Here’s how you can install and use GNOME Extensions in Ubuntu.
GNOME Shell Extensions are the code written by third parties for extending the GNOME desktop user experiences. The extensions are similar to the Firefox, Chrome addons for those who are not familiar with them.
There is a huge library of shell extensions are available in GNOME extension website extensions.gnome.org which you can easily turn on and use. You can extend your desktop experience to any level using the GNOME extensions in Ubuntu.
However, before you start downloading extensions, you need to follow the below steps to enable them in your system.
GNOME Extensions in Ubuntu – Installation and Usage
Step 1
You have to install an add-on based on your preferred browser. Install them using the below links:
Step 2
After installing and enabling above addons, open terminal and run below commands in Ubuntu:
sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell
For Fedora you can use the below command:
sudo dnf install chrome-gnome-shell
Step 3
Go to extensions.gnome.org via your choice of browser (in step 1) and search for any extension. On the extension page’s top right section click on the “OFF” button to turn it on.
In the confirmation dialog, click Install
Wait for the installation to finish and you are ready to go. You can see the extension is running and working as per its functionality.
Step 4
For further customization options open the GNOME Tweak Tool and you can configure the options of all installed extensions.
If you do not have GNOME Tweak installed, you can install using this guide.
GNOME 40 users
If you are a GNOME 40 desktop user, then the above-mentioned Tweak Tool won’t work for managing extensions. So you have to install the “Extensions” Flatpak app from the Software.
Manual Installation of Extensions for Ubuntu 21.10 and above
From Ubuntu 21.10 release, Firefox comes as Snap package. And this prevents the chrome-gnome-shell connecting to the desktop. Hence, above method will not work. You can follow the manual installation of GNOME Extensions here.
I hope this guide helps you to give you an understanding on how to install and use GNOME extensions in Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.