Please disable the snap plugin

[Tim Cook]

In Ubuntu 12.04, I'm tired of application windows that automatically move and snap to screen edge as you use them. They snap as soon as you place your cursor on any other object in the workspace. Very annoying. Others have complained about this behavior but I never discovered any user solutions using the Ubuntu forums. No amount of tinkering in CompizConfig Settings Manager seems to help. I also want the ability to move a window halfway off the screen to temporarily get it out of my way (while working in GIMP). Automatic snapping makes this impossible. Any application window that is manually moved halfway off the screen will immediately jump back in as you touch your cursor to any other workspace object. Question: Has this auto-snapping problem been addressed and fixed for the upcoming Quantal Quetzal release? (I use the Classic interface.)
One note: Window snapping of this sort has never occurred in Windows 7 and I'm distressed that, in this respect, the Canonical product is inferior to Microsoft. Also, if I remember correctly, automatic window snapping did NOT occur in Ubuntu versions prior to 12.04. That suggests to me that in 12.04 the snapping behavior is a true bug that cannot be disabled by any changes to configuration settings.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

You can disable window snap if you install compizconfig-settings-manager and in that application find 'grid' and disable it.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

Also If you could provide a few steps for us to reproduce the issue those will be helpful.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I agree, the snap plugin causes more problems than it solves.

You can disable it by installing "compizconfig-settings-manager". Then run "ccsm" and go to "Window Management" where you should untick "Snapping Windows".

The half-off-screen issue is bug 974242, I think.

[Tim Cook (u4fq2vr)]

Hello Everyone. Thanks for thinking about this snapping problem. I'm afraid Omer is mistaken about the "GRID" option in CompizConfig. It has never been enabled on my machine--yet, the problem persists. In addition, the "SNAPPING WINDOWS" option has never been enabled in my CompizConfig settings either. Like other users, I've found that the only way to stop the automatic snapping is to disable "PLACE WINDOWS" in CompizConfig. Doing that, though, creates another very undesirable behavior where any new window that's turned on shoots to the upper left screen and is placed so high that it's Title/Control Bar is not visible. Hardly a good situation.

This snapping mess was discussed as early as September 2010 in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1582142&highlight=window+snap

Let me say this: I really don't care if 12.04 is fixed. I really don't. What I do care about is that a problem that's been identified for many months is fixed and put to bed before October 18 and Quantal Quetzal. Can someone tell me if Quetzal is free of this problem? :-) I hope the answer is yes.