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The only thing that's preventing me from using other workspaces (besides the main one) is that I can't switch between them properly.

  1. ALT+TAB will only switch between apps in the current workspace.
  2. Super+Left/Right will iterate through an empty workspace, which is annoying.

Can I change any of these options?

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  • The first question has already an answer here: elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/7749/…
    – lemonslice
    Jan 5, 2017 at 16:26
  • What do you mean by iterating through an empty workspace? You can put applications there as well and it will no more be empty…
    – lemonslice
    Jan 5, 2017 at 16:28
  • So I guess the first option is off the table, thanks. Also, what I mean is that if I put applications there it'll create a third workspace which will be empty.
    – galah92
    Jan 5, 2017 at 17:06
  • You can disable dynamic workspaces under org.pantheon.desktop.gala.behavior, set dynamic_workspaces to false. Nevertheless, there is no "empty workspace" created unless you put something there.
    – lemonslice
    Jan 5, 2017 at 17:25
  • Great! it kinda did the job. How can I set this fixed number? It always creates 4 workspaces.
    – galah92
    Jan 5, 2017 at 17:40

2 Answers 2

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You can disable dynamic workspaces:

gsettings set org.pantheon.desktop.gala.behavior dynamic-workspaces false

You can set the number of workspaces wanted to NUMBER:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences num-workspaces NUMBER

(Nevertheless, even if you use dynamic workspaces, there are actually no "empty workspaces"…).

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  • Thank you so much! This answered my other question about how to get apps to stop opening in a new workspace. (elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/10645/…) Feb 10, 2017 at 21:51
  • 1
    The solution has changed. Use the following command instead: "gsettings set org.gnome.mutter dynamic-workspaces false". The command to set the number of workspaces continues to be the same as before. Jan 17, 2020 at 19:54
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The title of your question was a bit contradictory (therefore I have edited it a bit), as there were multiple questions involved; you seem to prefer to disable the workspaces but also to give them a second chance if a better way to switch them was to be presented to you.

As you have selected a definitive answer, I imagine that the most important part was how to disable them.

But there is also the other question in the question body, as you say:

The only thing that's preventing me from using other workspaces (besides the main one) is that I can't switch between them properly.

...

Can I change any of these options?

What would it be for you the proper way to switch between the workspaces?

The range of possibilities is large: see here.

To simply cycle them, there is also + Tab.

To display them all and their windows I like + S. Only the windows of the selected workspace are displayed in this way (unlike + W which shows all windows, including conkys, which is not too clever; that shortcut can be edited - I changed it to + A myself).

The same can be achieved with a hot corner (e.g. 'Settings-Desktop-Hot corners', and setting down-left corner to Multitasking view.)

When the multitasking view is displayed, the mouse or touchpad scroll will switch the workspaces too.

The use of the hot-corner and the wheel/scroll allows to switch workspaces only with the mouse or touchpad.

That is very useful for me in selecting/closing windows especially when the dock is set to auto-hide.

I use workspaces mostly when I run an application that I don't need too often (e.g. a script in a terminal that I need to monitor only rarely), or when I need to cycle only the windows of the same application.

Any application gets its own separate workspace if set to fullscreen with Super-F.

You can edit a lot of shortcuts under 'Settings-Keyboard-Shortcuts-Workspaces'.

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