How do I remove trash icon from GNOME desktop?

Question

How do I remove the "Trash" icon from GNOME 3 desktop? I'm running Ubuntu 17.10 with GNOME shell.

score 46 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

46

Up to Ubuntu 18.10

You may use (GNOME) Tweaks (aka GNOME Tweak Tool) to do that. First install it (if it is not installed) by running the following command in Terminal

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

or

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

Launch Tweaks and go to Desktop section. Then toggle off (or uncheck) the Trash (or Rubbish bin or Wastebasket) option under "Icons on Desktop".

Alternatively you may run the following command in Terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop trash-icon-visible false

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Oct 17 '17 at 21:21

pomsky

68,507

1

Just tested it in a VM. Works as advertised. Tested the GUI solution with tweak tools and the command line solution. – Videonauth Oct 17 '17 at 22:20
1

Can also confirm the terminal command works as advertised – Brett Beatty Apr 28 '18 at 07:18
For the CLI-oriented, the command is gnome-tweaks. – Tomislav Nakic-Alfirevic Sep 15 '19 at 19:04
@tomislav They're the same thing. – pomsky Sep 16 '19 at 05:22
@pomsky Yes, just thought if anyone wants to start it from the CLI, that's the name. – Tomislav Nakic-Alfirevic Sep 16 '19 at 17:13
on 19.10 tab Desktop no longer appears ... instead in tweaks hit Extensions -> wrench on Desktop icons and switch off trash – Scott Stensland Oct 30 '19 at 13:10
1

@scott Yes, because the way desktop icons are handled is changed fundamentally (handler changed from Nautilus to a shell extension), and this is the case since Ubuntu 19.04. – pomsky Oct 30 '19 at 13:35

score 13 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 08 '20 at 10:20

13

_{After following Exien's answer on Ubuntu 20.04, the GUI became extremely slow and unresponsive. I had to reinstall Ubuntu even after reverting the value to true which did not fix the problem it generates.}

In Ubuntu 20.04

It is actually easy:

Search for Extensions (preinstalled) in the Activities overview.
Click on the Settings gear icon next to the Desktop Icons toggle
Toggle icons as required

edited Jun 08 '20 at 10:20

pomsky

68,507

answered Jun 06 '20 at 23:23

Brendan Wilding

137

1

It's probably just a red herring; your issues may have appeared coincidentally after running the command, but most likely only the command itself is not the cause. Running the command does (under the hood) exactly what toggling off in the Extensions app does. – pomsky Jun 08 '20 at 10:22

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

6

Ubuntu 19.04 and later

The following terminal command works:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.desktop-icons show-trash false

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Feb 22 '20 at 18:26

Exien

71

Thank you for this. It's annoying that the developers didn't just provide this option in the properties menu of the icon or in a more accessible place in settings – Nav May 02 '21 at 15:23
Does not work in ubuntu 22.04 for me, I get No such schema “org.gnome.shell.extensions.desktop-icons” – aquirdturtle Jan 22 '23 at 21:51

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 27 '21 at 23:28

1

The extensions don't work for ubuntu 21.04 just right click on the desktop and select "settings" you will find your options there

answered Sep 27 '21 at 23:28

Shaurya Yamdagni

41

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 26 '22 at 17:26

0

If the Extensions app doesn't show up in the Activities menu (as it did for me) you can use:

gnome-extensions prefs desktop-icons@csoriano

to open the window shown in Brendan's answer.

You can also hide all icons (including files) with:

gnome-extensions disable desktop-icons@csoriano

edited Apr 26 '22 at 17:26

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Apr 21 '22 at 20:08

Cyrill

101

How do I remove trash icon from GNOME desktop?

5 Answers5

Up to Ubuntu 18.10

In Ubuntu 20.04

Ubuntu 19.04 and later

Linked