Uninstall software, minimize windows

[yoghuser]

Hello all,
I have just installed elementary OS 8 (for testing in a VBox).

Now I have 2 questions:

1. How to uninstall pre-installed software (web and mail)?
2. Active windows can only be minimized with [Super]+[h] - the corresponding mouse button in the window is missing. Is there any way to get this button?

Many thanks in advance & best regards

[teamcons]

Hello!

1/ web is a flatpak, so appcenter or right click in appmenu
Mail you need to remove it through apt. It is that way still, so it can access accounts set through gnome, such as gmail or google calendar

sudo apt autoremove io.elementary.mail

2/ pantheon-tweaks in the appcenter is a tool written by an elementary dev to give more options. You have a menu to add a minimize button there, or change window button layout and placement if so you wish

[ernstki]

As an additional tip — especially for people coming from another operating system or another Linux desktop environment — you can set the title bar double-click action to "minimize," too. This can be accomplished without needing to build any third-party software. I prefer this to a titlebar button because the entire titlebar is a much bigger click target.

Here are the steps;

• install dconf-editor using apt in a root shell; run this from the terminal or "Applications" menu
• search for /org/gnome/desktop/wm/preferences/action-double-click-titlebar
• slide the "Use default value" toggle, then choose 'minimize' from the list of custom values
• click Apply
• double click the dconf Editor title bar to test

This was the setting I'd already been using in macOS for years and years, so it made moving to elementaryOS a lot more comfortable, as I similarly found the lack of obvious "minimize" functionality (apart from clicking the dock icon) a bit off-putting as a new user.

[teamcons]

dconf-editor is a third party software though.
It isnt developed by eOS devs like pantheon tweaks, and isnt intended for eOS either. If anything it pretty much exposes everything
it is also present on flatpak. So there is no need to go through a root shell (danger!), or a nonsupported install method.

aside from that yes it works... though that is the long way out for (non root)

dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/preferences/action-double-click-titlebar \'minimize\'

[ernstki]

Let the above tip come with the disclaimer: "not supported by the elementary OS devs; if you break your system by running apt in a root shell you get to keep both pieces." :)

I get where you're coming from. What the elementary OS devs support is what's in the "curated" section of AppCenter, and interacting with the package manager is discouraged. Somebody documented all those dconf settings, though, not for no reason, and dconf-editor is in the standard distro repositories. Some amount of customization at that level is probably OK, right?

[yoghuser]

Hello teamcons,
thank you very much for your quick help.
Everything worked perfectly.
Best regards