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lucidbrot
Asked: 2020-03-13 10:03:42 +0800 CST

How can I send a window to a different workspace without changing the active workspace?

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Is there a keyboard shortcut to send a window into a different workspace, while remaining in the current workspace, so that I can ignore it for now?

I'm using a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04 with the default GNOME interface. On win10, I am used to sending a windows to a different workspace so that it won't bother me for now, thanks to virtualdesktopenhancer.

This question is exactly the same, except that it's not about GNOME but about XFCE. I have not tried whether the answers there work also for GNOME, because I'm hoping for an easier answer.
If there are no easier answers, I would appreciate an answer that also explains how to set up such a keyboard shortcut.

This question is an exact duplicate on a sister site - without valid answers. I'm asking here because this is specific to ubuntu.

gnome workspaces

4 Answers

  1. I am not using Gnome right now, but I see under Focus or open window in gnome on keyboard shortcut that wmctrl works with Gnome.

    So, I paste from an answer under the question you linked (on Xfce):

    Move active window to workspace 1:

    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t 0

    Move active window to workspace 2:

    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t 1

    Move active window to workspace 3:

    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t 2

    Etc...

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  2. Best Answer

    As per the linked QA

    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t 0  // Move active window to workspace 1
wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t 1  // Move active window to workspace 2
wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t 2  // Etc...

    Building upon that, here's a command using wmctrl that sends the currently active window to the next workspace (relative), without changing the currently active workspace.

    wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -t $((1+$(wmctrl -d | awk '{ if ($2 == "'*'") print $0}' | awk '{print substr($0,1,1)}')))

    To create a shortcut for a command is actually quite simple: Open "Settings" > "Devices" > "Keyboard" and scroll down to add a shortcut.

    If the shortcut does not work in that way, but the command works when run from the terminal, save it in a file /fullpath/myfile.txt and set bash /fullpath/myfile.txt as the shortcut command. That should work both on Gnome and Xfce.

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  3. No such shortcut is listed for standard GNOME3.

    Your virtualdesktopopenhancer is dependent on the Windows-only AutoHotKey to implement the MoveWindowToDesktop feature you describe.

    However, there are similar Open Source apps for Ubuntu and Linux, Autokey may help, if you take virtualdesktopopenhancer apart and find the bits which do what you need. The AutoKey Forum may be of assistance.

    Sadly, IronAHK, designed to be a rewrite of AutoHotKey, is discontinued. Maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn't, but support for IronAHK is unlikely.

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  4. Easier answer...

    Use GNOME Tweaks to enable the "Activities Overview Hot Corner". This will allow you to move the mouse pointer to the upper-left corner to expose the docks and workspaces.

    Use GNOME Tweaks and enable "Static Workspaces". I have mine set to four.

    Identify the window you wish to move. Expose the docks and workspaces. Drag the desired window to another workspace in the workspaces dock. Click on any open window in the current workspace, or any open window in an exposed workspace, to close the exposed docks and workspaces. (and/or, click on any exposed window/workspace to also change to it.)

    In 19.10, existing Keyboard Shortcuts exist to move windows to specific workspaces.

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