Then navigate to Computer > usr > share > applications. Launch Files, and click on “Other locations” in the left-hand pane. You’ll need to navigate to the appropriate directory for the application you’re looking for. LibreOffice is available for all users, so we’re going to launch Files and browse to the /usr/share/applications directory. desktop files installed into the home directory of that user: ~/.local.share/applications desktop files installed into: /usr/local/share/applicationsĪpplications that have been installed so that they are only accessible to a single user have their. Other applications that have been locally installed with system-wide access-meaning they are available for all users-usually have their. desktop files installed into: /usr/local/share/applications desktop file.Īpplications that are provided as part of a distribution’s default packages, or are installed from repositories, have their. When you double-click the shortcut, Linux uses this information to find and launch the application’s binary file. Amongst other things, they tell the operating system where the binary executable resides in the file system. These are text files that describe certain attributes about the application. Now that we’ve turned on the ability to have icons on the desktop, we just need to drag something to the desktop, and we’ll have a shortcut. To demonstrate this process, we’re going to create a desktop shortcut for LibreOffice writer. Note that in Ubuntu 19.10, the desktop icon settings are under the Extensions settings, so click the “Extensions” entry in the left-hand pane.

You can choose whether you wish to have shortcuts to your home directory, the trash can, network servers, and mounted volumes shown on the desktop. Click the “Show icons” slider button to allow desktop icons. When Tweaks has launched, click on on “Desktop” in the left-hand pane. The icon will look different in Ubuntu 19.10. When it has installed, press the “Super” key (between the Control and Alt keys on the bottom-left of most keyboards) and type “tweaks”. To make this possible you’ll need to use GNOME Tweaks to change a setting.

Installing GNOME Tweaksīy default, you can’t copy files or icons to Ubuntu’s GNOME Shell desktop.

It’s the type of thing that gives them the impression that getting anywhere with Linux is going to be a long hard slog.Įven people who’ve used Linux for a little while and know their way around pretty well can find this topic much more of a struggle that it ought to be. In actual fact, it’s not difficult, but it is definitely counter-intuitive. It’s unfortunate, but a newcomer to Linux can find doing that simple task a frustrating struggle. Dropping shortcuts on the desktop is one of those things that Windows users do without overthinking about it.

Ubuntu task manager shortcut