Guy Wiener

The Gnome desktop environment is missing a very convenient feature: Minimize all windows. The “Show desktop” command (Alt-Ctrl-D) does not toggle all windows to a minimized state. Instead, it gives focus to the desktop window. Than, if you press it again, it does not re-minimizes all the windows, in case you opened new ones. It un-focuses the desktop and raises all the minimized windws – Exactly the opposite of what you expect! I got really annoyed by this, since that I keep on my desktop work-in-progress files, and to get to them quickly I want to minimize all the windows, not toggle the desktop focus. But this is not a ranting post – A solution follows.

I’ve been looking for a solution to this annoyance for some time now. Gnome built-in commands does not help, and wmctrl is no good either. I was almost tempted to implement this command myself by using raw access to libwnck. At the last moment I was saved from hacking C code by this application: Devil’s Pie (see manuals here and here). This nice application runs in the background and applies rules to windows’ properties: E.g, always put Firefox on desktop 1, start Thunderbird minimized, make the chat window transparent, etc. In principle, using it to minimize all the windows will result in an awkward behavior: Every window will start minimized. However, one undocumented command in the Devil’s Pie’s rules is quit. It means, “run these rules and terminate” – Exactly what I need!

Devil’s Pie takes its rules in a Sexp format. The basic script to minimize all the windows is:

(begin
  (minimize)
  (quit))

To run it, save this expression in a file “minimize.ds” and use this command:

devilspie minimize.ds

Et voila! All windows rush down to the taskbar.

If you don’t want some window to be minimized – For example, the Tilda pop-up console – You can add a filter. This is my script:

(begin
  (if (not (is (application_name) "tilda"))
    (minimize))
 (quit))

Now all you have to do it to bind this command to some key shortcut: Follow, for example, this article.

Now pressing “Super-D” minimized all the windows on my desktop and gives me quick access to my work files. Joy!