TL;DR toolbars missing
So, recently i had to reinstall Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (desktop) because reasons. I have removed unity, and installed Gnome3 (not in that order); something i had previously without any problems, but since the reinstall, my menu toolbars are missing from ALL programs and i have no idea why. Yes, i've searched for help, but the keywords to locate this problem may as well be the same as googling "sex" and expecting to find information about gender.
The bar i mean, is the one that goes under the heading bar that is usually "File, Edit, View, Search, Help" and etc, but they just aren't there. Some windows (not all) have the three dot thingy in the corner, which never has all the previously available options (for example, changing the settings for gedit, or adjusting my terminal profile (changing program settings is the primary reason i use the bar, but it's not the only reason).
How do i get them back, or get them to show. I've tried F10 (and 9,8,7,6,5,11,12) and holding "alt" and trying a million other things, all to no avail. And frankly i'm getting bored of rebooting every 18 seconds to see what changes were made (both the reload of gnome, or an actual "reboot"). I'm getting nowhere and it's getting frustrating.
I have actually installed 16.04 LTS 5 times on the same machine this month, in exactly the same way, and each time something different has gone wrong or is different. And yes, exactly the same way, i keep a detailed record of what i do because a medical condition means my short term memory is [not up to par]ucked.
All i want this time is these menu bars back (even if only a temporary thing for when i need to use them, but preferably a perm option) (and one other thing, which i've asked about in another post).
I'm not an idiot when it comes to linux, but this is stumping me and is probably something quite simple and stupid - i'm willing to try anything people throw at me (within reason), but i don't want to have to reboot every hour, because it is a working machine, and capitalism and such.
Thanks in advanced for trying to help me (if you do try), forums like these are the backbone of real computing, and i like to respect that, even though i never normally ask questions and just try to seek out my own results, but that's just not working today.
This same issue was happening to me as well. I tried installing apps to manage menu settings and got nothing. Finally the combination of CTRL + M worked to bring back the menu; except in Firefox, which ended up being the ALT key. I would not call this a complete solution as the menus should just show up regardless, but at least it might help you get back to work. Unless you have already found another solution of course.