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I just now upgraded from Ubuntu 22.10 to Ubuntu 23.04 using the GUI upgrade tool. Since the upgrade, little green circles with numbers have appeared in the upper right corner of some of the icons in the Dock. For example:

  • The Files icon has a green circle with '3' in it, even when I don't have a Files folder open.
  • Firefox does not have any green circle/number on it when it is not open, but when I run a single instance of Firefox a green '2' appears.
  • Calculator does not have any green circle/number on it at any time, whether it is open/running or not.

Here's a partial screenshot of my Ubuntu Dock, showing the green circles and numbers this post is about

In a search, I have not been able to find documentation of this. The behaviour is a little like what is described in this user's question: What do the RED numbers on the Gnome Files Dock Icon mean? ...but the numbers are not consistent with the number of GUI windows I have open and are not shown at all for some apps.

Please could the community advise:

  1. What do these numbers mean?
  2. If they mean I'm supposed to do something, then what do I do to address that 'something'?
  3. If they are not useful, how do I turn them off?

Thanks for your time!

Levente
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Serah Allison
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1 Answers1

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Those are notifications.

Click on the date/time (at the top of the screen) to see them.

The green emblem on the Files icon indicates a previously completed file operation.

Stewart Tansley
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Bram
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    What "notifications" does the file manager give? – Organic Marble Apr 22 '23 at 00:37
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    @OrganicMarble I had one saying that the SD card drive was removed. – Bram Apr 22 '23 at 00:48
  • Great example!! – Organic Marble Apr 22 '23 at 01:54
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    Thank you!! Following your advice I discovered old notifications for USB storage devices being removed (the File notifications) and a notification that Snap wanted me to close Firefox to do an update. Once I'd cleared those notifications, the green circles/numbers went away as would be expected. – Serah Allison Apr 22 '23 at 02:58
  • Where is the date/time? In the Dock? When I open the Files program? I don't see any more green circles when I open the Files application. – user643722 Jun 26 '23 at 08:39
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    Thanks. After clicking on the date/time, I saw that there was a "Do Not Disturb" switch. I turned it on, and hey presto: no more green circles! – user643722 Sep 27 '23 at 11:57
  • Also there is a button to clear notifications. – Pierre ALBARÈDE Nov 20 '23 at 23:16
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    You know it's confusing UX when you end up on "askubuntu"..... they should at least have a tooltip to say what it is! – Ben Winding Mar 07 '24 at 15:06
  • @BenWinding I was almost convinced it means i have unread emails in one of the tabs – Dr Phil Jul 24 '24 at 12:35
  • Perhaps its attached to user statistics data for features they are trying to determine if they should keep or not. – xtrchessreal Oct 25 '24 at 01:42
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    @BenWinding You're not wrong. There is no UI clue that a green circle on a program shortcut indicates the need for a click on the clock! I wonder how this got through UX testing. – cooperised Nov 28 '24 at 11:17
  • Very helpful... in fact this feature isn't so user friendly in my opinion... a user would try to click on the green circle instead – fiod3s Dec 02 '24 at 21:10
  • @fiod3s Exactly what I did – James C Dec 23 '24 at 19:32
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    How can this be turned off?? Each time one of these is generated, you are creating a task for a real person. Now I have to dismiss my Slack notifications twice, once within Slack, and another time on the Slack icon. If I don't dismiss them then the feature is useless; you are training me to ignore them if they just build up. Why should I care that a file operation from 7 days ago has completed?

    [In a more productive vocal register] where do we go to discuss and contribute to Unity?

     – EoghanM Jan 06 '25 at 16:29