How to Change the Dock Position and Move it to the Bottom in Ubuntu

Do not like the launcher placed in the left sidebar? You can totally move the position of the dock in Ubuntu. Here's how to do that.
Warp Terminal

Ubuntu’s default GNOME desktop comes with a sidebar launcher (or dock). This launcher’s default position is on the left side. Most people leave it as it is, but a few like to change the dock position to the bottom.

Yes! You can change the Ubuntu launcher settings and change the dock position to the bottom or even to the right side.

Change Launcher Position Ubuntu
Changing Launcher Position in Ubuntu

Let me show you how to do it.

Move the launcher in Ubuntu

Press the Windows button and bring up the activity area. Type ‘settings’ and click on the Settings application.

settings application ubuntu
Go to Settings application in Ubuntu

To change the dock position, go to Settings->Appearance. You should see some options under Dock section. You need to change the “Position on screen” settings here.

As you can see, you can change the launcher position to the left, bottom or right. The changes take place immediately. No need to log out or restart the system.

Change Dock Position in Ubuntu
Go to Settings->Appearance->Dock

That was easy, right? It is one of the simplest ways to customize the dock in Ubuntu.

Recommended Read:

Bonus Tip: Position of dock on a multiple monitor setup

If you have a multi-monitor setup, you can choose whether to display the dock on all screens or only one of the screens.

Ubuntu Dock Settings Multimonitor
Ubuntu Dock settings for Multi-monitor setup

Want more?

There are a lot more ways to customize the Ubuntu Dock.

The Definitive Guide to Using and Customizing the Dock in Ubuntu
When you log into Ubuntu, you’ll see the dock on the left side with some application icons on it. This dock (also known as launcher or sometimes as panel) allows you to quickly launch your frequently used programs. I rely heavily on the dock and I am going to

And if you want something totally different, disable the Ubuntu dock and opt for other available docks.

7 Docks to Customize Your Linux Desktop
A dock has been an important part of the Linux desktop experience for decades. It provides a handy way of quickly accessing your favorite, frequently used applications. Unfortunately, the popular desktop environment GNOME doesn’t provide a dock. Fret not. You can always install a Docking applicati…

You can also check out other Ubuntu customization tips.

Customize Ubuntu 18.04 GNOME With These Simple Tips
Brief: Some basic and some interesting GNOME customization tips to get more out of your Ubuntu 18.04 desktop. When I last wrote about things to do after installing Ubuntu 18.04, I didn’t focus a lot on customizing GNOME. It’s because tweaking GNOME is a vast topic

I hope this post helped you to change the launcher position in Ubuntu. Do you like it on the bottom or on the left or maybe on the right side?

About the author
Abhishek Prakash

Abhishek Prakash

Created It's FOSS 11 years ago to share my Linux adventures. Have a Master's degree in Engineering and years of IT industry experience. Huge fan of Agatha Christie detective mysteries 🕵️‍♂️

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