Debian Bullseye: no menu on Gnome desktop

[Pondlife]

I'm a long-time Debian user, but until now I've only used it via the command line over SSH. I've just tried using the gnome desktop, and find there's no menu - I was expecting a multi-level menu with categories like "Applications", "Accessories", "Games" etc; but find just a single "Activities" menu, which contains seven applications plus a "Show Applications" button that displays a grid of all installed applications.

Here's the gnome screen:



And here's what the "Activities" menu looks like:



I'm performing a fresh install using preseeding with tasks "standard" and "desktop" installed with:

Code: Select all

tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard, desktop

I'm sure this can't be correct as other distros I've used like "Tails" have the traditional multi-level menu. But I've tried google without success. Is this really what Bullseye's gnome desktop looks like, or could it be a bug?

Edit: not sure why the images are showing up as just "image". I've used img tags with imgur.com URLs.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

For Debian buster the setting is available from the gnome-tweaks package — open the "Tweaks" application and activate Extensions → Applications menu.

[Pondlife]

Thanks!

Running tweaks and enabling Extensions -> Application Menu solved the problem.

Really surprised this is not the default setting - it seems strange to have to search or browse through a long list for applications to run something simple like terminal. But anyway, problem solved.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Really surprised this is not the default setting - it seems strange to have to search or browse through a long list for applications to run something simple like terminal.

I just use the Windows key then type the first few letters of the application. I find that much quicker than navigating through a menu. The GNOME devs have a very well defined UI paradigm[0], an applications menu does not conform to their vision.

Anyway, please mark the thread [SOLVED] to help others who encounter this problem.