Dear friends, today we will try to learn how to create a shortcut on the Ubuntu desktop. But before you do anything, it is recommended to get acquainted with the basic concepts more closely. However, if you already know what a label is and what it is for, you can immediately proceed to the next block, where practical actions will be performed.
Shortcuts on your desktop speed up your work with applications.
For the remainder, we’ll tell you what a label is. If you were a user of the Windows operating system from Microsoft, then you probably remember the famous desktop system. There were various icons on it, which, when clicked, opened corresponding services. For example, if you double-click the left mouse button on the “Trash” icon, a folder with the same name will be launched in a new window, displaying all deleted files.
But what to do with programs and games? How to run them if such an icon once disappeared? Naturally, you need to install it. Of course, you can always go to the source folder where the file for launching an application is located, but it is absolutely not convenient to do this. Especially when some programs run daily. It turns out that we need a certain explorer, which shortens this path from the desktop to the file storage location. This is the conductor that serves as a label.
It was very easy to create such shortcuts on the Windows desktop: you could just right-click on the file, select the item “Send” and click on “Create a shortcut”. Or just right-click on the desktop and select "Shortcut", set parameters for it, and everything would be ready. But what do Ubuntu owners do? Let's find this out together.
Create on your desktop
Method one
So, consider the easiest way to allow you to do this. But immediately warned that it is not for everyone. On some versions of the operating system, this method simply does not work. Therefore, you can try your luck and test its performance:
- Start the main menu using the left program panel.
- Open the tab where all the programs are located and look for the necessary. For example, this may Google Chrome browser.
- Using the left mouse button, drag the application icon to the desktop in any place. Later you can move it anywhere.
- Now you can check the functionality of the installed shortcut. Done!
Please note that you cannot move application icons from the left menu block in a similar way. You will need to search for them in the main menu by the above example. If this method did not work, then do not despair and go to the next one.
Second way
This method is more versatile, since it involves working with the terminal, which is well known to Ubuntu users. So let's get started:
- Run a terminal on your computer or laptop.
- Enter the following command:
sudo apt-get install —no-install-recommends gnome-panel
- After installing the utility that allows you to create shortcuts, let's proceed directly to them ourselves.
- Enter the following command:
gnome-desktop-item-edit ~ / Desktop / —create-new
- After that, a window opens with the parameters of the shortcut to be installed. Here you can set its type, give it a name, put the necessary command (which script you need to execute), leave a comment if necessary. In addition, you can set a picture for a label by clicking on the image on the left. When all settings are installed, click OK. Done!
If you do not understand what a terminal is, then it is strongly recommended to familiarize yourself with this with the help of special literature. You can also use training videos on the Internet. The terminal in Ubuntu is an integral part of the OS that helps you perform many actions.
Conclusion
Dear readers, we together managed to create a shortcut on the desktop on Ubunt. Now we know that there are two of the most popular ways to help you do the things you need on your computer. Once again, we recall that the first may not always work, since its presence depends on the version of the operating system. If it did not suit you, then use the second one, which involves using the terminal to enter commands and scripts. We hope that you have succeeded, and there are no questions left. Tell us in the comments, by what method you were able to achieve your goal.