How to find these apps

On Windows, you opened the Start menu and typed the name of the app. On Ubuntu, the move is exactly the same: press the Super key (the Windows key on your keyboard) or click Activities at the top left, then type the first few letters of the name. Results appear as you type. One click launches the app.

So if you want the calculator, type "calc"; if you want the scanner, type "scan"; if you want the system monitor, type "syst". No sub-menus to navigate.

The utilities, one by one

Calculator — Its name in Activities is "Calculator", and it looks virtually identical to the Windows Calculator. It offers a standard mode, a scientific mode and a unit conversion mode, all accessible from the menu at the top left of the window.

Text Editor (GNOME Text Editor) — This is Linux's Notepad. It opens, creates and saves plain text files (.txt). It is ideal for quick notes, to-do lists or reading a README file. It does not format text — it is not a word processor. For documents with formatting, use LibreOffice Writer.

Document Scanner — It appears as "Document Scanner" in Activities. Plug in your office scanner, open the app, choose the document type (text, photo) and the resolution, then click Scan. The result saves as a PDF or an image, depending on your choice. This is the direct equivalent of the Windows Scan app.

Document Viewer (Evince) — This is Ubuntu's PDF reader. It opens automatically when you double-click a .pdf file, just as Adobe Reader or Edge did on Windows. It lets you read, zoom, print and fill simple PDF forms (text input fields). For advanced electronic signatures, a dedicated online service is the better choice.

Image Viewer — It is listed simply as "Image Viewer" in Activities. It displays your photos and pictures, just like the Windows Photos app. It also handles the essentials: rotate, crop and save. For more advanced editing, GIMP takes over.

Screenshot — This is Ubuntu's equivalent of the Snipping Tool. Press the Print Screen (PrtSc) key on your keyboard: a graphical interface appears. It offers three modes — full screen, a single window, or a region you draw with the mouse. You can also trigger a capture with a delay. The screenshot is saved automatically to your Pictures folder and copied to the clipboard, ready to paste into an email or a document.

Archive Manager — This is the equivalent of Windows' built-in zip explorer or 7-Zip. Double-click a .zip, .tar.gz or .rar file and Archive Manager opens it, showing its contents. You can extract all or some of the files with a drag-and-drop or the Extract button. To create an archive, right-click a folder or a selection of files in the Files app, then choose Compress…: pick the format (.zip to share with Windows colleagues) and confirm.

Disk Usage Analyser — Search "disk" in Activities. This tool shows a pie chart of the space used on each partition, folder by folder. It is very useful when your disk is filling up and you want to identify the large folders without using the terminal. The Disks app (also in Activities) goes further: it shows partitions, technical disk information and lets you check the health of a hard drive.

System Monitor — This is Linux's Task Manager. Search "monitor" in Activities. It lists running processes (with name, user, CPU percentage and memory used), overall CPU and memory usage, and network traffic. If an app freezes and stops responding, find it in the list, right-click and choose Kill Process — this is the exact equivalent of "End Task" in the Windows Task Manager.

Characters / emoji and Fonts — The Characters app (search "characters" in Activities) replaces the Windows Character Map. Search for a symbol by name (for example "euro" or "arrow"), click it and copy it to the clipboard. The Fonts viewer (search "fonts") lets you browse all the fonts installed on your machine and preview them.

Windows → Ubuntu mapping table

Here is a summary of all the equivalents covered in this module: