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Due to a bug/glitch, I can't use Gnome Flashback for a while. I am forced to use the new Gnome 3 layout.

There are a few apps (Slack, Skype, Steam, KTorrent, Krusader, ...) that used to be minimized to a "tray icon" in the "task bar" or "notification area" or "indicator applet" or whatever, I am not quite sure about what the names are. It's the little icon somewhere in some bar which you can click to restore the app or show a menu.

In Gnome 3.26 (and later versions), there is no such area by default, and the apps, once minimized, disappear from GUI entirely. I can't see them anywhere, yet their process is running.

I am not going to criticize that decision (it's obviously a bad one :) ) and will skip to the questions:

  1. How am I supposed to open such app?

  2. How can I configure Gnome 3 to have that running apps icons area?

  3. I have seen these (K)StatusNotifierItem/AppInicator Support and TopIcon Plus. Are these official? Or will it stop working in the next release as these workarounds tend to?

pomsky
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Ondra Žižka
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  • Re: (3) No, they're not official, but if unless you're always updating to the latest via a PPA, they're reasonably well-maintained and work with new releases. – muru Mar 19 '18 at 01:32
  • The developer of "TopIcons Plus" has kinda killed the project: https://github.com/phocean/TopIcons-plus/issues/91 – pomsky Mar 19 '18 at 08:25

1 Answers1

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Install (GNOME) Tweaks by running 

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

Open Tweaks, under "extensions", there is "Ubuntu appindicators". Enable it and you should get that icons area.

If "Ubuntu appindicators" is not installed, install it first by running 

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-appindicator
Ondra Žižka
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  • Just a trivia "Ubuntu appindicators" is a fork of "(K)StatusNotifierItem/AppInicator Support". – pomsky Mar 19 '18 at 08:17
  • Yep, thanks for the note. I figured out because when both are installed, none of them work. I had to uninstall the (K)... one. – Ondra Žižka Mar 19 '18 at 17:20