Fix "Add to Favorites" for custom apps in Ubuntu
There is no “Add to Favorites” option in Ubuntu dock for custom apps. You will learn how to create a custom launcher and add to favorites in the dock.
Content
- Add standard application to Ubuntu dock
- Add custom application to Ubuntu dock
- Create terminal launcher for custom application
Add standard application to Ubuntu dock
If you open any application from the Ubuntu menu and right-click on it in the dock, you will be able to pin it to the dock by selecting “Add to Favorites”:
The application launcher will stay there after you close the app. That’s is the way to get a quick launcher for any app. However, this approach doesn’t work if you install an application not from the Ubuntu repository.
Add custom application to Ubuntu dock
Let’s say you have installed an application using an executable file and not the repositories. If you launch such an application and try to add it to favorites in the Ubuntu dock, you won’t find such an option in the context menu:
I don’t know why you cannot add to dock custom applications by default. And the only way to add it is to create a launcher manually.
For that, you need to create a yourapp.desktop
file in /usr/share/applications/
:
sudo nano /usr/share/applications/yourapp.desktop
Paste the following content:
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/path/to/yourapp
Name=YourApp
Comment=Description of YourApp
Icon=/path/to/yourapp.png
Replace yourapp
with your application and save by pressing Ctrl+O, Enter and Ctrl+X.
Make this file executable:
sudo chmod +x /usr/share/applications/yourapp.desktop
Log out and log in.
Open the Ubuntu Dash menu and you should be able to find your custom application in the menu. You can launch it from the menu.
Also, if right-click on it, you should be able to select “Add to Favorites” and pin it to the dock panel:
Now, when you close this application, a quick launcher will stay in the dock panel.
Create terminal launcher for custom application
Additionally, you can also create a quick launcher for this application to run it from the terminal.
Just create a file with the path to your application in /usr/local/bin/
:
sudo echo /path/to/yourapp > /usr/local/bin/yourapp
Make it executable:
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yourapp
Now, if you run yourapp
anywhere in the terminal, your custom application will launch.
Let me know in the comments if you know a better way to create a custom launcher in Ubuntu.
Please consider supporting this project:
Become a patron
Comments
Veronika
Worked for me to add Eclipse to favorites: Launch the application –> Right click on the status bar of it (on top of the opened window) –> chose “Move to workspace down” –> right click on the icon in the launcher bar –> Add to favorites
Hope will help ;)
Average Linux User
Thanks for sharing your experience, Veronika!
Mikael Laine
Thanks! This was an amazing tutorial!
Lucas
Tried that with Palemoon installed with gdebi from a deb package on Ubuntu 20.04. Worked fine for adding the app to the application menu, however it does not show the option to add to favorites on right clicking (when application opened in the dock). Any ideas? Thanks for the post, very useful
Sergi
I am trying to run a driver and it is asking me for root permissions… is there a way to avoid this? Thanks.
FG
This works for me on Ubuntu 20.04
no programming necessary
Tony
That did not work for me. I have tried the StartupWMClass didn't work. right click on running pgm was successful at adding to dock, but icon was wrong, and app didn't run, so that didn't work. Come one guys, this should not take hours to get to work. WHY Doesn't this work? it worked on 18, but functionality has been changed in 20. not cool
Ken
Thanks. This worked.
Benjamin Schiller
Thank you! For me it's working fine on Ubuntu 20.04 with one little difference: add to favorites is only possible in menu with a right mouse click. But anyway, it works perfekt.
Jörg K
Thanks alot for the Howto, but i cant get the Icons to work. The Apps i use dont come with a Icon.png. Any idea how to make it work?
Nicolas
Thanks for this tutorial. It helps a lot! It worked fine on one of my pcs. But on the other it does this thing where it launches the app in a new icon : https://framapic.org/pznT6Br1niFX/mLkQHfQ97IRN.gif. Any idea what could be causing this?
Average Linux User
Hi Nicolas, Thank you for the comment. I do not experience that issue. I tested it with the Standard Notes AppImage:
Do you run any additional GNOME extensions?
Nicolas
Hi, Thanks for your response. I run a couple of extensions : alternatetab, Always zoom workspaces, Noannoyance, Quick close in overview and user themes. But even disabling them doesn't help. I'll keep digging and come back to you if I find the cause of the problem.
Daggerhart
Add this to your .desktop file:
StartupWMClass=Firefox Developer Edition
Average Linux User
Thanks for coming back and sharing it here.