Ubuntu – Create a shortcut for URL

shortcutsurl

How can I create a shortcut for URL in my desktop? I want to use them in Firefox or Chrome.

If a copy and paste didn't work.

What script I have to use?

Best Answer

In Ubuntu an URL shortcut is stored in a .desktop file as follow (for example):

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Link to Ask Ubuntu
Type=Link
URL=http://www.askubuntu.com/
Icon=text-html

You can drag links from Firefox or Chrome and drop them on the Desktop or any other folder where you have permissions to save files.

Note: Link will appear on your Desktop or your file explorer (i.e. caja) under the name in the line Name=…, not by its actual filename. And without any ….desktop extension.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to create desktop shortcut on 19.10

Let's assume that your file's path is : /home/username/folder1/file.txt and you want to create a Desktop shortcut for that file.
You need to open the terminal and run the following command:

ln -s <absolute_path_of_the_file> <shortcut_path>

So in this example, it will be:

ln -s /home/username/folder1/file.txt /home/username/Desktop/

Don't forget to include the absolute path of the file, otherwise the shortcut will be broken.

Ubuntu – Firefox 82, create or edit shortcut

To edit the existing shortcut, copy the desktop file of Firefox from /usr/share/applications (firefox) to the folder .local/share/applications in the home folder. Edit the Exec= line.

If more users need to be able to use that launcher, place a copy of the .desktop file in a /usr/local/share/applications folder. That will override the copy in /usr/share/applications. You could edit the original launcher directly, but it might be overwritten by a future update.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to create desktop shortcut on 19.10

Ubuntu – Firefox 82, create or edit shortcut

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