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When I click the 'Show Applications' (9 dots) icon in Ubuntu, it blanks my 2 4k monitors and goes full screen showing the list of application icons.

How can I stop this full screen behavior?
It is annoying to have it take over 2 4k monitors to show a couple dozen icons.

pomsky
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user2016641
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    Is this a) Ubuntu 18.04 with the default GNOME3 desktop b) Ubuntu 16.04 with the Unity Desktop? c) Some other version of Ubuntu? Please click [edit] and specify so we know what you are using. Please do not use Add Comment. – K7AAY Feb 03 '20 at 21:56

2 Answers2

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What you described is expected in GNOME 3, that's how it's supposed to work. You're probably looking for a more traditional application menu akin to other desktop environments and other operating systems.

You can get an application menu using various GNOME Shell extensions (refer to this know more about extensions: How do I install and manage GNOME Shell extensions?), for example:

  1. Application Menu

    Add a category-based menu for applications.
    enter image description here

  2. Frippery Applications Menu

    Replace Activities button with an Applications menu
    enter image description here

  3. Gno-Menu

    Gno-Menu is a traditional styled full featured Gnome-Shell apps menu, that aims to offer all the essentials in a simple uncluttered intuitive interface.
    enter image description here

    Note that Gno-Menu is a fancier alternative, it provides many more customisations, but it might have some stability issues.

Note: You can also remove the 'Show Applications' button altogether by running the following command in Terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-show-apps-button false
pomsky
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Install the GNOME Tweaks app if not already installed.

Go to "Workspaces" and set "Display handling" to turn off "Workspaces span displays".

Many thanks to ehannes.

K7AAY
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