Do you want to reset the Ubuntu Dock to its default settings, with the same app shortcuts placed on it as if you had just installed Ubuntu?

If so, you can get back to a ‘fresh install feeling’ using a terminal command.

There are numerous ways to customise the Ubuntu Dock, including adding, removing, and reordering app shortcuts; changing the size of icons; moving the Ubuntu Dock to a different position on the screen; hiding mounted drives…

And, if you’ve ever read one of my guides on things to do after installing Ubuntu, you may have run a command enable minimise on click — maybe even tussled with another “hidden” features not natively exposed within the Ubuntu UI.

But it’s possible to go too far.

Perhaps the dock isn’t behaving the way it used to, looks weird, or is otherwise past a point of no return — whatever the reason, if you want reset the Ubuntu Dock, here’s how.

Resetting Ubuntu Dock to Default Settings

Ubuntu dock before and after
Undo the experiments to go back to basics

To revert to “out of the box” settings on all supported versions of Ubuntu, do as follows.

  1. Open the Terminal app on Ubuntu
  2. Type or copy & paste the following command then press enter:
dconf reset -f /org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock/

As soon as you hit the enter key (or return, I forget which country calls it what) the dock instantly resets, literally blinking for a split second as it moves to its original location, icon pack, focus behaviour, and everything else.

You’re not finished yet, though.

The command above will reset the Ubuntu dock settings to their initial/original values but it won’t reset the app shortcuts pinned to it.

If you want to restore the default set of pinned dock shortcuts:

  1. Open the Terminal app on Ubuntu
  2. Type or copy & paste the following command then hit enter:
dconf reset -f /org/gnome/shell/extensions/favorite-apps

Obviously, if you uninstall any of app the dock is hardcoded to contain (e.g., LibreOffice, the Firefox snap package, etc) those won’t magically reappear (or, for your peace of mind, get reinstalled).

Wrap Up

And that’s it; two simple commands to reset Ubuntu Dock settings to their original values. Perfect for those times when you want to undo a change (but don’t know how), or wish to start over with a clean slate.

ubuntu dock