Add "Show Desktop" shortcut to plank

Question

I am using Plank on Ubuntu 14.04, I want to add "show desktop" shortcut to plank so that whenever I click it I get to see the desktop directly instead of minimizing all the windows. How can I do it?

Answer 1

1. First of all install the xdotool:

   sudo apt-get install xdotool
   

2. Create a Desktop Shortcut for the 'Show Desktop' for simulate the press key Win+D using xdotool:

   sudo nano /usr/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop
   

   Add below contents:

   [Desktop Entry]  
   Type=Application  
   Exec=xdotool key --delay 100 super+d  
   Name=Show Desktop  
   Icon=desktop  
   Terminal=false  
   StartupNotify=false  
   

   Or skip the boring edit part from above and enter this:

   echo -e "[Desktop Entry]\nType=Application\nExec=xdotool key --delay 100 super+d\nName=Show Desktop\nIcon=desktop\nTerminal=false\nStartupNotify=false" | sudo tee /usr/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop > /dev/null
   

3. Create a Dockitem file in Phank:

   nano ~/.config/plank/dock1/launchers/show-desktop.dockitem
   

   The contents:

   [PlankItemsDockItemPreferences]  
   Launcher=file:///usr/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop  
   

   Or skip the boring edit part from above and enter this:

   /bin/bash -c 'echo -e "[PlankItemsDockItemPreferences]\nLauncher=file:///usr/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop" | tee ~/.config/plank/dock1/launchers/show-desktop.dockitem'
   

4. Make It Permanent

   Now create a entry for the command above in gnome-session-properties. Because if accidentally make a mistake and remove the "Show Desktop" dockitem (uncheck 'Keep In Dock'), so you need to re-create the dockitem file again every time. To solve this problem, we just force to recreate the dockitem file on every session startup:

   echo -e "[Desktop Entry]\nType=Application\nExec=/bin/bash -c 'echo -e \"[PlankItemsDockItemPreferences]\\\nLauncher=file:///usr/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop\" | tee ~/.config/plank/dock1/launchers/show-desktop.dockitem'\nHidden=false\nX-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true\nName=show-desktop-in-phank" | tee ~/.config/autostart/show-desktop-in-phank.desktop > /dev/null