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_path
Code language: Bash (bash)
For example:
ln -s /home/user/doc.txt /home/user/Desktop/doc.lnk
Code language: Bash (bash)
Did you ever try this out? Apparently not, because I just tried it with Microsoft Edge in Ubuntu 18.04. Clicking the link does not launch the application, but opens the app in the text editor.