How to Hide Desktop Icons on Ubuntu 20.04

This guide explains how to hide Desktop Icons on Ubuntu 20.04, with clear steps, practical tips, and important checks before you begin.

Applications Extensions

The latest versions of Ubuntu include 'Extensions' by default, which allow you to modify and extend the way your desktop works. You can find it among your existing applications.

If it is not installed for some reason, open Terminal and type:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-prefs

Once the app is installed, find and run it.

Hide desktop icons

The ability to hide all desktop icons is built into the Extensions app, so you can simply click the 'Desktop Icons' toggle switch to show or hide them.

However, in most cases you'll also need a second click - Extensions won't be applied to the desktop, if you don't have Extensions enabled yourself.

That is done from the convert button at the top of the window next to the 'Extensions' heading.

If you don't want to hide all your desktop icons, but leave the Home and Trash folder icons, turn on support for icons.

Then, click the gear button next to the toggle switch, resulting in a new window with some additional options.

From this window, you can use the pull-down menu at the top to determine the size of your desktop icons, and enable or disable the option to display Home and Trash folder icons via two similar switches. application.

By hiding both the top, side panel and desktop icons, you can have an extremely clean, Zen-like display.

The only visible elements will be the background image and the window. If you're a fan of neatness or minimalism, you'll probably love the results after the tuning.