How can I create launchers on my desktop?

Question

In older versions it was easy to create a launcher on my desktop all i had to do is right click on my desktop and select the create launcher option. But on 11.10 the option disappeared from the menu.. How can I get it back?

Answer 1

The old GUI dialog is still available if you still want to use this:

Using ALT+F2 type

gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/Desktop

This will launch the old GUI Dialog and create a launcher on your Desktop:

Prerequisites

gnome-desktop-item-edit is installed automatically if you have installed gnome-shell/gnome-fallback. It is also installed automatically if you have previously installed gnome-tweak-tool.

Alternatively, you can install the old gnome-panel without much of the bulk:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel

Answer 2

There is cooler way:

Arronax

---

picture taken from source link below

to install that type in terminal (to open Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diesch/testing 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install arronax

cooler because it has drag&drop and more functions with GUI

read more from iloveubuntu

taken from iloveubuntu

Answer 3

These launchers have one problem: you can't use them from the web browser, for example to attach archives to email messages or to upload files to sites like http://2shared.com/

There is an easy solution:

1. Open a terminal window
2. Run ln -s /destination/directory ~/Desktop/nameofshortcut

for example: ln -s /data/music ~/Desktop/good_music

This way an icon appears at the desktop, with the image of a folder with an arrow below it, that represents a shortcut, instead of the spring or rocket of the launchers.

Answer 4

Install "Create Launcher" from the Ubuntu Software Center. You can search this name to find it there. See also: Link - Ubuntu apps directory

Answer 5

1.create *.desktop file in /usr/share/applications/

gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/give-any-name.desktop

2.Paste below text

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon=/path/to/icon/icon.svg
Name=give-name-here
Exec=/path/to/file/executable
Name=unmount-mount

give Icon= and Exec= and Name= as you want.

Answer 6

I've noticed that both gnome-panel and gnome-tweak-tool need a load of dependencies, even is --no-recommends.

The method I've used so far is to chose an arbitrary launcher from the Dash, such as Firefox, and drag it to the desktop. Then right-click and change the path, description, icon (and comment if you like). Then I drag this new launcher to somewhere like /home/scaine/Misc/Apps and from there, drag it to the Launcher.

(If you drag the file from the Desktop to the Launcher directly, then delete the Desktop file, the Launcher entry will stop working, even though it looks fine. I assume it makes some kind of shortcut to the original which you've just deleted...)

Answer 7

This Is a solution to get it back on the right click menu In Gnome and Unity,

1- Install gnome-tweak-tool , if you don't already have it, In terminal paste-

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

2- Then type the following to launch it

gnome-tweak-tool

Or use the key shortcut Alt+F2 type gnome-tweak-tool then click "Run"

3- Navigate to the "Desktop" tab on the left pictured - And turn ON
"Have file manager handle the desktop"

4-Source for this part: 1 Now we are going to create a Script to put on the right click menu -

Open gedit either by terminal or Alt+F2, Paste the code

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

put only this into the new text document and then save it as "Create New Launcher" no extension needed (you may need to use .sh as extension ex "Create New Launcher.sh", if you can't make it executable in the next step).

5- Now we need to make the file executable, Right click on the file go to > Properties > click Permissions tab > look for "Execute" and check "Allow executing file as program" then close out.

6- Open the file browser, go to > View > Show Hidden Files, now navigate to you home folder, and Place the file in ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts . Shown below -

7- Now we have Create new launcher on the right click menu! Right click on your desktop and go to > Scripts > Create New Launcher Then fill in the comand information for the application you want,
Shown below-

If you forget what the app's launch command is click "Browse" then navigate to File System > usr > bin which is /usr/bin , these are the applications on your system, most should automatacally find the icon after you click "Open" , although they won't show up before.

If It dosn't show the icon when you get back to the "Create Launcher" box you can drag a icon in by finding the icon in /usr/share/icons . There are default icons in the various theme folders or specific icons in the /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps or /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps, or if later you want to put an icon in you can right click > properties to drag and drop the icon in.

(This part only for gnome, alt+f2 is diffrent in unity) Another way to list known applications is to hit Alt+F2 and click on the app under "Show list of known applications", you can then copy the command text for that program to paste in to
Create New Launcher.

All this will make it extremely easier to make custom launchers, and once setup you can make them without the terminal.

Answer 8

Make a file called something.desktop, open it in gedit and type:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Launcher Name
Comment=Launcher Comment
Exec=Command to Execute
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=Path to Icon

Put this is /usr/share/applications and when you run it right click the app in the Unity Launcher and tick "Keep in launcher" (if you want it in the Unity Launcher), or just put it on your desktop if you want a Desktop launcher.

Put this file in ~/.local/share/applications if you want to apply this to your user.

Jurriaan has made a graphical python app to do all this for you, it can be downloaded here: http://jurschreuder.nl/UnityLaunchCreator.tar.gz

Answer 9

please be aware of this wiki page I've made, because I've noticed that questions on desktop and unity launchers are very often :) https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UnityLaunchersAndDesktopFiles

Answer 10

You can find a similar tweak at
http://www.techdrivein.com/2011/10/15-things-i-did-after-installing-new.html

His tweak allows you to specify different places under your 'Home' folder icon.

You could adapt this with the suggestion posted by Greg T.

Answer 11

An easier way to create a launcher for a program:

If you can find the program in your dash, just click and drag the icon for the program in your dash onto your desktop or wherever else you would like it. :)

Answer 12

You can do it manually. Make a new text-file named Something.desktop and write this in there:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=Enter command to run here
Name=Enter visible name here
Comment=Enter comment here
Icon=Enter Icon path here