Many of our blog visitors complained about unity launcher icon size in Ubuntu 12.04 and asked how to change it.

The configuration steps are different for Unity 3D and Unity 2D so we provide instructions for both of them.

How to change unity launcher icon size in Unity 3D

1) Click Control Gear > System Settings

2) Select Appearance section

3) At the botom of the screen you'll find the slider for changing icon size. If you cannot see the slider you're probably running Unity 2D and follow the steps below.

How to change unity launcher icon size in Unity 2D

1) Run Terminal (you can use shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T)

2) Open file Shell.qml as admin in a text editor, e.g.

sudo gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/shell/Shell.qml

3) Change width value to 50

LauncherLoader {
   id: launcherLoader
   anchors.top: parent.top
   anchors.bottom: parent.botton
   width: 50

4) Open IconTile.qml file in a text editor, e.g.:

sudo gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/shell/common/IconTile.qml

5) Change width and height to 32

/* This is just the main icon of the tile */
Image {
   id: icon
   objectName: "icon"
   anchors.centerIn: parent
   smooth: true
   sourceSize.widht: 32
   sourceSize.height: 32

6) Open LauncherList.qml file in a text editor, e.g.

sudo gedit /usr/share/unity-2d/shell/launcher/LauncherList.qml

7) Change the value for property int tilesize to 38 and for property int selectionOutlineSize to 50.

spacing: -7
property int tileSize: 38
/* selectionOutline tile size, so AutoScrollingList view can calculate the right height. */
property int selectionOutlineSize: 50

8) Restart the computer