Xfce Forum

Bmarsh999

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 4

Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

I'm not a new XFCE user but am coming back to it after 4 or more years...   Gave up on kubuntu 15.04 with it's default of Plasma 5 now.   XFCE is like an old friend.

But I would like to put 'launcher' icons on the desktop and am confused.  If I put the desktop into File/launcher mode, I get icons for EVERY file in my home directory...  which is not what I want and makes a total mess out of the desktop.   I just tried to "create launcher"  which sounds good, I could find the result on the desktop maybe because there was no room left for the icon.

Is there any other setting which will allow me to build and place just launcher icons on the desktop? 

Thanks

gnome_refugee

Member

Registered: 2010-01-15

Posts: 169

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

Hi, Bmarsh999

In Thunar, right-click on the file you want to launch. In the right-click menu, choose 'Send To/Desktop (Create Link).

Welcome back to the Xfce world!

MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

Or you could just "drag" the entry from your menu to your desktop (assuming that what you wish to run has an entry to copy).

Regards,
MDM

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Mountain Dew Maniac

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ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,494

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

If I put the desktop into File/launcher mode, I get icons for EVERY file in my home directory...

If that isn't a typo, it sounds like your desktop is being mapped to your home directory. What are the contents of the ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs file? XDG_DESKTOP_DIR should point to your desktop:

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"

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Bmarsh999

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 4

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

Now I think we're getting somewhere:
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/"

So everything points to home.  Would the proper entry be:   "$HOME/xfce4/desktop"     ?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,494

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

It should just be "$HOME/Desktop". Here are the contents of my file, which I believe is default:

# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update
# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're
# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run
# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped
# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an
# absolute path. No other format is supported.
# 
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"

"man xdg-user-dirs-update" will give you more information on how to update the contents of that file.

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Bmarsh999

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 4

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

Arrrgggg    I tried to do that but the user-dirs.dirs file keeps getting overwritten when I start XFCE again  and changes it back to  "$HOME/"

So xdg-user-dirs-update   must be getting some bad info in order to re-write it...

I did have some success when I changed it to:  XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="/home/<user>/.config/xfce4/desktop"   and then it didn't get rewritten...

But I just tried:    XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="/home/<user>/Desktop"       and it got written over.

Now digging into  xdg-user-dirs-update   to see where it screws up.

Bmarsh999

Member

Registered: 2015-04-03

Posts: 4

Re: Unable to put icons/shortcuts on desktop

Well, think I have it all sorted out....    I DID NOT have a $HOME/Desktop  directory!   My Desktop was a file instead of a directory and what was in the file made no sense...   had no entries for apps at all.   So I made a Desktop directory and copied what was in  $HOME/.config/xfce4/desktop into it and now everything seems fine.  The update program didn't overwrite it and provided the proper $HOME/Desktop entry..

Thanks for all the help!    All of these problems may be due to my using KDE for the past few years, plus the fact I probably had some XFCE stuff left over from the past.   But as long as it is working...  I'm not going to go looking for more trouble.