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I have done the following:

  1. I copied firefox.desktop from /usr/share/applications to ~/Desktop.

  2. In Desktop, I right-clicked and selected Allow launching.

  3. Repeated the same with many such .desktop files.

  4. I created a new folder in Desktop called apps.

  5. Moved all the .desktop files from ~/Desktop to ~/Desktop/apps.

The problem is that the .desktop files are no longer launchable inside the apps folder. By launchable, I mean when I click the .desktop file it actually launches instead of just opening the text file.

So how do I make them launchable?

This is an issue in Ubuntu 21.04 too. There are some improvements in 21.04, such as fixing drag and drop for copy, but this issue looks like it hasn't been fixed in 21.04.

BeastOfCaerbannog
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supersonic
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    Does this answer your question? Basic desktop actions are not available on Ubuntu 20.04. Simply do not use GNOMEs Hell, install MATE or Cinnamon instead and enjoy. – N0rbert Jul 27 '21 at 06:59
  • @N0rbert nah that one's about copy pasting, my issue is that .desktop's "make launchable" option in right-click menu disappears if I move it out of ~/Desktop. Issue in that link is fixed by upgrading to 21.04, but my issue still exists in 21.04. – supersonic Jul 27 '21 at 17:19
  • "How do I make them launchable?" you don't. That ability was removed from GNOME, It is a text file that needs to be PARSED. It is not an executable. gtk-launch <desktopfile> is the way do this – Rinzwind Jul 27 '21 at 19:33
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    this does answer it https://askubuntu.com/questions/5172/running-a-desktop-file-in-the-terminal – Rinzwind Jul 27 '21 at 19:34
  • @Rinzwind can I run it using double-click? (instead of terminal). I can't believe ubuntu doesn't have this basic functionality. – supersonic Jul 28 '21 at 04:15
  • Eh don't blame Ubuntu. Blame the gnome developers: they believe it is up to the filemanager to manage files and that one will not execute text files. As n0rbert said: Mate or cinnamon do not do this. You are not the 1st to complain about it and it is what made ME switch to Ubuntu Budgie – Rinzwind Jul 28 '21 at 08:44

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