Recently, I started using Ubuntu as my primary operating system as I'm currently reviewing a mini PC running it. Until just a few months ago, I could never imagine switching away from Windows 11, but now I'm not only using macOS as my main operating system most of the time, but I've been diving more and more into Linux.

But while I've been having a good time, there's always some pain during the transition away from Windows. Not every app is available, and a lot of OS features and behaviors aren't the same, so it takes some time to adjust. I already wrote about some of the apps that made my transition to macOS easier, but now, it's time to do the same for Ubuntu. Let's go over a few things that have made my experience a lot more pleasant — they might help you if you're looking to make the switch, too.

5 Cross-platform apps

Thankfully, some essentials came with me

This one isn't really a single app, but rather a collection of them that probably belong under a single category. It's often said that Linux and Macs just don't have all apps Windows has, and that's especially true for Linux. But while that might scare you away, it's also good to know that a lot of things are available on Linux these days, so you don't always have to settle for less. A lot of the things I rely on most frequently are also available here, starting with my main browser, Vivaldi. Interestingly enough, installing Vivaldi through the official Snap package was kind of broken and I couldn't use hardware acceleration, which made some things not work very well. But after setting up Flatpak and installing the browser that way, everything worked way better, and all my browsing history and the features I'm used to work perfectly. You spend most of your time in a browser anyway, so this alone might be all you need. Vivaldi isn't the only browser on Linux — in fact, you might have a harder time finding a browser without a Linux version.

What's more, my messaging apps are here, too with Slack for work and Beeper handling all my personal messaging. But even if you don't like a bridging service like Beeper, things like Telegram have Linux apps, too.

The last big thing for me is a Microsoft Office alternative, and much like on macOS, I've mostly been relying on WPS Office. The developers behind this app haven't been terrific at supporting the Linux release, but all I really need to do is open some CSV files to analyze some data, and WPS Office makes it the easiest. Alternatives like OnlyOffice often break formatting, and I still don't really like using LibreOffice.

The point is, there are quite a few apps you can keep using on Linux just as you would on a Windows PC. I'm not much of a PC gamer, but Steam even makes gaming a lot easier, too.

4 Moving the dock to the bottom

Like a proper taskbar

This one is fairly small in the grand scheme of things, but if you're going to make the experience more familiar to Windows, you probably want the taskbar back where it belongs, at the bottom of the screen. You can easily do this in the Settings app, under Ubuntu desktop.

On that note, if you want taskbar behaviors to be the same, you may also remember that clicking an icon on the taskbar when an app is already in focus causes it to minimize, but Ubuntu doesn't do this by default. Thankfully, if you install GNOME Tweaks, you can also use this command to restore similar behavior. Side note, the animation for minimizing and maximizing feels much smoother on Ubuntu, too.

3 Emoji Copy

The emoji panel is here

As embarrassing as it can be to admit, I quite like using emoji in many of my conversations, and sometimes even for work (if you're subscribed to our newsletter, you know what I mean). Windows 11 makes this very easy with the built-in emoji panel, and on macOS, I relied on Raycast for the same purpose. But Ubuntu has a different trick up its sleeve, called GNOME Extensions, and these are the focus of the next few points, starting with Emoji Copy.

Emoji Copy is one such extension, and once installed, it lives at the top of your screen alongside your system icons. You can click it to open a list of available emoji, but the ideal way to use it for me is to use the keyboard shortcut, which is Super/Windows key + . (period). Then, you can use the arrow keys to select one of the suggestions, or start typing to fins a specific emoji. It's very easy to use and gets the job done just as well, if not better than the Windows emoji panel. It's smooth and very responsive, more so than the Windows counterpart.

2 Clipboard History

Can't live without it

Much like the emoji panel, the clipboard history is one of the most useful features built into Windows 11, and it required finding some alternatives on both macOS and Linux. In Ubuntu, that comes through yet another GNOME extension, appropriately called Clipboard History. Initially, I actually tried a different one called Clipboard Indicator, but it's been some time since it was last updated, and I started to notice some performance issues. Clipboard History is based on the same code, but it's been much more optimized.

Similar to other GNOME Extensions, this one also lives in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and it shows you the recent history of your clipboard items. You actually have a few customization options here, so you can choose how many items to keep, for how long, and the maximum size of images stored in the clipboard. You can also customize the keyboard shortcut to open the menu so you don't have to click the icon every time. I set it to Ctrl + Alt + V, but it can be anything you want.

There are a few extra features here that Windows doesn't offer, too. You can easily toggle private mode to prevent certain items being saved, change the size of the preview text, and more. It's an even better implementation than what Windows offers, especially considering you can choose to keep items after a reboot by default, whereas Windows only retains pinned items, and you have to pin each item individually.

1 Tiling Shell

FancyZones for Linux

Finally, we have Tiling Shell, the last and arguably most important of the tweaks I made and installed to make Ubuntu feel like home. I've talked multiple times about how FancyZones is one of the most important pieces of software on my Windows PCs, and when moving to Linux, I needed a proper replacement, and Tiling Shell was perfect.

Tiling Shell is yet another GNOME extension that lives in the menu bar at the top, and really, it just works pretty much like FancyZones. You click the icon and choose one of the available layouts, or you can create a new one that suits your needs. For me, I like a three-way split, with two larger windows for more active work and one smaller area where I put my messaging apps.

To make this work a bit better, I also disabled the active edges feature in Ubuntu's settings to prevent actions overlapping with Tiling Shell, though it can still happen sometimes with the top edge, which doesn't get disabled. Still, this works very well and allows me to be far more productive on my PC.

Ubuntu feels just fine now

It took some work to get everything to where I wanted it to be, but using Ubuntu now feels about as good as I could hope for, so I honestly wouldn't mind living on Ubuntu for a while longer, barring a couple of things I still need for work, such as Adobe Lightroom. While I have found a solid replacement in RawTherapee, Lightroom is still far easier to use and produces better-looking results with much less effort.

Still, Ubuntu has been completely manageable, and most Windows users probably would be just fine making the transition with just a little bit of effort. If you're teetering on the edge thinking about ditching Windows, I'd say Ubuntu is a great option to try, and these tweaks help.