Re-enable Shutter App Icon in Ubuntu 18.04 System Tray

Shutter, one of the most popular Linux screenshot tool, has two annoying issues in Ubuntu 18.04 Gnome desktop.

Shutter in Ubuntu 18.04 can not edit picture images. The edit option is grayed out due to lack of libgoo-canvas-perl library. And there’s already a step by step tutorial shows how to re-enable Edit option in Shutter.

Another issue is that the Shutter indicator icon in top-right system tray is also missing in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

That’s because Ubuntu 18.04 main repository removes ‘libgtk2-appindicator-perl’, a perl bindings for libappindicator that Shutter requires it for showing software icon in system tray.

A workaround is to install a perl extension for libappindicator library. And below will show you how:

1. Search for and open “terminal” from application launcher.

2. When it opens, run command to install the application indicator libraries:

sudo apt-get install libappindicator-dev

Input your user password (no password typing feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

3. Finally install Gtk2::AppIndicator perl extension for libappindicator:

sudo cpan -i Gtk2::AppIndicator

If everything goes well, restart Shutter screenshot tool and you’ll see the indicator applet in system tray: