[HOW TO] Create an application launcher in Gnome 3

If you want to create custom application launchers in the new Gnome 3 try one of the following ways:

• Install Alacarte(the easy way)

su
yum -y install alacarte

then press ALT+F2 and type in alacarte or use the Terminal.

• 2nd way for those who want to go Manual

Do the following:

1)Install Nano*(if its not installed by default):

*Nano is a simple easy to use text editor.

yum install nano

2)Now we have to create the app launcher in /usr/share/applications.(All your app launchers can be found in /usr/share/applications.)

Type:

nano /usr/share/applications/nameoftheapp.desktop

An empty text editor will open.

3)Copy&Paste in the editor:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=
GenericName=
Comment=
Exec=
Icon=
Terminal=false
Type=Application
MimeType=text/plain;
Categories=
Name[en_US]=

4)Type the path and the name of the app you want to use.

Then press CTRL+X. It will ask you if you want to save the file, press Y and then hit Enter.

In order to put your app in the category that you want you have to type the correct category name next to Categories=.

Here is a list with the correct category names: Correct Category Names

Thats it! You can now find your app launcher in the Menu!

EXAMPLE: We want to create a launcher for Eclipse. It will look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Eclipse
Comment=Eclipse SDK 3.6.2
Exec=eclipse
Icon=/opt/eclipse/icon.xpm
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=GNOME;Application;Development;
Name[en_US]=