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I am trying to configure multiple monitors on Ubuntu so that each monitor has its own taskbar, with each monitor's taskbar containing only icons for applications that are active on the monitor.

For example, I have a dual monitor setup and on monitor A I have two applications being displayed (or minimized), Firefox and xterm, and on monitor B I have three applications, Firefox, PyCharm, and Slack. Within the taskbar for monitor A I want to see icons for only that monitor's applications (Firefox and xterm) and within the taskbar for monitor B I want to see icons for only that monitor's applications (Firefox, PyCharm, and Slack). There should not be a single icon for Firefox including the instances for both Firefox windows from both monitors, but instead a Firefox icon within each monitor's taskbar corresponding to the Firefox window which is open (or minimized) on that monitor.

In case it helps, the taskbar behavior I'm after is configured in Windows 10 as shown here:

taskbar

How can I get similar behavior for multiple monitors on Ubuntu desktop?

I am using vanilla Ubuntu 18.04.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, I appreciate your help!

pomsky
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James Adams
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  • Thanks for pointing out that this was asked and answered already, sorry I didn't find that before posting this question (I did look). After I followed that answer's prescription I had no change in the behavior of my desktop. I'm not sure if maybe there's a conflicting extension etc.in my setup, but nevertheless still no joy. – James Adams Mar 11 '19 at 12:37
  • I am now having good luck with the extension "Dash to Panel" (https://github.com/jderose9/dash-to-panel), it is allowing an isolation of monitors setting which seems to be doing the trick. – James Adams Mar 15 '19 at 00:46
  • I found the exact option in Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTSDash to Panel -> Position -> Display panels on all monitors -> <Gear-Icon> -> Isolate Monitors – Marty_in_a_Box Jul 31 '21 at 01:11
  • try this - gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock isolate-monitors true – Dinesh Jun 20 '22 at 02:31

1 Answers1

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On Xubuntu, so using the xfce desktop, and therefore with xfce4-panel, you can have as many independent taskbars as you wish. One of the items you can add to the taskbar, is the "Window Buttons". And one of the configurations of Window Buttons, is "Show windows from all monitors". It does precisely what you want.

Check image for details: https://i.stack.imgur.com/oYqqc.png

Podesta
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  • This is interesting, however, I don't use Xubuntu. Is there a way to install and use the xfce desktop in order to try this out, or am I forced to replace my Linux installation with Xubuntu? I guess I should follow the steps outlined here and see how it goes: https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/getting-started – James Adams Mar 11 '19 at 12:42
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    Yeah, Xubuntu, and all other official flavors of Ubuntu, are essentially Ubuntu with a few different packages and default configurations. As you pointed out, you can install the whole thing with sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop , but if you, for some reason, like gnome design choices, you might not need it all. Simply sudo apt install xfce4-panel might be enough. I'm not sure if it will include the necessary panel plugins, but it is worth an initial shot. If you are after the traditional Aero aesthetics of Windows7, you'll also want to take a look at including dockbarx (PPA and on github). – Podesta Mar 12 '19 at 14:25