Duplicate icons in plank [$90]

[Thomas Pitlik]

Since the latest update I've got some duplicate (seems kind of randomly) icons in Plank. First I had Google Chrome getting this blurry duplicate after opening a new tab but it disappeared after some opening and closing Chrome. Next was Files to get one of those, than pantheon-terminal and now its Empathy.
Every duplicate has got this blur. Tried to reproduce but it seems to occur randomly and only one icon at a time (which is placed on the outer right side..)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: elementary OS 0.2
Package: elementary-desktop 1.295-0~369~precise1 [origin: LP-PPA-elementary-os-daily]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-39.62-generic 3.2.39
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-39-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.1+elementary3~precise1
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: elementary_meta
Date: Wed Apr 3 18:15:08 2013
InstallationMedia: elementary OS 0.2 "Luna" - Beta 1 amd64 (20121114)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: elementary-meta
SuspiciousXErrors:

ThirdParty: True
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

Sounds like some BAMF issue to me, but I don't think we shipped a BAMF update...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for elementary OS because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Jamessy (jameskg2g)]

Duplicate LibreOffice icons in Plank for every LibreOffice file that is open. This makes Plank look cluttered and messy.

[Djax (parnold-x)]

Same here since the second last update. Really annoying.

[Christophe Beyls (christophe-beyls)]

I noticed the same problem for a few apps like the latest Google Chrome update or Eclipse.

[Rico Tzschichholz (ricotz)]

Take a look at the following comments/bugs:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/plank/+bug/1307091/comments/4
https://bugs.launchpad.net/plank/+bug/1317470/comments/1
https://bugs.launchpad.net/docky/+bug/484610

[martini (mr-owner-gmail)]

I noticed the same problem for the latest Google Chrome too.

[martini (mr-owner-gmail)]

Solution for chrome here: http://rhoconlinux.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/solucionando-el-doble-icono-de-google-chrome-con-plank/

[Rafał Błaszczyk (rafalblaszczyk)]

Open a terminal and paste:
sudo cp -a /usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop /usr/share/applications/google-chrome-stable.desktop
then type
google-chrome-stable
new chrome icon appears in plank just give right click and do a check on “Keep in dock”
delete old icon and voila

[Rafał Błaszczyk (rafalblaszczyk)]

works only till reboot

[Rafał Błaszczyk (rafalblaszczyk)]

sudo scratch-text-editor '/usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop'

and change all strings
Exec=/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable
to
Exec=/usr/bin/google-chrome

do the work

[Julián Unrrein (junrrein)]

Marked as "New" since a lot of people are affected by this bug. There are duplicate reports too.

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

https://www.bountysource.com/issues/1012912-duplicate-icons-in-plank

[Joel Almeida (joelalmeidaptg)]

I confirm this is happening with the beta 1 of Freya

[oblv (oblv1)]

Opera had the same behavior of the Chrome icon (don't know if it was due to the fact Opera is made from Chromium), but after latest updates it doesn't create the double icon anymore. Don't know what happened or if they changed something.

[Igor Bogoslavskyi (zabugr-gmail)]

Happens also on google chrome and spotify linux preview. By the way, Chromium seams to not have this behavior.

[Edwin van de Ven (edwinvandeven)]

The issue is with the .desktop file of chrome (and possibly other applications).
For example take, /usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop

You'll find 3 entries in this file, [Desktop Entry], [NewWindow Shortcut Group] and [NewIncognito Shortcut Group]. Make sure that under each group there's the following line, it doesn't matter where in the group it is.

StartupWMClass=Google-chrome-stable

More info about plank's window matching can be found here: http://wiki.go-docky.com/index.php?title=How_to_Customize_Window_Matching

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

This is an app issue, not an issue with the dock. If the app has a proper .desktop file there should not be an issue.

[Joel Almeida (joelalmeidaptg)]

Well, this is a pretty popular app among almost all users. I believe some workaround should be done about it. In Ubuntu (Unity) the app doesn't have that behaviour at all, by the way.

[Kirue (kirue)]

I get duplicate terminal icons in the dock if I open the terminal through the file manager, i.e. click 'Open Terminal Here'. When I hover over the icon, the description does not say 'Terminal' but 'Open Terminal Here'.
Not sure if that's intended, but I don't like it.

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

I can confirm the issue with the duplicate terminal icon when using File's Open in Terminal feature.

Please see the attached screenshot.

[Damion Gans (damiongans)]

It's stupid.. Months later and still not fixed.. :-( Also some fix I found somewhere online doesn't appear to be working..

[Rico Tzschichholz (ricotz)]

This general bug is not fixable in plank. This is mostly always a problem caused by the "duplicated" application itself while not setting a proper wmclass or defining the custom startupwmclass in its desktop-file.