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This question is more related to Unity than Chromium itself. When I make an application shortcut, the .desktop file works but when I move it to another folder like /Documents/webapps, then lock it to the launcher; I'll click it from the launcher and it doesn't properly display the icon on the launcher. It will open under a different icon than the one I clicked; an icon that just appears. This doesn't happen if I keep the actual .desktop file on the desktop. I'm sort of a neat freak and don't like keeping things on my desktop. I'd like to access my Gmail and Google Drive from the launcher but that's kind of pointless if the only place I can keep the shortcut is on the desktop. Sorry if this question is a little wordy if this is a simple problem but I'm new to Ubuntu and I don't know if it really is a simple problem.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Name=Gmail
Exec=/usr/bin/chromium-browser --app=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0
Icon=/home/jake/.gnome/apps/gmail-logo.png
StartupWMClass=mail.google.com__mail_u_0
Name[en_US]=Gmail
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The proper place to put .desktop shortcuts is in $HOME/.local/share/applications. I always put my Chromium shortcuts there (actually I was pretty sure they were already there by default).

I'm sort of a neat freak and don't like keeping things on my desktop

That's a good habit and you shouldn't be forced to keep shortcuts on it.

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  • Ah very nice, ty. Are the shortcuts always directed back to this folder? Sep 11, 2014 at 22:16
  • I'm not sure I understand what you mean. That folder is the user-specific equivalent for /local/share/applications. Both directories are used by Unity, GNOME, KDE, XFCE, LXDE and basically any FreeDesktop-compliant DE to populate their menus. Sep 11, 2014 at 22:18
  • What are FreeDesktop-compliant DE 's ? Sep 11, 2014 at 22:25
  • Why do they have to be specific to the desktop, I guess is a better. Why can't it simply be a file shortcut like I'm used to on Windows? Sep 11, 2014 at 22:28
  • I think most of them are compliant. But you can get some more information on Wikipedia, I'm not an expert on Freedesktop. For the links, if you are referring to .lnk files, they are quite similar to Linux launchers. They contain the path, an icon and some other meta-information. Sep 11, 2014 at 22:39

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