GNOME Documentation Project
gnome-doc-list@gnome.org
Michael Hill
mdhillca@gmail.com
Shobha Tyagi
tyagishobha@gmail.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Launch apps from the Activities overview.
Sabri Ünal
libreajans@gmail.com 2021, 2023.
Emin Tufan Çetin
etcetin@gmail.com 2021, 2023.

# Start applications

Move your mouse pointer to the Activities corner at the top left of the screen to show the Activities overview. This is where you can find all of your applications. You can also open the overview by pressing the Super key.

You can start applications from the Applications menu at the top left of the screen, or you can use the Activities overview by pressing the Super key.

There are several ways of opening an application once you’re in the Activities overview:

Start typing the name of an application — searching begins instantly. (If this doesn’t happen, click the search bar at the top of the screen and start typing.) If you don’t know the exact name of an application, try to type an related term. Click the application’s icon to start it.

Some applications have icons in the dash, the horizontal strip of icons at the bottom of the Activities overview. Click one of these to start the corresponding application.

If you have applications that you use very frequently, you can add them to the dash yourself.

Click the grid button (which has nine dots) in the dash. You will see the first page of all installed applications. To see more applications, press the dots at the bottom, above the dash, to view other applications. Press on the application to start it.

You can launch an application in a separate workspace by dragging its icon from the dash, and dropping it onto one of the workspaces. The application will open in the chosen workspace.

You can launch an application in a new workspace by dragging its icon to an empty workspace, or to the small gap between two workspaces.

# Quickly running a command

Another way of launching an application is to press Alt F2, enter its command name, and then press the Enter key.

For example, to launch Rhythmbox, press Alt F2 and type ‘rhythmbox’ (without the single-quotes). The name of the app is the command to launch the program.

Use the arrow keys to quickly access previously run commands.