How to create desktop shortcut launcher on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux - LinuxConfig.org

LinuxConfig.org Articles
1

The objective is to show how to create desktop shortcut launcher on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver using the default GNOME user interface.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-create-desktop-shortcut-launcher-on-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux
2

Summers

Wow who knew creating a simple shortcut could be so complex. Are you suggesting we have to remember all those lines of code just in case we want to create a shortcut? Or we will have to google and search for it every single time we have the need?

Or better yet have to install this weird application designed for it.

Two bad solutions in my opinion.

I would think that we might be able to find shortcut examples somewhere in Ubuntu 18 already and go from there?

3

Ray54 -> Summers

Launchers are really very similar to Windows desktop shortcuts. There is no obvious reason why the Gnome desktop makes them so hard to create and use. A long time ago, under Gnome 2, they were easier to create as the tool was built-in. It should work like Windows where you right click on an executable file and select make desktop shortcut (make launcher and install launcher into dash under Ubuntu).

4

it seems impossible that when an executable program, not installed but only copied to / usr / share (using Sudo of course) you can not, by right clicking, block the icon produced by the activated program in the launcher, but I am very ignorant on linux and surroundings. it’s all afternoon I try to solve the problem: so far I managed to put the * .desktop on the desktop (like any windowsXP icon) but not in the area of the launcher

5

Thnx for a good tutorial. Many new people are just now trying linux for first time. Because of all of the win 10 stuff. And then they see something like this. A simple few pages long article about how to create a shortcut. It is ok for me, but for a person who have important work to get done simply does not have a time for stuff like this. If Ubuntu is ever going to become an OS for simple users not just for programmers, there are things that have to change. Things like this have to be under the hood and never seen by the simple end user.

6

This is just crazy!
I am professional programmer and I am using Ubuntu for everyday work. I really don’t have the time to do this for every icon that I need. And I don’t see anything in this code and procedure that is not possible to create automaticity. When I click on bin file system knows the path of it, and the name of the file.

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/snap/bin/skype
Name=Skype
Comment=Skype
Icon=/snap/skype/23/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/skypeforlinux.png

There is NO info here that requires human cognition process for input !!! Icon can be choosed later on right mouse button context menu. Giving additional permission for icon type to be executable is like asking: are you really sure that you need this icon, and do you know that it can start program! OMG, ATTENTION, HAZARD, SYSTEM MELTDOWN , WARNING.

It looks like this is made on purpose, to give the feeling for those “hackers” that uses Linux OS, that they are different, more cool, more “more”, then those pure souls that uses Windows or OSX. Ha, creating icon with one mouse click, it is for p****.

Just let us work real stuff, creating desktop icon is so 80’s, don’t make mission impossible from it!

7

it’s as easy as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 243 244 245 … 1,289 1,290 …

8

I usually don’t post anything on the internets, because pretty much everything has been written. However this topic is important for me enough, that I have to share my newly aquired knowledge. After reading this topic, I thought that it would be better to switch to another distro, but before that, I looked how to create shortcuts in Debian. And I found out, that all you have to do there is to press ctrl+shift and then drag your file to desired destination. This trick works with Lubuntu also :slight_smile:

9

I decided to downgrade my ubuntu 16 to 18 the other day. WHAT A TERRIBLE MISTAKE THAT WAS. Why does ubuntu 18 install stuff then hide it? Why is it so hard to create desktop launch icons that I still have not found an easy way yet?
Like the other guy said this BS to create a damned launch link???
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/snap/bin/skype
Name=Skype
Comment=Skype
Icon=/snap/skype/23/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/skypeforlinux.png

REALLY!!!
WHAT MILLENNIAL IDIOTS DID THIS???// I want to stab the ***holes that did this to ubuntu in the eye with a dull stick until all of their pink meat leaks out. WTFFF ???

I am not going to use a POS operating system that requires me to do such fu**ery just for a simple damned link. Now off to do some google work to find a new Linux OS RIP ubuntu you committed suicide

12

Too long…
it’s very simple, you just CTRL+SHIFT and drag your file to desktop…done

13

I created an extension to do this far quicker, you can do it with one click form app launcher.
It’s free and open source, please consider adding this to the guide.

You can find it on GitHub searching for:
Tommimon/add-to-desktop

Give it a try.