Notes

How to add an application launcher shortcut in Ubuntu Linux

Use desktop entry files to add an application to the desktop menu

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Ubuntu
2 minutes
desktop entries Unity AppImage

Desktop entry files are used to add an application to the desktop menu. These files specify the name and icon of your application, the categories it belongs to, related search keywords and more. These files have the extension .desktop and follow the XDG Desktop Entry Specification version 1.1.

You do that by creating a .desktop file and saving it in ~/.local/share/applications/

Here’s a basic .desktop file

1# ~/.local/share/applications/obsidian.desktop
2[Desktop Entry]
3Type=Application
4Name=Obsidian
5Exec=/home/aamnah/Mounts/Files/Applications/Obsidian-0.13.19.AppImage
6Icon=/home/aamnah/Mounts/Files/Applications/obsidian.png
Tip: Look under `/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/` for some inspiration
  • Each desktop entry must have a Type and a Name key and can optionally define its appearance in the application menu. In other words only Type and Name are required, rest are all optional
  • Apart from Type and Name, you will most likely add
    • Exec to specify where the executable is (or a specific command to execute with arguments)
    • Icon to specify which icon to show with the executable (this icon will show in the Launcher and in the Dock)
  • Keep paths in .desktop absolute to avoid troubleshooting headaches

Location for .desktop files

1# for applications installed system-wide
2/usr/share/applications/
3/usr/local/share/applications/
4
5# for user-specific applications
6~/.local/share/applications/

If you’re specifying an AppImage (or any other script) as value for Exec, make sure it is executable

sudo chmod u+x /home/aamnah/Mounts/Files/Applications/Obsidian.AppImage

After you have added a .desktop file, run the following command to update cache database of MIME types handled by desktop files. (Although Unity picked up my entry without me having to refresh anything)

1update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

Here’s a working copy of my complete obsidian.desktop file

 1# ~/.local/share/applications/obsidian.desktop
 2[Desktop Entry]
 3Type=Application
 4Name=Obsidian
 5Comment=A second brain, for you, forever.
 6Terminal=false
 7
 8GenericName=Markdown Editor
 9# StartupWMClass=obsidian
10# MimeType=x-scheme-handler/obsidian;
11
12# Location for the AppImage file and icon
13# Exec=/home/aamnah/Mounts/Files/Applications/Obsidian-0.13.19.AppImage %u
14Exec=/home/aamnah/Mounts/Files/Applications/Obsidian-0.13.19.AppImage
15Icon=/home/aamnah/Mounts/Files/Applications/obsidian.png
16
17
18# Download icon and place it in the same folder as this one
19# curl -L -o obsidian.png https://cdn.discordapp.com/icons/686053708261228577/1361e62fed2fee55c7885103c864e2a8.png

You may have to make the file executable as well

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