HOWTO: Find Your Installed Applications

[user1397]

This guide helps you find your installed applications, so that if you installed something but it did not show up in the applications menu, you'll know where it is, and then you can make a launcher for it. There is a great application that can search all of your installed applications. It's called Xfce 4 Appfinder - and don't be scared by the name, it works in Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. Now to install the program, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and paste:

sudo apt-get update&&sudo apt-get install xfce4-appfinder

It'll be in Applications > Accessories in GNOME, Kmenu > Utilities in KDE, and Xfce Menu > Utilities in XFCE.

To search for anything with a GUI search tool, you can either go to Places > Search for Files, or you can right-click on any panel, select add to panel, and select the Deskbar search tool, and search from there.

You can also install Beagle, a powerful search tool. To install it, just paste into a terminal:

sudo apt-get update&&sudo apt-get install beagle

It will replace the Places > Search for Files tool, and now it is just Places > Search.

You can't really go back to the original search tool (well you can, but it's a bit tedious), but you can always just add the "Search for Files" applet to your panel (right-click on any panel, and select add to panel).

To search for anything with the terminal, you can either use the commands locate or which.
Locate is used more like a keyword-based search function. For example, if you type in a terminal:

locate java

then all files with the name java would appear, and there are a lot more than one if you have java installed. The which command will find the most important file associated with the keyword, i.e.

which java

will reveal the location of the java executable, in /usr/bin/java, and that's it.

After you've found the location of your installed app, you have to make a launcher for it in the menus. So right-click on your menu, and select edit menus. Then go to whatever category you wish the program to be, and select file > new entry. then you can choose the name, description, icon, and most importantly, the command for your application which you have just found.

[user1397]

BTW, this app only finds actual applications, like totem or firefox, not everything that you install. For example, if you want to know the location of a lib or a script, this app won't help you.

[lukew]

Hi,

You can also use the which command, for example.

which java


Luke

[user1397]

Hi,

You can also use the which command, for example.

which java


Luke

yes that also works.

[oskvaz]

Excellent app. An easy way to see all our installed applications.

Thanks !!!

[user1397]

Excellent app. An easy way to see all our installed applications.

Thanks !!!

no prob

[user1397]

***Updated this howto, now it includes all possible ways to search for stuff. not much, i know, but still helpful.

[Eric Weir]

,,,, There is a great application that can search all of your installed applications. It's called Xfce 4 Appfinder - and don't be scared by the name, it works in Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. Now to install the program, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and paste:

sudo apt-get update&&sudo apt-get install xfce4-appfinder

It'll be in Applications > Accessories in GNOME, Kmenu > Utilities in KDE, and Xfce Menu > Utilities in XFCE.

I just tried this. Two applications I'm pretty sure I installed -- Samba and DOSbox -- don't show up. However, they do show up in Synaptic, i.e., as installed.

Otherwise, they're invisible on the system. They don't show up in the menus or when I search for them either as installed or available applications in Add/Remove Applications.

I'd like to use them. How do I get access to them?

Thanks in advance,

[user1397]

I just tried this. Two applications I'm pretty sure I installed -- Samba and DOSbox -- don't show up. However, they do show up in Synaptic, i.e., as installed.

Otherwise, they're invisible on the system. They don't show up in the menus or when I search for them either as installed or available applications in Add/Remove Applications.

I'd like to use them. How do I get access to them?

Thanks in advance,

have you tried the other commands in the first post? i.e. the locate and which commands?

[Eric Weir]

have you tried the other commands in the first post? i.e. the locate and which commands?

Nope. Will do.

Thanks,