How to make a desktop shortcut on Ubuntu 20.04?

 

For Application Shortcuts:

1. Open /usr/share/applications
2. Copy the application shortcut to desktop
3. Right click on the shortcut on the desktop and select Allow Launching

For Folder/File shortcuts:

Either directly use the terminal to create a symbolic link

ln -s <complete path to dir> <shortcut save location>

or

1. Open the folder in the file manager (nautilus), navigate to the directory to which you want to create a shortcut to.

2. Right click and select Open in Terminal.

3. For shortcut to current directory, type and execute

   ln -s $PWD ~/Desktop/
   

   For shortcut to a file/folder inside the current directory, type and execute

   ln -s $PWD/filename ~/Desktop/
   

   or

   ln -s $PWD/dirname ~/Desktop/