How To Move Unity Launcher To The Bottom In Ubuntu 16.04

Until Ubuntu 15.10, it was impossible to change the position of Unity Launcher. Not anymore.

This is a feature that has been long requested by Ubuntu users who preferred to use Unity, including me. Ever since Unity was first introduced in Ubuntu 11.04, the launcher position was fixed to the left side of the screen.

No matter if the vertical left Unity launcher did not fit in your desktop customization plan, the best you could do was to auto-hide it.

Well, things have changed slightly in the upcoming version of Ubuntu. For the first time in five years, you could actually change the position of Unity Launcher. Moving Unity Launcher to bottom is indeed one of the most talked about Ubuntu 16.04 features.

Don’t get too excited. You are not free to do a full customization, at least, not yet. For now, you can move the Unity launcher from the left to the bottom. You can still not move it to the right or to the top.

It’s a welcome change nonetheless. Don’t you think the same?

Curious how to change the position of Unity Launcher? Let me show you the trick.

Change Unity Launcher position in Ubuntu 16.04

Last week I upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04 beta and so I am able to move the Unity Launcher to the bottom position. If you are using an older version, this trick won’t work at the time of writing this article.

I don’t know if Ubuntu should allow the same change in older version (I think it will be coming in an Unity update) or if it will include it in System Settings to change it easily and in the proper way. It could land in System Settings but that lies in the future.

At present, you can change Unity Launcher position in following two ways:

Method 1: Command line way

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use the following commands accordingly:

Move the Unity Launcher to bottom:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Bottom

Move the Unity Launcher to left:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Left

Method 2: GUI way (using Unity Tweak Tool)

Good news is that customization tool Unity Tweak Tool has made it easier to change the position of Unity Launcher in Ubuntu 16.04.

If you don’t have it installed already, use the commands below to install Unity Tweak Tool:

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

Once installed, open Unity Tweak Tool and click on Launcher:

In here, you can see the option to change Position here under the Appearance section.

Method 3: GUI way (using dconf editor)

Alternatively, to do it the graphical way, we need to install dconf Editor. Use the command below to install it:

sudo apt-get install dconf-editor

Once installed, search for dconf Editor in Unity Dash.

In the left sidebar, go to com > canonical > unity > launcher. At this position, in the right side pane, click on launcher-position and change its value between ‘left’ and ‘bottom’.

The change takes into effect immediately. No need for a restart or even closing the dconf editor.

You like it on the left or on the bottom?

I hope this post helped you to change Unity Launcher position in Ubuntu 16.04. You should also check other things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04.

What do you think of this new feature in Ubuntu 16.04? Do you like it on the bottom or on the left?