The objective of this tutorial is to show you how to create a desktop shortcut launcher on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa using the default GNOME user interface.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to create desktop shortcut launcher from existing .desktop files
- How to create desktop shortcut launcher from scratch
Software Requirements and Conventions Used
Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
---|---|
System | Installed or upgraded Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa |
Software | GNOME Shell 3.34.1 or higher |
Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Create desktop shortcut launcher on Ubuntu 20.04 step by step instructions
Create desktop shortcut launcher from existing .desktop files
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Start by opting your terminal and executing the following command:
$ nautilus /usr/share/applications/
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The Entire desktop shortcut launcher creation process is shown on the video below:
Create a desktop application shortcut launcher manually
In case the desktop shortcut for your application is not available with the /usr/share/applications/
directory you have and option to create the Desktop launcher manually. In this example we will create and Desktop application shortcut for Skype
application.
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Obtain the following information for any given application you wish to create shortcut for. Below you can find an example:
Path Application Icon: /snap/skype/101/meta/gui/skypeforlinux.png
Application name: Skype
Path to executable binary: /snap/bin/skypeTo obtain a full path to executable binary of any program use the
which
command eg.:$ which skype /snap/bin/skype
In regards to the application icon, the choice is yours. You can either head over to
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/
directory and search for any relevant icon to use, or simply download new icon from the web. - Now that we have all the necessary information, create a new file
Skype.desktop
within~/Desktop
directory using your favourite text editor and paste the following lines as part of the file’s content. Change the code where necessary to fit your application specific details.$ gedit ~/Desktop/Skype.desktop
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open [Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Type=Application Terminal=false Exec=/snap/bin/skype Name=Skype Comment=Skype Icon=/snap/skype/101/meta/gui/skypeforlinux.png
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