The Click-Action Confusion
By default in Ubuntu Linux (which uses the GNOME desktop environment), interacting with the application icons on your dock behaves slightly differently than Windows or macOS. If you have an application open and you click its icon on the dock, Ubuntu usually just brings the window to the focus. However, some users heavily rely on a “click-to-minimize” workflow: clicking the icon of an already-focused window should minimize it, and clicking it again should restore it. Conversely, if you have somehow enabled this behavior and find your windows unexpectedly vanishing when you click the dock to focus them, the inconsistency can be incredibly frustrating.
How to Control Dock Click Behavior via Terminal
GNOME does not expose the “click action” setting in the standard Ubuntu Settings interface. To change how the dock handles clicks on active windows, you must use the `gsettings` command-line tool to modify the underlying desktop schema.
1. Open the Terminal application (you can press Ctrl + Alt + T).
2. To DISABLE the automatic minimize behavior (so clicking an active icon does nothing or simply ensures focus), type the following command exactly and press Enter:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock click-action 'focus'
3. Alternatively, to ENABLE the Windows-style “click-to-minimize” behavior, type this command and press Enter:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock click-action 'minimize'
4. If you want the icon click to cycle through multiple open windows of the same application (useful if you have many terminal windows open), use this command:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock click-action 'cycle-windows'
The changes take effect immediately; there is no need to reboot or log out. Simply click an active application icon on your dock to test the new behavior.
Using Dconf Editor for a GUI Approach
If you prefer not to use the terminal, you can install a graphical configuration tool.
Open the Terminal and run sudo apt install dconf-editor. Once installed, open dconf Editor from your application menu. Read the warning prompt and accept it. Navigate through the folder tree to org > gnome > shell > extensions > dash-to-dock. Scroll down to find the click-action setting. Turn off the “Use default value” switch, and then select your preferred behavior (focus, minimize, or cycle-windows) from the “Custom value” drop-down menu. Click the checkmark at the bottom to apply.