Managing User Themes

User themes include changes to window animations, desktop color schemes, window designs, icons, and workspaces. You can install custom GNOME Themes from Gnome-look.org, or other similar web sites. The Pop!_OS default themes can be re-applied using GNOME Tweaks or the by using Terminal commands.

Note: Applying custom GNOME theming options may cause system instability or glitchy behavior. Additionally, custom themes are not subject to testing by Pop!_OS or application developers.

Enabling User Themes

1. Launch the GNOME Extension Manager.

   

2. Click Browse and search for user-theme@gnome, then click Install.

   

3. Click Installed and ensure the toggle switch for User Themes is enabled.

   

Adding a Custom User Theme

Note: Themes in Pop!_OS 22.04 must support GTK 4. Additionally, it may be necessary to disable some COSMIC components from GNOME Extensions for certain themes to work properly.

Downloading a Custom Theme

Custom GNOME user themes can be downloaded from Gnome-look.org.

Download files for the theme are usually listed under the Files section on the theme's page.

Installing a Custom Theme

Follow the instructions on the theme's page to add it to your system; these are typically listed in the Product section on the theme's page. If no instructions are listed, click the link provided next to Source and view the theme's README.

Installation methods will vary, but the process will usually involve extracting a tar.gz file to either /usr/share/themes/ (requiring sudo), or to ~/.themes/. In the example below, a theme called example-theme.tar.xz is extracted to ~/.themes/.

tar -xf example-theme.tar.xz -C ~/.themes

Applying a Custom Theme

Launch GNOME Tweaks, then select the Appearance tab and choose a theme from the Shell dropdown menu for GNOME Shell themes, or the Legacy Applicaions drop-down menu for GTK themes.

If GNOME Tweaks was already open when extracting the theme to your local directory, you may need to restart GNOME Tweaks for the new theme to show up in the drop-down. Additionally, for a theme to apply after it's selected, you may need to restart GNOME Shell by pressing Alt + F2, then typing r and hitting Enter.

Resetting the User Theme to Default

You can reset user themes to the Pop!_OS defaults using GNOME Tweaks and Extensions, or by entering Terminal commands.

Using GNOME Tweaks and Extensions

Launch GNOME Tweaks, then select the Appearance tab and select Pop options for all available theme settings. You should also disable any additional extensions you have installed if you want to fully restore the default COSMIC experience.

Note: Navigating to Appearance settings in the Settings application and selecting a Pop!_OS theme will also reset the themes to default.

Launch GNOME Extensions and re-enable any built-in extensions you may have disabled when applying a custom theme.

Using the Terminal

1. Reset the shell theme:

   dconf reset /org/gnome/shell/extensions/user-theme/name
   

2. Disable the user-themes extension:

   gnome-extensions disable user-theme@gnome-shell-extensions.gcampax.github.com
   

3. Reset the Legacy Applications theme (GTK Theme):

   gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme
   

4. Re-enable built-in extensions by running these commands one at a time:

   gnome-extensions enable cosmic-workspaces@system76.com
   gnome-extensions enable cosmic-dock@system76.com
   gnome-extensions enable pop-cosmic@system76.com
   gnome-extensions enable pop-shell@system76.com
   

5. (Optional) Disable all user-installed extensions to restore the default COSMIC desktop experience:

   gsettings set org.gnome.shell disable-user-extensions true