Global menu for GNOME: app menus in the top panel, 292 apps covered

A new global menu extension for GNOME Shell came out this week. It puts application menus in the top panel, and it handles apps that don't normally show a traditional menu on Linux or on Wayland. For more than 290 well-known applications, the extension builds a menu from the app's documented keyboard shortcuts. That means a click can trigger actions the app already exposes through shortcuts. The approach works whatever kind of app it is, including Electron apps, as long as the app has shortcuts for key actions. You can view and edit the 292 menus it ships with in the settings panel.

Apps that do have a traditional menu and export it over Dbus can show the real, full menu. That requires an optional companion daemon package. With it installed, the full menu goes to the global menu, and where possible the menu is removed from the app itself. For software like Shotwell and GIMP the result differs: with the companion you get the complete menu, with actions greyed out in real time depending on what you're doing. The companion has to be built from source. On Ubuntu the source lists a block of commands using git, make and apt, and you must log out and back in afterwards so the companion loads.

Even with the companion, not everything is perfect. Some apps, like Firefox, need a tweak before they show their full menu, and the project's setup guide covers how and why to do it. If a focused app isn't covered by either approach, the panel doesn't go blank: it shows simple window, workspace and session actions instead. You can also create your own shortcut mappings to give fuller menus to apps that aren't covered. The source expects coverage to expand with future updates.

Menus use opaque backgrounds by default. There's a blur option, but the source says it only worked with Blur My Shell enabled. When the extension is active, the workspace switcher pips disappear from the top bar, though you can choose to show them. The focused app title appears in bold by default; you can switch it to regular weight or hide it entirely. These are settings you change yourself, not fixed behaviour.

Global Menu supports GNOME 48 through 51. If you're on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS or later, you can try it out. The source says it ran without issues on Ubuntu 26.10. For full app menus you still need the companion daemon installed. You can get the extension from GNOME Extensions.