I currently have Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 with GNOME 3.18 installed, however even though I like mostly everything about GNOME 3, I would like to remove the Activities Overview button, and get the Application Menu pull-down menu there instead of it.
How can this be achieved?
In order to achieve this the easiest way you will need to install two extensions by following these instructions.
These are the extensions: Applications Menu (which will add back the Applications Menu - this extension is pre-installed so you will only need to activate it, not install it), and Activities Configurator (you will need this to easily remove the Activities Overview button).
Once you have both installed, have opened the gnome-tweak-tool, and are in the settings panel for the Activities Configurator (instructions for all these steps are provided in the first link), click the slider which is labelled Remove Activities Button in order to set it to On rather than its current state Off:
This will remove the Activities Overview button and all which will be left in its place will be the Applications Menu labelled Applications which will have been created when you installed the Applications Menu extension.
And here is the final result!
You will still be able to view the Activities Overview if you wish by click on the Applications Menu and then on Activities Overview at the bottom or by pressing SUPER. And you can of course always reverse these settings as well as disable or completely remove these extensions in the gnome-tweak-tool's Extensions section.
Alternatively, you can use Gnome Classic instead of Gnome. The developers have removed the Activities from it (to my dismay).
For Ubuntu you can look here: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/06/enable-gnome-classic-mode-ubuntu
