Many a times you want to create shortcut links to launch applications or open files or folders so that you can place them all in a common place like Desktop.

To create desktop shortcuts in Ubuntu:

  • Select the application, file or folder
  • Press Ctrl + Shift in your keyboard and at the same time
  • Drag the icon to same directory or wherever you want and release

This will then create a shortcut to the file or folder or application you had selected. Double clicking on that shortcut will launch the application or open the file in its default application or open the folder.

If you need to do this via command line, then the command to create shortcut links is

ln -s source_file_or_folder_path short_cut_link_pathCode language: Bash (bash)

For example:

ln -s /home/user/doc.txt /home/user/Desktop/doc.lnkCode language: Bash (bash)