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Having upgraded from 18 LTS to 20 LTS, all of my .desktop shortcut files located in folders stopping working.

Any of the files may be copied onto the desktop, and once I select "Allow Launching", the icon I assigned to the shortcut reappears and the shortcut works. However, if I copy that "fixed" .desktop file into any folder, it stops working and the icon disappears. Making a copy of that copy back onto the desktop restores operation, so obviously the problem is where in the GUI the file is located.

Is there any way to fix this, other than placing all .desktop files onto the desktop?

As I understand, this situation is the result of an intentional change made to Gnome. Why was this change made i.e. what was the benefit derived from breaking user shortcuts?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Mike

mlmccauley
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  • Ah yes, things are a little different in 20.04. Move the .desktop files into ~/.local/share/applications, and you'll be able to launch them from the SUPER key just like any other app. – heynnema Jun 16 '20 at 22:35
  • Thanks! I'll give that a try. – mlmccauley Jun 17 '20 at 02:29
  • That worked like a champ, exactly as you described.

    That said, I would like to keep executable shortcuts in categories i.e. projects, engineering, personal, etc. The launcher called by the Super key presents all apps in one huge bucket, albeit alphabetized.

    Is there anyway to set up categories i.e. folder-like things, in that huge list?

    I think (???) that maybe this can be done by installing a non-default launcher. Would that be the best way to go?

    Thanks again!

     – mlmccauley Jun 17 '20 at 02:56
  • Each .desktop file has a Categories= line where you can specify application categories... like games, utility, system, etc. – heynnema Jun 17 '20 at 03:06
  • Duplicate? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1257456/restoring-desktop-shortcut-functionality-broken-by-18-20-upgrade – Nathaniel M. Beaver Jul 15 '20 at 15:37

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