Can somebody please explain to me how to create a desktop shortcut to an application like Chrome or Blender as if I'm an idiot? I really don't get it. I have the gnome panel program thing and can run it (see image) but after that I'm lost.
3 Answers
You have to install gnome-panel
package which comes up with ability to create a application launcher on the desktop or wherever you like. Add --no-install-recommends
suffix to prevent other package that aren't necessary.
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel
After installing gnome-panel
, use following command to create a launcher.
gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/Desktop
Once you execute the above command, create launcher application will be opened.
- In Type field "Application" will be a default value. If you're creating launcher for application which has no gui, that runs in terminal like VIM editor then you need to select "Application in Terminal".
- In Name field type application name.
- In Command field type the executable command which open your application.
- Comment field is optional.
To set icon, click on the small box on the top left side near name field and choose a image for it. Click "OK" if you are done.
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2Note the language localization: on spanish Ubuntu v16.04 you must use
gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/Escritorio
or the command will fail. Jan 10, 2019 at 0:23 -
5This will no longer work for Ubuntu 20.04. When I try this I get the following error:
gnome-desktop-item-edit: command not found
– asdfMay 26, 2020 at 5:01 -
2now working in
Ubuntu 20.*
gnome-desktop-item-edit: command not found
Sep 24, 2020 at 9:46 -
1It appears that
gnome-desktop-item-edit
was removed fromgnome-panel
in 19.10: askubuntu.com/a/1184737/457041 Oct 1, 2020 at 22:02 -
Complete instructions can be found in the answers to this question. Here's the really simple version:
- Launch Nautilus (the file manager).
- In Nautilus, click on
Computer
. - From there, navigate to
/usr/share/applications
. - Find the icon of the program you want a shortcut for, click on it, and type Ctrl+C to copy.
- In Nautilus, click on
Desktop
in the left pane. - Type Ctrl+V to copy the shortcut to the desktop.
- Right-click your new shortcut, click
Properties
, click on thePermissions
tab, and make sure that theAllow executing file as program
box is ticked. - X out of the
Properties
dialog and also out of Nautilus. Enjoy your new desktop shortcut!
Edit: @DanDascalescu is right, this method just copies the executable rather than creating a shortcut. Please don't use this method. Sorry folks!
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2If you find my answer helpful, please consider upvoting or accepting it. Nov 28, 2016 at 1:12
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4
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12This doesn't create a shortcut, this copies the executable to ~/Desktop. How does this answer have so many upvotes? Jan 24, 2018 at 8:27
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1didn't work, gives an error "The executable launcher was unable to locate it's companion library"– dezzer10Nov 19, 2018 at 9:25
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@DanDascalescu, NO, this does not copy an executable. If you look at the file properties, you will see it says - "Desktop configuration file". If you open it with a text editor, you will see that it is a typical shortcut. Jan 27, 2019 at 1:06
To create a launcher on the Desktop:
1) You need gksu so if you don't have it yet, run in terminal:
sudo apt-get install gksu
2) Run gedit (or any other text editor) and then enter the info below:
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon[en_US]=/opt/lampp/htdocs/favicon.ico
Name[en_US]=XAMPP
Exec=gksu /opt/lampp/manager-linux-x64.run
Comment[en_US]=Start XAMPP Control Panel
Name=XAMPP
Comment=Start XAMPP Control Panel
Icon=/opt/lampp/htdocs/favicon.ico
Save the file on your Desktop as Xampp.desktop
3) Once the shortcut is on the Desktop, right-click on it, go to Properties, Permissions tab, and check 'Allow executing file as program'
The above creates a shortcut for XAMPP control panel.
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7
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2What's that icon path? How do I get the icon from an executable? Jan 24, 2018 at 8:28
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gksu is required to run/execute the file
Exec=gksu /opt/lampp/manager-linux-x64.run
check 8th line!– RajathJan 9, 2020 at 5:18
Ctrl + Shift
and drag." (the folder to the desktop area) , thanks goes here: askubuntu.com/a/691976/277898