Just in case you want to have a clean desktop at all times

Jul 26, 2018 17:17 GMT  ·  By

For those wanting to have a super clean Ubuntu desktop at all times, we are going to teach you guys how to delete the Rubbish Bin or Trash icon from the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or the upcoming Ubuntu 18.10 operating systems.

As you are aware, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) is the first long-term support release of the Ubuntu Linux operating system to ship with the GNOME desktop environment by default. The first Ubuntu release to adopt the GNOME desktop instead of Unity was Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark), which reached end of life on July 17, 2018.

While Ubuntu 17.10 was considered a testbed for Ubuntu's new GNOME-based look and feel, Canonical did their best to resemble the Unity interface used until now with a dock placed on the left side of the screen and panel on top of it. However, the new dock does not yet support interactive icons like the Rubbish Bin/Trash one.

Therefore, Canonical's design theme decided to add the Rubbish Bin/Trash icon to the desktop by default, but they didn't add an option in settings to make it easier for users to remove the Trash icon from the desktop. Many are annoyed by that Trash or Rubbish Bin (depending on your locale) icon, including myself, so here's how to remove it for good.

From this

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop with the Trash icon
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop with the Trash icon

To this

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop without the Trash icon
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop without the Trash icon

Here's how to delete the Trash icon from the Ubuntu desktop

If you like to keep your Ubuntu desktop clean or you simply don't find the Trash/Rubbish Bin icon useful, you can delete it from your desktop for good via the GNOME Tweaks utility. So first you'll have to install GNOME Tweaks from the repositories with either Ubuntu Software, Synaptic, or via the Terminal by running the next command.

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks Once GNOME Tweaks was successfully installed, you can open it from the app drawer by clicking the Show Applications icon on the dock. In GNOME Tweaks, navigate to the Desktop section on the left, and you'll immediately see some switches. There, you'll see a switch for the Trash icon, so turn it off and the icon will be gone forever.

That's it, now you have a clean Ubuntu desktop and no more annoying Trash icon that isn't useful, especially to those of you who have the bad habit of using Ctrl+Shift+Del to delete files bypassing the Rubbish Bin. This tutorial will also be useful for those installing Ubuntu 18.10 (Comic Cuttlefish) this fall.

The Trash icon switch in GNOME Tweaks
The Trash icon switch in GNOME Tweaks
Disabling the Trash icon
Disabling the Trash icon

Photo Gallery (5 Images)

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop without the Trash icon
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop with the Trash iconOpening GNOME Tweaks
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