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On my new 19.04 installation, desktop icons align to a grid. How do I disable them aligning to a grid?

pomsky
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Christine
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  • I understand that the GNOME developers are not in favor of having icons on the desktop, let alone allowing users to choose how they're aligned. The Ubuntu version allows "some" icon-on-desktop functionality. For how long that will be is anyone's guess. My point is that, if this feature is important to you, you may want to look at other options • such as another file manager to handle the desktop (and icons on it) • or to search for a suitable extension compatible with your distro version • or to jump ship to another desktop environment which allows you such flexibility. – DK Bose Sep 18 '19 at 11:38

1 Answers1

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For now, there is no option to disable align icons on a grid in Ubuntu 19.04.

Some background: previously, desktop icons were handled by the file manager, nautilus, currently known as "Files". Gnome developers removed the functionality from the file manager for technical reasons, but also because icons on the desktop do not fit in their vision. Currently, this functionality is supported by a Gnome Shell extension "Desktop icons". This is a very new extension. An option to not align the icons would need to be implemented.

If this feature is essential to you, you may want to consider switching to an alternative desktop environment, that fully supports the feature. Alternatively, it is possible to replace the default manager by for example nemo. Then, that file manager can be set to handle icons on the desktop.

vanadium
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