A new GNOME Shell extension rethinks the app grid (aka the app picker, app drawer, launcher screen – what do you call it?) by making it scroll vertically instead of horizontally.
Y’know, the way it did before GNOME 40 changed it.
GNOME 40’s switch to horizontal app grid scrolling in 2021 irked a few of its mice-favouring aficionados. Their main gripe? A vertical mouse scroll wheel to move horizontally feels off. The app grid does have clickable buttons (and supports swipe gestures and keyboard arrow keys too).
But GNOME Shell is malleable; the way it is out of the box isn’t the way it has to be. This is why we’ve seen a number of extensions to redress, revert or rejig changes, including bringing back vertical spatial elements, over the years.
The latest such as extension is Vertical App Grid, which does what it says: move up/down between different pages of app shortcuts (assuming you’ve enough apps installed, or have rearranged the ones you do have across separate pages) rather than left/right
You can change size of app icons and the spacing between them from the extension’s Preferences dialog.
Of course, this is not a “you MUST install this extension” extension. For most, it’s a spatial change that will jar with other parts of the GNOME Shell experience, like virtual desktops/workspaces, and what you are not accustomed to.
But if you run a portrait monitor, or a multi-monitor setup which stacks vertically, or you prefer vertical scrolling as a concept, then this extension will appeal.
The developer of Vertical App Grid says the “the implementation is very basic”, and that drag-and-drop reordering and app folders are “currently not supported”. This means you will should organise shortcuts the way you want, before you enable this extension.
If you fancy giving it a go, you can — provided that you run Ubuntu 25.10 or another Linux distribution running GNOME 49 — even if it’s just as a sometimes-tweak than an always-on one.