HOWTO: Fix Duplicate GNOME Terminal / Byobu Icons in The Unity Launcher

Post date: 05-Mar-2012 19:34:16

I've recently encountered a problem where if I lock GNOME Terminal and/or Byobu to the Unity launcher, then close and restart it, a second icon of the same application would appear in the launcher. The launcher would keep producing a duplicate icon for every subsequent re-launch of the application. Needless to say this is extremely annoying but fortunately I've found a workaround. It turns out the two ways to put an icon in the launcher - locking and dragging from the Dash behave differently.

The wrong way:

Normally I would:

1. Launch the application.
2. Right click on the icon in the launcher.
3. Click "Keep in launcher".

The right way that would workaround the issue:

Instead:

1. Open the Dash.
2. Search for the application.
3. Drag the icon from the Dash on to the launcher.

So if you find yourself hitting this issue - remove the icons you've created using "The wrong way" and use "The right" one.