The Cluttered Grid
In modern Ubuntu (which uses the GNOME desktop environment), clicking the “Show Applications” button in the dock brings up the App Grid—a full-screen overlay displaying all your installed software. To keep this tidy, users often group related apps into folders (e.g., a “Games” folder or an “Office” folder). However, a frustrating behavior occurs when you have very few standalone apps and only one or two folders. When you open the App Grid, GNOME will sometimes automatically expand the first folder it sees, splashing its contents across the screen instead of showing you the neat, top-level folder overview you were expecting.
Keeping Folders Closed
To maintain a clean overview and stop Ubuntu from automatically expanding application folders when you open the App Grid, you must rely on a GNOME Shell extension, as this is a hardcoded behavioral quirk in the default shell.
First, ensure you have the Extension Manager installed. Open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type: sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager. Once installed, launch the Extension Manager application. Click on the Browse tab at the top of the window. In the search bar, type Alphabetical App Grid or App Grid Tweaks. Install one of these layout-management extensions (Alphabetical App Grid is highly reliable). Once installed, switch back to the Installed tab, enable the extension, and click its gear icon to access its settings. Look for the specific toggle labelled Disable folder auto-expand or ensure the grid is set to strict alphabetical sorting, which naturally overrides the default “smart” expanding behavior. Your folders will now remain neatly closed until you explicitly click them.