The Frustration of Z-Index Shifting
In almost all modern desktop environments, clicking anywhere on a background window instantly brings that entire window to the foreground, covering up whatever you were previously looking at. While this behavior (known as “raise on click”) is intuitive for most users, it can be highly disruptive for developers, writers, or researchers who need to reference information across multiple overlapping windows simultaneously. For example, if you are typing in a small terminal window hovering over a large web browser, accidentally clicking the browser to highlight some text will instantly throw the terminal behind the browser, forcing you to hunt it down again.
How to Disable “Raise on Click” in GNOME Tweaks
If you are using the default Ubuntu desktop (GNOME), you can modify window behavior so that clicking a background window simply gives it “focus” (allowing you to type or scroll in it) without pulling it to the front of your screen.
This setting is not available in the standard Ubuntu Settings app. You must install the advanced configuration tool.
1. Open your terminal and install the Tweaks app by typing: sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
2. Once installed, open your application grid and launch the Tweaks app.
3. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Windows.
4. Look for the toggle switch labelled Raise Windows When Focused (in older versions, this might be called “Raise on Click”).
5. Click the toggle switch to turn it Off.
Now, test the new behavior. Open a small text editor window and place it over a large web browser. Click the web browser. The browser will become active (the title bar will change color), but the text editor will remain visibly hovering on top.
How to Raise a Window When the Setting is Disabled
Once you disable automatic raising, you need a deliberate way to bring a buried window to the front when you actually want to see the whole thing.
With “Raise Windows When Focused” turned off, you can still bring a background window to the foreground by clicking directly on its top title bar. Clicking anywhere else inside the window (like the text area or a button) will only grant it focus, leaving it in its current Z-index position. This separation of “focusing” and “raising” gives you incredibly precise control over your overlapping workspace.