Edit linux application shortcuts

One-minute read
linux • desktop

Locations:

# System
/usr/share/applications/
/usr/local/share/applications/

# Flatpak
/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications/

# Snap
/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/

# Local
~/.local/share/applications/

Search for your application in those directories and edit the files, using root privileges where necessary.

sudo vim /usr/share/applications/org.gnome.Terminal.desktop

Now edit what you need, like the application command to add extra flags:

TryExec=gnome-terminal
Exec=gnome-terminal --full-screen
Icon=org.gnome.Terminal
Type=Application

Tip: leave TryExec alone!

You can also add environment variables using env:

Exec=env LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 gnome-terminal --full-screen

Copy it to ~/.local/share/applications if you don’t want to edit the original.