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jfoucher
Asked: 2011-09-08 01:24:04 +0800 CST

Is there a way that Unity can remember which terminal window had focus and was raised?

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I use a lot of terminal windows (at least three, up to 5 or 6).

If I am working in one of them, and switch to another app via the unity launcher (say the web browser), and then come back to the terminal windows by clicking on the terminal icon in the Unity launcher, the window that had focus and was raised is not raised anymore and may or may not still have focus.

This is really annoying as I have to dig under all the other terminal windows I do not want to finally find and click on the one I do want.

Is there a way that Unity can remember which terminal window had focus and was raised?

Update: thanks to everyone, but as far as I'm concerned this is a bug in Unity

unity

4 Answers

  1. You can also use the Alt-` shortcut to switch between open windows of the same application. It's not exactly a solution, but it might help you get back to your terminal faster. I typically use Alt-Tab to get to the terminal application and then switch to whatever window I need.

    You could also use scale function to show all your windows and then click the window that you want. By default, I believe the shortcut is Super-W, but it can be changed in the compiz settings manager under Window Management->Scale->Bindings->Initiate Window Picker for All Windows

    Hope this helps!

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  2. Best Answer

    IMHO this is a bug in Unity. The last used window in an application group should be the one raised and with focus when I come back to this group by clicking on it's button in the launcher

    I won't report any more unity UI bugs, though, given the treatment that obvious UI shortcomings in Unity are given: see this one for example

    I switched to terminator: problem solved

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  3. A solution could be put the terminal window always on top (right click on the title bar > Always on top), then roll it up.

    Rolled up window example

    You can enable roll up action with double click on the title bar, going to System Settings > Windows, and changing double click action from Maximize to Roll Up.

    Then, you can put the rolled window on a corner, doing what you want with the other application, and when finished roll down the window.

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  4. I use Alt+Tab to get back to my terminal.

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