13.10, Unity, move menu item to desktop

[squakie]

I know this has been posted many times, but here goes:

13.04 and lower - could unlock a launcher from the unity menu bar, then open the menu and drag a launcher to the desktop.

No go in 13.10.

It was posted we should use the file explorer, locate the given app, then copy the thing to the desktop. I've been able to do this with a few things, but it is way more time consuming. I just now spent over 30 minutes just trying to place the various LibreOffice subproducts on my desktop, to no avail. I tried every dang thing I could. After 25 minutes I found the launchers. Copied them to my desktop - Ubuntu won't run them and gives me an error about untrusted launchers. Really????

Take a hint from Mint - allow right-clicking a menu item and saying place on desktop. Yeah, sounds like Windows too, but you know - if it works, why screw with it?

"Someone" has taken away a very simple thing and made it difficult at best, impossible more likely, to create desktop launchers that have the same icons, etc.. We should not have to add a launcher, set the string to what it is to execute and with conditionals like document name, then go hunt up an icon and change the launcher for it.

I'm pretty much stuck right now on using 13.10, but I *HATE* not being able to simply move a launcher to the desktop. It's wrong. Security issue? How?

[vasa1]

This section is for support to Absolute Beginners :)

[ajgreeny]

Copy the appropriate launcher ie, the /usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xdg/startcenter.desktop file to your desktop using nautilus.
If that does not work as it is shown as untrusted simply right click on the file in your desktop folder and mark it as executable. You can not just copy the libreoffice .desktop files from the menu, even when the DE has a normal menu as those files are links to the path I show above; it is annoying but easily sorted once you know how.

That ought to put it right for you, but I agree that it is a pain having to jump through all these hoops just to get launchers on the desktop, which many including myself like to use.

Another good reason, I think, to abandon unity and use another DE; Xubuntu in my case.

[coffeecat]

This section is for support to Absolute Beginners :)

Agreed!

Thread moved to Desktop Environments.

[grahammechanical]

I am the exact opposite. I never did like a desktop cluttered with program and file icons. Give me the wide open spaces of a clear desktop any time. I learned a few years ago to have a spare 20GB partition to install each version of Ubuntu as it came out. In this way I could try to set that new version up the way I liked before Upgrading my main install to the new version.

Do not forget that many of the changes that have happened in Ubuntu since 12.04 and that people complain about as being a change too far are actually changes brought about by the Gnome developers. Actually Linux Mint has not introduced this as a new thing. It is keeping what was already there. Some people like this. That is their choice. I have my choice.

Regards.

[mc4man]

In regards to this & your previous thread -
the inability to DnD to the desktop from the Dash is a bug, maybe it'll be fixed for 14.04
https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1241972

As far as libreoffice, it stores .desktops in a non standard location. So to add to your Desktop you need to copy from there & set as executable
(.desktops copied from /usr/share/applications do not need to have permissions altered, any .desktop in or placed in /usr/share/applications is 'auto considered' trusted & doesn't need the x bit set directly

libreoffice location of .desktops
/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xdg

[squakie]

Copy the appropriate launcher ie, the /usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xdg/startcenter.desktop file to your desktop using nautilus.
If that does not work as it is shown as untrusted simply right click on the file in your desktop folder and mark it as executable. You can not just copy the libreoffice .desktop files from the menu, even when the DE has a normal menu as those files are links to the path I show above; it is annoying but easily sorted once you know how.

That ought to put it right for you, but I agree that it is a pain having to jump through all these hoops just to get launchers on the desktop, which many including myself like to use.

Another good reason, I think, to abandon unity and use another DE; Xubuntu in my case.

Thank you! I did those copies and was worried because it still didn't show icons and I thought I'd have to go hunting for them, but as soon as I made them executable the icons were there. Exactly what I needed.

So in the future if I want to put something on my desktop, how would I go about determining the name so I would know what to search for (can I assume they will .desktop files as well or will they be something else?)?

As far as a beginners question goes, if things like this are moved elsewhere, then is someone assuming a new convert would not like to know how to populate their desktop? If so, what's the use in having a desktop, unless you want them to try a different flavor of linux? i also do understand about Gnome, but what I don't understand is including a newer version in an upgrade that removes prevous functionality.

just my opinion.

Thanks to ajgreeny for actually posting a solution.

[vasa1]

...
So in the future if I want to put something on my desktop, how would I go about determining the name so I would know what to search for (can I assume they will .desktop files as well or will they be something else?)?
...
Most GUI-based programs will have .desktop files.

The .desktop files are usually located in /usr/share/applications. Examining the contents with a text editor may reveal their function if things aren't obvious from the icons. The lines starting with "Comment" and "Exec" should have the information.

[monkeybrain20122]

I am the exact opposite. I never did like a desktop cluttered with program and file icons. Give me the wide open spaces of a clear desktop any time.


+1. With the dash you actually eliminate the need for throwing launcher icons all over the desktop, press Super+A a whole screen of icons are displayed in front of you. It is like having all the icons on your desktop but only when you actually need to see them.

[vasa1]

...
(.desktops copied from /usr/share/applications do not need to have permissions altered, any .desktop in or placed in /usr/share/applications is 'auto considered' trusted & doesn't need the x bit set directly
...
I'm seeing different. If I copy a .desktop file from /usr/share/applications to my desktop, I get a dialog window with, for example:

The desktop file "gnome-mplayer.desktop" is in an insecure location and not marked as executable. If you do not trust this program, click Cancel.

Exec=gnome-mplayer %U
and buttons to "mark as executable" or to "cancel" or to "launch anyway".

[mc4man]

I'm seeing different. If I copy a .desktop file from /usr/share/applications to my desktop, I get a dialog window with, for example:

and buttons to "mark as executable" or to "cancel" or to "launch anyway".

Not sure what you are using as here, standard ubuntu install/nautilus, a copy from /usr/share/applications is fine, no warning, no need to adjust permissions
(turns out after copy/paste they are auto set to x,
pcmanfm also does the same, copied .desktop is ready to go after c&p

[mc4man]

As far as a beginners question goes, if things like this are moved elsewhere, then is someone assuming a new convert would not like to know how to populate their desktop? If so, what's the use in having a desktop, unless you want them to try a different flavor of linux? i also do understand about Gnome, but what I don't understand is including a newer version in an upgrade that removes prevous functionality.
.

Not really that big an issue, most 'new' users won't care to have app launchers on their desktop, they get a dock in Ubuntu, a dock in gnome-shell, ect.
I think most that use the Desktop do so to store files & folders, not standard app launchers

As far as DnD of .desktops, nothing has changed, it's been a mv for a long time, no matter what the location
(DnD a .desktop from another partition or external volume, see what happens...

[vasa1]

Not sure what you are using as here, standard ubuntu install/nautilus, a copy from /usr/share/applications is fine, no warning, no need to adjust permissions
(turns out after copy/paste they are auto set to x,
pcmanfm also does the same, copied .desktop is ready to go after c&p
Mine is no longer "standard". I started off with Lubuntu 13.10 but then added xfce4desktop and thunar and later on xubuntu-desktop --no-install-recommends and log into an Xfce session. So I'm willing to accept some differences in functionality.

[squakie]

Drag and drop does NOT work if you hold the mouse down on a launcher in the menus and drag to the desktop in 13.10. Never had worked for me, and I'm not alone.

Just a personal note: I don't see why people are against having icons on the desktop. Contrary to one of the comments here, a new user is usually going to be a Windows want-to-convert. What do they have in Windows? Icons/launchers on their desktop. This why so many Windows users have had problems with Windows 8 - it initially took away that familiar look and feel that had been there for a couple of decades now. Why wouldn't one expect that those same new users would not want the ability to simply drag and drop (or right click an entry in the menu and select "Desktop") icons/launchers to their desktops. I for one, and it's just me personally, don't want to hunt through a bunch of icons everytime I want to start something. I don't want it "pinned" in the Unity menus. I want it on my dekstop. 1-click access to my most often used items. If one doesn't want launchers on the desktop, then what good is a desktop? You're just wasting space (and memory and a few CPU cycles) on something you aren't using. The Unity menu doesn't cover the entire desktop for a reason. If one wants to use a keystroke to pull the menu up, then hunt through icons, where does that fit compared to just clicking an icon on the desktop? If this whole "mess" (thanks, Gnome) is meant for nobody to have anything but documents on the desktop, then Ubuntu should have stuck with the look and feel of the old netbook edition where everything was on the screen. Menus are there for a reason. A ton of space on the desktop is there for a reason - and not just to put some cool looking background on.

If you look at the major players in OS's, all reflect the vision of having your most frequently used launchers on the desktop for easy access with no searching.

Now, that's my opinion. Obviously everyone has their own. I personally feel if you aren't going to use the desktop, ditch a desktop manager altogether and just go with the command line like we used to.

Ok, I'm done ;)