How to get indicators back in top panel on GNOME 3?

Question

I have recently installed Ubuntu Gnome with Gnome 3 running on it. I have installed various programs on it which in Unity would have a little icon which would go on the right on the Unity panel, such as Skype, Steam, and Shutter. However in Gnome when launching these applications I see no such icons appearing anywhere.

• So do they appear somewhere?
• Can I make them appear somewhere (such as where they would appear in Unity) if not?

Solution

You can use the AppIndicator support extension for gnome.

Open a browser and go to the Gnome Extensions page.

Click the “Off” button to “On” to install the extension in Gnome Shell.

Once activated, you should see the appindicator icons in your system tray.

Configuring the Appindicator support If you have not installed Gnome Tweak Tool, install it with the command:

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Open up Gnome Tweak Tool and go to the “Gnome Shell Extension”. Click the Tool icon beside the extension.

In the Options section, you can configure the default position of the appindicator, whether they will appear in the top panel, message tray or hide completely. You can also change the position for individual appindicator.

_{All rights goes to the owner.}

There is also a bug report here requesting to have it installed by default: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1477216

Comments

[Tim Haegele]

Why does Gnome not have AppIndicator enabled support by default?