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Last updated December 4, 2017 By Abhishek Prakash — 23 Comments
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W h i l e d i s c u s s i n g h o w t o i n s t a l l t h e m e s i n U b u n t u 1 7 . 1 0, I
brie y mentioned GNOME Shell Extension. It was used to enable
user themes. Today, we’ll have a detailed look at GNOME Shell
Let's Help Each Other
Extensions in Ubuntu 17.10.

I may use the term GNOME Extensions instead of GNOME Shell
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Grammatical or Send us a Tip or
Extensions but both have the same meaning here. Technical Errors News

What are GNOME Shell Extensions? How to install GNOME Shell

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Extensions? I’ll explain all these questions, one by one. Newletter Ubuntu

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What is a GNOME Shell Extension?

A GNOME Shell Extension is basically a tiny piece of code that
enhances the capability of GNOME desktop.

Think of it as an add-on in your browser. For example, you can

install an add-on in your browser to disable ads. This add-on is
developed by a third-party developer. Though your web browser
doesn’t provide it by default, installing this add-on enhances the
capability of your web browser.

Similarly, GNOME Shell Extensions are like those third-party add-

ons and plugins that you can install on top of GNOME. These
extensions are created to perform speci c tasks such as display
weather condition, internet speed etc. Mostly, you can access
them in the top panel.

GNOME Shell Extension to display weather information

There are also GNOME Extensions that are not visible on the top
panel. But they still tweak GNOME’s behavior. For example,
middle mouse button can be used to close an application with
one such extension.

Installing GNOME Shell Extensions

Now that you know what are GNOME Shell Extensions, let’s see
how to install them. There are three ways you can use GNOME
Extensions:

Use a minimal set of extensions from Ubuntu (or your Linux

distribution)
Find and install extensions in your web browser
Download and manually install extensions

Before you learn how to use GNOME Shell Extensions, you should
install GNOME Tweak Tool. You can nd it in the Software Center.
Alternatively, you can use this command:

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

At times, you would also need to know the version of GNOME

Shell you are using. This helps in determining whether an
extension is compatible with your system or not. You can use the
command below to nd it:

gnome-shell --version

1. Use gnome-shell-extensions package [easiest and safest

way]
Ubuntu (and several other Linux distributions such as Fedora)
provide a package with a minimal set of GNOME extensions. You
don’t have to worry about the compatibility here as it is tested by
your Linux distribution.

If you want a no-brainer, just get this package and you’ll have 8-10
GNOME extensions installed.

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extensions

You’ll have to reboot your system (or maybe just restart GNOME
Shell, I don’t remember it at this point). After that, start GNOME
Tweaks and you’ll nd a few extensions installed. You can just
toggle the button to start using an installed extension.

GNOME Shell Extensions in GNOME Tweaks tool

2. Install GNOME Shell extensions from a web browser

GNOME project has an entire website dedicated to extensions.
That’s not it. You can nd, install, and manage your extensions on
this website itself. No need even for GNOME Tweaks tool.

GNOME Shell Extensions Website

But in order to install extensions a web browser, you need two
things: a browser add-on and a native host connector in your
system.

Step 1: Install browser add-on

When you visit the GNOME Shell Extensions website, you’ll see a
message like this:

“To control GNOME Shell extensions using this site you

must install GNOME Shell integration that consists of two
parts: browser extension and native host messaging
application.”

You can simply click on the suggested add-on link by your web
browser. You can install them from the link below as well:

For Google Chrome, Chromium, and Vivaldi: Chrome web

store.
For Firefox: Mozilla Addons.
For Opera: Opera Addons

Step 2: Install native connector

Just installing browser add-on won’t help you. You’ll still see an
error like:

“Although GNOME Shell integration extension is running,

native host connector is not detected. Refer
documentation for instructions about installing
connector”

This is because you haven’t installed the host connector yet. To do

that, use this command:
 sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Don’t worry about the ‘chrome’ pre x in the package name. It has
nothing to do with Chrome. You don’t have to install a separate
package for Firefox or Opera here.

Step 3: Installing GNOME Shell Extensions in web browser

Once you have completed these two requirements, you are all set
to roll. Now when you go to GNOME Shell Extension, you won’t
see any error message.

It’s a good idea to sort the extensions for current version of GNOME

A good thing to do would be to sort the extensions by your

GNOME Shell version. It is not mandatory though. What happens
here is that a developer creates an extension for the present
GNOME version. In one year, there will be two more GNOME
releases. But the developer didn’t have time to test or update
his/her extension.

As a result, you wouldn’t know if that extension is compatible with

your system or not. It’s possible that the extension works ne
even in the newer GNOME Shell version despite that the extension
is years old. It is also possible that the extension doesn’t work in
the newer GNOME Shell.

You can search for an extension as well. Let’s say you want to
install a weather extension. Just search for it and go for one of the
search results.

When you visit the extension page, you’ll see a toggle button.
 Toggle the button to enable or disable GNOME Shell Extensions

Click on it and you’ll be prompted if you want to install this

extension:

Obviously, go for Install here. Once it’s installed, you’ll see that
the toggle button is now on and there is a setting option available
next to it. You can con gure the extension using the setting
option. You can also disable the extension from here.

Extensions can be con gured via browser

You can also con gure the settings of an extension that you
installed via the web browser in GNOME Tweaks tool:
 Installed extensions will always be accessible in Tweaks

You can see all your installed extensions on the website under
installed extensions section. You can also delete the extensions
that you installed via web browser here

Manage your installed GNOME Shell Extensions

One major advantage of using the GNOME Extensions website is

that you can see if there is an update available for an extension.
You won’t get it in GNOME Tweaks or system update.

3. Install GNOME Shell Extensions manually

It’s not that you have to be always online to install GNOME Shell
extensions. You can download the les and install it later, without
needing internet.

Go to GNOME Extensions website and download the extension

with the latest version.
 Download GNOME Shell Extension

Extract the downloaded le. Copy the folder

to ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions directory. Go to your
Home directory and press Crl+H to show hidden folders. Locate
.local folder here and from there, you can nd your path till
extensions directory.

Once you have the les copied in the correct directory, go inside
it and open metadata.json le. Look for the value of uuid.

Make sure that the name of the extension’s folder is same as the
value of uuid in the metadata.json le. If not, rename the
directory to the value of this uuid.

Name of extension folder should be the same as uuid

Almost there! Now restart GNOME Shell. Press Alt+F2 and enter r
to restart GNOME Shell.
 Restart GNOME Shell

Restart GNOME Tweaks tool as well. You should see the manually
installed GNOME extension in the Tweak tool now. You can
con gure or enable the newly installed extension here.

And that’s all you need to know about installing GNOME Shell
Extensions.

Remove GNOME Shell Extensions

It is totally understandable that you might want to remove an
installed GNOME Shell Extension.

If you installed it via a web browser, you can go to the installed

extensions section on GNOME website and remove it from there
(as shown in an earlier picture).

If you installed it manually, you can remove it by deleting the

extension les from ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions
directory.

Bonus Tip: Get noti ed of GNOME Shell Extensions

updates
By now you have realized that there is no way to know if an
update is available for a GNOME Shell extension except for
visiting the GNOME extension website.

Luckily for you, there is a GNOME Shell Extension that noti es you
if there is an update available for an installed extension. You can
get it from the link below:

Extension Update Noti er

How do you manage GNOME Shell Extensions?

I nd it rather weird that you cannot update the extensions via
the system updates. It’s as if GNOME Shell extensions are not
even part of the system.

If you are looking for some recommendation, read this article

about best GNOME extensions. A t t h e s a m e t i m e , s h a r e y o u r
experience with GNOME Shell extensions. Do you often use them?
If yes, which ones are your favorite?

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Filed Under: How To
Tagged With: Gnome, GNOME Shell Extensions, Guide, Ubuntu 17.10

About Abhishek Prakash

I am a professional software developer, and founder of
It's FOSS. I am an avid Linux lover and Open Source
enthusiast. I use Ubuntu and believe in sharing
knowledge. Apart from Linux, I love classic detective mysteries. I'm a
huge fan of Agatha Christie's work.

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