Unity Launcher Editor (ULE) is a python script that allows you to edit your Unity launcher. It allows you to add and remove applications to and from the launcher and also create/edit the quicklist items for each application. Compared to the previous way where you have to manually edit the config file, this is definitely a much better way.

Installation

Unity Launcher Editor is currently not available in the Ubuntu repository, nor is there a PPA or deb file (as of this post). To install ULE, we have to download the source code from LaunchPad. Once you have downloaded the source code, you should find a “unity-launcher-editor” folder in your Home directory. In your Nautilus, navigate to the “unity-launcher-editor -> unitylaunchereditor” folder and double-click the main.py file. A prompt will show up:

Click Run.

Using Unity Launcher Editor

There are three parts to the ULE. The panel on the left shows the existing applications that are in the launcher. You can select on any app and its details will show up on the right panel. The top section of the right panel shows the launcher app details while the bottom section shows its quicklist items. To add quicklist item to an existing application in the launcher, for example Firefox:

  1. Select the app (Firefox) icon on the left panel.

  2. Under the Quicklist Group, click the + button.

  3. Add the quicklist group name and the command you want it to execute. For example, I want to add a Private mode quicklist so I can quickly open a private session in Firefox.

  4. Click Save. Your quicklist item should appear in the launcher. If not, log out and log in again, or restart Unity (unity –replace).

Adding application to the launcher

ULE also allows you to add new application to the launcher. This is a two steps process.

  1. Click the + button at the bottom of the left panel. Enter the launcher name.

  2. Select the newly added launcher. Edit the info at the top section of the right panel.

Note: Please note that this is not the easiest way to add applications to the launcher. The easiest way is to first run the application that you want to add, then right click its icon on the launcher and select “Keep in launcher”. Do you have an easier way to add quicklist items to the launcher?