How to minimise Steam to the Unity panel (system tray)?

When I run Steam there are two icons, one in the Launcher and one in the Unity panel. How do I remove the icon on the Launcher? I just want an icon of Steam on Unity Panel.

Clicking the close button in Steam just minimises the window to the launcher, not fully hiding it.

To do this only for your user, you need to run this command in a terminal:

echo 'STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE DEFAULT=1' >> ~/.pam_environment

Then logout and log back in.

Alternatively, you could add it for all users with this command:

echo 'STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE=1' | sudo tee -a /etc/environment

Then logout and log back in.

References:

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Steam#The_close_button_only_minimizes_the_window
• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables#Persistent_environment_variables

I just got this to work by reading how some Windows users got it to work. You just need to add -silent to the startup command. I did this by using Startup Applications. Scroll down till you see Steam, select it and then click Edit. Change the command to look like this:

/usr/bin/steam %U -silent

I think this also removes it from your Unity panel which is OK by me. Seems redundant to have it in both the tray and the panel anyways.

Reference: How do I start applications automatically on login?