Move Icons From Message Tray To The Top GNOME Shell Panel (Top Bar) Using IconManager Extension

IconManager is a new GNOME Shell extension that lets you tweak the icons on the top GNOME Shell panel (Top Bar) through Dconf. Using it, you can:

• remove any of the existing icons (a11y (accessibility icon), display, keyboard, volume, bluetooth, network, battery)
• move Message Tray icons (the icons displayed in the bar on the bottom) to the Top Bar.

If you're not familiar with the GNOME Shell terminology, visit this page.

Here's an example:

In the above screenshot I've removed the accessibility icon and added Tomboy and Parcellite to the Top Bar.

Installation

Install "git-core" and then run the following commands in a terminal:

cd
git clone https://github.com/MrTheodor/gnome-shell-ext-icon-manager.git
cp -r gnome-shell-ext-icon-manager/icon-manager@krajniak.info/ ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/
sudo cp gnome-shell-ext-icon-manager/org.gnome.shell.extensions.icon-manager.gschema.xml /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/
sudo glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas
rm -rf gnome-shell-ext-icon-manager/ #clean up

Then reload GNOME Shell (press ALT + F2 and enter: "r").

Usage

1. To use this extension, you need dconf-editor. In Ubuntu, install "dconf-tools" while in Fedora, install "dconf-editor".

2. To run it, press ALT + F2 and enter: "dconf-editor" and navigate to org > gnome > shell > extensions > icon-manager - here you can add the icons you want to remove from the Top Bar or move from the Message Tray to the Top Bar.

The system icons you add to the "top-bar" value (a11y (accessibility icon), display, keyboard, volume, bluetooth, network, battery) will be removed while the Message Tray icons you add (tomboy, parcellite, etc.) will be moved from the Message Tray to the Top Bar. Here's how the "top-bar" value must look like (example):

['a11y', 'tomboy', 'parcellite']

Once you modify the "top-bar" value in dconf-editor, reload GNOME Shell (press ALT + F2 and enter: "r").


And speaking of icons, here are 3 extensions that will add a new icon next to the activities button:

• gnome-shell-extension-firefox-profiles - adds an icon that starts the Firefox profile manager.
• gnome-shell-extension-screen-off - adds an icon that lets you turn off the monitor
• gnome-shell-extension-force-quit - when clicked, you can select a window to "kill".

While you may not need some of the above icon extensions, you can use them as an example to create your own icon on the top GNOME Shell panel.

Thanks to rAX for the tips as usual!