How do I remove trash icon from GNOME desktop?

Question

How do I remove the "Trash" icon from GNOME 3 desktop? I'm running Ubuntu 17.10 with GNOME shell.

Answer 1

Up to Ubuntu 18.10

You may use (GNOME) Tweaks (aka GNOME Tweak Tool) to do that. First install it (if it is not installed) by running the following command in Terminal

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

or

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

Launch Tweaks and go to Desktop section. Then toggle off (or uncheck) the Trash (or Rubbish bin or Wastebasket) option under "Icons on Desktop".

Alternatively you may run the following command in Terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop trash-icon-visible false

Answer 2

_{After following Exien's answer on Ubuntu 20.04, the GUI became extremely slow and unresponsive. I had to reinstall Ubuntu even after reverting the value to true which did not fix the problem it generates.}

In Ubuntu 20.04

It is actually easy:

1. Search for Extensions (preinstalled) in the Activities overview.

   

2. Click on the Settings gear icon next to the Desktop Icons toggle

   

3. Toggle icons as required

   

Answer 3

Ubuntu 19.04 and later

The following terminal command works:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.desktop-icons show-trash false

Answer 4

The extensions don't work for ubuntu 21.04 just right click on the desktop and select "settings" you will find your options there

Answer 5

If the Extensions app doesn't show up in the Activities menu (as it did for me) you can use:

gnome-extensions prefs desktop-icons@csoriano

to open the window shown in Brendan's answer.

You can also hide all icons (including files) with:

gnome-extensions disable desktop-icons@csoriano

Answer 6

In Ubuntu 20.04, click the right upper corner of teh screen > Settings > Appearance (left side menu) > Configure dock behavior > Set off the "Show Trash" option

Answer 7

Ubuntu 22.04

Right click on the Desktop space and select Desktop Icons Settings

Find Configure Dock behaviour section

Toggle Show Trash button