How do I make apps appear on the taskbar by default?

Hello everyone, Today I switched from macOS to Zorin OS. I have a few questions:

How do I make apps appear on the taskbar by default?
And how do I allow some of them to start automatically when logging in?

I already looked in the settings. But couldn't find it yet.

Hi, welcome to the Zorin Forum.

You just open an app, right click on their taskbar icon, then click Add to Favourites (or Pin to taskbar) - like you do in Windows - if that's what you mean.

You would do that in Startup Applications (located either in System Tools or Utilities).

Hope this helps.

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Let's take as an example, Stacer, the system optimization utility.

Here's the information for Stacer:
sudo apt search stacer

In English: Super User Do (sudo) Application Packaging Tool (apt) Search (search) for application (stacer)

In other words, elevate privileges, run the APT and search for an application.

stacer/focal,now 1.1.0-3 amd64 [installed]
  Linux system optimizer and monitoring

Here's how to install Stacer:
sudo apt install stacer

Now, Stacer is going to be put into the Zorin menu after it's installed.

Let's say it's put into Zorin menu > System Tools.

So you'd navigate to Zorin menu > System Tools > Stacer, right-click the icon, and select ' Add to Favorites '.

There's a bit more... if you want the Favorites icons to be used as launchers (so there's not two entries on the taskbar when a program is running... one the Favorites icon, one the actual running program... with the below, both are encapsulated into the Favorites icon):

Right-click the taskbar in a blank space, select ' Taskbar Settings ', go to the ' Behavior ' tab, click to enable ' Ungroup Applications ', then click the gear icon :gear: next to that and enable ' Use the favorite icons as application launchers '.

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Thank you all!

Ah, I'm fresh (less than 2 hours) on Zorin OS. And there the terminal appears... :joy: :joy:
But with Gnome Tweaks it also worked.

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I have already looked up some terminal tutorials; I'll start practicing with it. :wink:

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Please understand that one of the main reasons people often provide commands to run on a terminal, is because it's a lot easier to have you copy/paste a few lines of text, than it is for us to provide a complete walk-through a myriad of menus and sub-menus, icons, settings, drop-downs, etc. Even for simple and routine tasks that could be done in two seconds.

Another reason is because graphical interfaces change from system to system and computer to computer (people like to customize their setup quite a bit), but the commands on the terminal are much more generic.
Incidentally this also means that most of the help you will see online will be in the form of terminal commands, so best to get used to this way of interacting with the system.

You don't have to use the terminal, many tasks are easier to do with a nice point-and-click interface, while others are the opposite. But it comes a long way to at least get comfortable with the basic commands: install packages, update your system, etc.

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Thanks for your advice.
And I know there is no ´escape´. But I certainly see also the benefits.
Today I made a start; With reading about the terminal; See what commands will do.

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Gday @Cycle_Maniac
Again welcome to the forum.

If you feel you have resolved the issue.

I believe that maybe the first reply How do I make apps appear on the taskbar by default? - #2 by Turtle11

Could you please 'Mark' the post that helped as "Solution".

This lets Others know they may find a solution here that may help them.

Solution pic

Thank you.
Zorin Forum Community.

I mean, don't feel pressured into using the terminal if you don't want to. ZorinOS is my go-to when I install Linux for friends and family members, not very tech savvy at all, because it takes the cake when it comes to UI/UX design. They never use the terminal, and can get by just fine.

But the truth is that where you say "escape", I say "letting an extremely powerful and useful tool go to waste".

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You have a much better attitude about it than I had when I first moved over to GnuLinux.

Grazie! :wink: