Unity

How to move global menu back down onto a window

Asked by Bryce Nesbitt

I like Unity. Mostly.

But I really can't live with the Apple Mac/OS X global menus.
Is there a way I can bring the menus back to the window they came from?

Quite simply the top bar menu is too far away from my visual focus, and requires an extra step to activate (ESC, F10 or Hover). Prior to Unity I would glance up at the menu to see where I want to move the mouse next. With the present system I must press ESC, change my visual focus, then travel a long distance. That's three extra steps for each menu activation.

The reduction in clutter is not worth the reduction in utility for me.

Can I change it? I have the compbiz settings manager.

Keywords: Linux, Ubuntu, Unity, Menu, top bar, window, settings, configuration, remove, move, location.
Related: https://answers.launchpad.net/unity/+question/151899

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Doug McMahon (mc3man) said : 		#1

You can (ATM) do this in any number of ways
Remove the appmenu-gtk and appmenu-qt packages to remove totally
You can edit the .desktop to do on an individual basis, either to not use the global menu or to use both

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Bryce Nesbitt (bryce2) said : 		#2

Could you be more specific?
HOW do I override on a .desktop basis?
I am aware of
http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/

Is there any configuration setting for turning this on/off short of ripping out packages?

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Doug McMahon (mc3man) said : 		#3

Sure - will give you a couple of EX.'s - (would be easier somewhere that uses code boxes

For gtk apps - to return the menu to window you need to open the app's .desktop (or copy to ~/.local/share/applications
copying will protect from an update
you need to edit the Exec= line adding this to very front, then a space and whatever the orig. was

env UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0

So using audacious as an example
gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/audacious2.desktop

The orig Exec= line is
Exec=audacious2 %U

The new one
Exec=env UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 audacious2 %U

To use both instead then (just gtk apps

env APPMENU_DISPLAY_BOTH=1
so -
Exec=env APPMENU_DISPLAY_BOTH=1 audacious2 %U

For qt4 apps use this instead - Ex. vlc

env QT_X11_NO_NATIVE_MENUBAR=1
so -
Exec=env QT_X11_NO_NATIVE_MENUBAR=1 vlc %U

This will take care of using the app from apps lens, unity launcher, and the r. click > open with context menu

If using app from the cli is important then I'd do another way that takes care of all uses - if so I'll dig up a post and link - involves a number of commands to create a binary diversion, pretty easy though

If wishing to copy to ~/ instead then again the audacious Ex. (make sure ~/.local/share/applications exists

cp /usr/share/applications/audacious2.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

gedit ~/.local/share/applications/audacious2.desktop

Then like before - a log out/in may be required

(note that for many .desktops (usually found in /usr/share/applications) , the display name is not always the .desktop name. I use nautilus actions to open .desktops in 11.04 - you may find easier to open a gedit or gksudo gedit window and drop the .desktop in to either edit or get the actual name for a cp command

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Alexandre Patenaude (alexandrep) said : 		#4

Do you know if it's possible to disable by default Unity's AppMenu without uninstalling 'appmenu-gtk' and 'appmenu-qt'? (I.e. for the cases I would like to enable AppMenu for some apps only.)

Is it possible to add
env UBUNTU_MENU_PROXY=0
in ~/.profile, then add
env UBUNTU_MENU_PROXY=1
to .desktop files for some apps only?

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask Bryce Nesbitt for more information if necessary.

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