If you use a multi-monitor setup on Ubuntu Linux (GNOME), you might find the default Workspace behavior deeply confusing. By default, GNOME treats your primary monitor as a dynamic grid of virtual workspaces, but it treats your secondary monitor as a single, static, unchangeable screen. When you switch from Workspace 1 to Workspace 2, the windows on your main monitor slide away, but the windows on your second monitor stay exactly where they are.
While this is useful for keeping a chat app permanently visible on a side monitor, it is incredibly frustrating if you use your secondary monitor as a true extension of your workflow. If you want a completely fresh, empty canvas across both monitors when you switch to a new workspace, you need to force GNOME to link the displays together.
You can dive into the GNOME Tweaks tool or the terminal to explicitly change the workspace behavior, forcing Ubuntu to switch workspaces across all connected monitors simultaneously.
How to Span Workspaces Across All Monitors
You can easily fix this using the gsettings command in the terminal.
- Open your terminal application (
Ctrl+Alt+T). - Copy the following command exactly as written and paste it into the Terminal window:
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter workspaces-only-on-primary false - Press the Return key on your keyboard to execute the command.
Alternative GUI Method (Using GNOME Tweaks):
- If you prefer a graphical interface, install GNOME Tweaks (
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks). - Open the Tweaks application.
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Workspaces.
- Look under the “Display Handling” section.
- Change the selection from “Workspaces on primary display only” to Workspaces span displays.
The changes will take effect immediately. Now, when you press Super + Page Down to move to a new workspace, the windows on both your primary and your secondary monitor will slide away simultaneously, giving you a completely fresh dual-monitor canvas.