One of the useful features in Unity (Ubuntu Natty) is the adding of quicklists to the application icons in the launcher. For example, you can right click on the Google Chrome icon and access the option to open an incognito window, or right click the Gmail icon and select “Compose New Email” option. For those who came from the Windows background, this is very similar to the Windows 7’s taskbar jumplist.

How to add Unity Quicklists?

Ubuntu came out with an API for the Unity launcher and anyone can create their own quicklists with a different modification of the configuration file. Currently there is no easy way to add a quicklist item. The following is the summary of the steps required to add a quicklist item:

  • Copy the desktop configuration file to your home folder.Open the desktop configuration file with gedit.Add the quicklist code to the file. The syntax is as follow:

The X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts code refers to the entries that appear when you right click on the app icon. The following [XXX shortcut Group] is the action for each entry.

Some of the most useful Unity Quicklists

1. Add Private/Safe mode, Profile Manager and your frequently accessed site to Firefox icon.

Copy the Firefox desktop configuration file to your home folder.

Open the file with gedit.

Replace the line

with

Next, add the following code to the end of the file:

Save and close the file. Lastly, restart Unity

2. Add New Window and Incognito Mode to Google Chrome

This is assuming that you have installed Google Chrome in your Ubuntu.

Run the command:

Add the following code to the end of the file:

Save and close the file. Restart Unity

3. Add Favorite and Bookmarks to Home Folder

This will allow you to access the various folders directly from the launcher.

Scroll down the file and replace the line:

4. Make the LibreOffice Start Center More Useful

5. Add Custom Commands to the Terminal

The terminal is not an application that you will use frequently, but if you do, there will always be a few commands that you use regularly. You can add these commands to the quicklist for quick access.

6. Create a Google Services Center

If you use Google services as much as I do, this is going to be very useful to you.

Open a text editor and copy/paste the following code:

Remember to change the icon file path (You can download the Google icon that I used here.) The code above uses Google Chrome. You can change it to use Firefox or your favorite browser.

Save the file with the name “google-services.desktop” in the folder “/home/username/.local/share/applications folder“

Next, drag this file to the launcher.

7. Add Google Shortcut

Instead of accessing the Google services, if what you want is to have quick access to the various tasks in Google, like composing new email, adding a calendar, open a new doc etc, this is how you can do it.

Remember to change the icon file path.

Save the file with the name “google-shortcuts.desktop” in the folder “/home/username/.local/share/applications folder“

8. Quick Add PPA in Ubuntu Software Center

Our usual method of adding PPA is via the terminal, but this could be a more efficient way.

Add the following code to the end of the file.

The above are only a small fraction of what you can do with the Unity quicklists. You can also checkout AskUbuntu for more quicklists.

Note: If after adding the quicklist code and it causes problems to your system, you can easily restore your system by deleting the respective .desktop file from /home/username/.local/share/applications folder and restart unity.

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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