[FrozenDroid]

I can't find Tweaks. Is there a certain repository I need to have?

[philsf]

No special repository, it is in universe. Application name is GNOME Tweaks in Ubuntu Software. I'll update the answer to reflect this.

[Videonauth]

use sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool. You as well should be able to find it with this name in the Software-Center.

[philsf]

It's already in the answer

[Jonah]

This works for me in Ubuntu 17.10.

[Elvis Dukaj]

On Ubuntu 18.04 it doesn't work

[bgoodr]

Confirmed this is deprecated in 18.04.1 LTS. See askubuntu.com/a/1086531/340383

[bgoodr]

On Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS this answer does seem to work for me. See askubuntu.com/a/1086531/340383

[Dragon warrior]

This only solves the first problem, but not the second one. See askubuntu.com/a/1125322/16985

[Dragon warrior]

@Alex for the Activities problem, see askubuntu.com/a/1125322/16985

[Dragon warrior]

This only solves the first problem, but not the second one. See askubuntu.com/a/1125322/16985

[Dragon warrior]

This only solves the first problem, but not the second one. See askubuntu.com/a/1125322/16985

[Dragon warrior]

what do you mean by no effect? it solves one of the two problems by OP, at least on 18.04.2 LTS

[bgoodr]

"it solves" is ambiguous. Please specify which of the answers you are referring to that solves the problem. And I do not see that the OP has marked any of the answers as the correct answer yet.

[Alex]

This solution provides the final piece of the puzzle. The other answers all address having workspace behaviour on secondary monitors, but not having the preview of both in activities view. Thanks for solving my 7 year old problem. :)

[Dragon warrior]

glad I could help :)

[Dragon warrior]

I was referring to the action (changing the Display Handling setting to Workspaces span displays, mentioned by multiple answers above) that you claim to “NOT have any effect” at all. Contrary to your claim stated in red, it indeed solves the first half of the problem in the question (leave one monitor as "fixed"). for the second half (there is no preview in the Activities view), see askubuntu.com/a/1125322/16985

[bgoodr]

Your criticism is logged against my saying "does NOT have any effect at all" since I didn't clarify what I observed there in text or in pictures. Duly noted. Unfortunately, my system has likely undergone an upgrade from "18.04.1 LTS" by this point in Mar 22 2019, so I would be hard pressed to correct my notes. Do note that my primary goal with this answer was to warn people about what I consider a bug in GNOME, and to indicate what worked for me in "18.04.1 LTS" (that may actually have been recified in subsequent releases).

[bgoodr]

I added Update 2019-03-22 07:03 to warn others about the information being "stale".

[Dragon warrior]

Oh, I have not noticed the version difference. That makes sense. Thanks for the edit.

[Tomas Gonzalez]

Ubuntu 18. Works great.