Newly Installed Apps do not appear in Applications Menu

[taneal1]

Newly Installed Apps do not appear in Applications Menu

I installed Blender. I can run it from the file Folder, but it does not appear in the desktop applications.

[Holger_Gehrke]

How did you install Blender ? If you installed it from the Software Center / Snap-store / Ubuntu Store (or whatever it's called now ...) it should have set up a menu item.

For a program to show in the menu there needs to be a desktop file for it in one of the places the system searches for them. Desktop files are simple text files with a well documented structure and a name ending in '.desktop'. The system expects them to be in directories named applications/ in the directories listed in the environment variable XDG_DATA_DIRS or in $HOME/.local/share/applications.

Holger

[taneal1]

How did you install Blender ? If you installed it from the Software Center / Snap-store / Ubuntu Store (or whatever it's called now ...) it should have set up a menu item.

For a program to show in the menu there needs to be a desktop file for it in one of the places the system searches for them. Desktop files are simple text files with a well documented structure and a name ending in '.desktop'. The system expects them to be in directories named applications/ in the directories listed in the environment variable XDG_DATA_DIRS or in $HOME/.local/share/applications.

Holger


Ubuntu store. Yes, it should have set up a menu, but it didn't.
Thanks for the response, but as a brand new Ubuntu user I don't know enough about anything you mention to actually fix the issue without a lot more info.

I thought I'd try Ubuntu because everyone says its easy, it's simple to use, and runs reliably, whereas Windows get worse with every iteration. My first impressions of Ubuntu are it's buggy, difficult to install, very limited on apps (which are difficult to install) and virtually impossible to get a clear answer to a simple question.

I'll start off looking for the $HOME/.local/share/applications...

[pantazi]

Have you opened the applications menu and typed Blender in to the search bar? If you installed it from the software centre it should then be shown and you can then add the icon to the dash.
As for Ubuntu being 'buggy, difficult to install and limited on apps' , this is simply not true as I, as a 76 year old has proved. Admittedly there is a learning curve, but taking small steps (and not running before walking) pays dividends.

[taneal1]

How did you install Blender ? If you installed it from the Software Center / Snap-store / Ubuntu Store (or whatever it's called now ...) it should have set up a menu item.

For a program to show in the menu there needs to be a desktop file for it in one of the places the system searches for them. Desktop files are simple text files with a well documented structure and a name ending in '.desktop'. The system expects them to be in directories named applications/ in the directories listed in the environment variable XDG_DATA_DIRS or in $HOME/.local/share/applications.

Holger


Ubuntu store. Yes, it should have set up a menu, but it didn't.
Thanks for the response, but as a brand new Ubuntu user I don't know enough about anything you mention to actually fix the issue without a lot more info.

I thought I'd try Ubuntu because everyone says its easy, it's simple to use, and runs reliably, whereas Windows get worse with every iteration. My first impressions of Ubuntu are it's buggy, difficult to install, very limited on apps (which are difficult to install) and virtually impossible to get a clear answer to a simple question.

I'll start off looking for the $HOME/.local/share/applications...

There is a file named "blender.desktop" in the Blender folder. Per the above instructions, I copied it into HOME/local/share/applications. This folder was empty prior to my action. Blender still does not appear in Show/Applications.

[taneal1]

There is a file named "blender.desktop" in the Blender folder. Per the above instructions, I copied it into HOME/local/share/applications. This folder was empty prior to my action. Blender still does not appear in Show/Applications.

[Dennis N]

There is a file named "blender.desktop" in the Blender folder. Per the above instructions, I copied it into HOME/local/share/applications. This folder was empty prior to my action. Blender still does not appear in Show/Applications.

The location you give here for the .desktop file is not correct. It should be ~/.local/share/applications

[taneal1]

[QUOTE There is a file named "blender.desktop" in the Blender folder. Per the above instructions, I copied it into HOME/local/share/applications. This folder was empty prior to my action. Blender still does not appear in Show/Applications.[/QUOTE]

The location you give here for the .desktop file is not correct. It should be ~/.local/share/applications

Are you saying the file *was* in the wrong folder, or that I copied it into the wrong folder?

Is ~/.local/share/applications "not" the folder under HOME? If not, where is it located? If it's actually "/.local and not /local, Search is not finding it...

[Dennis N]

...Are you saying the file *was* in the wrong folder, or that I copied it into the wrong folder?
Is ~/.local/share/applications "not" the folder under HOME? If not, where is it located? If it's actually "/.local and not /local, Search is not finding it...

You copied it to a wrong folder. There are two places where .desktop files are detected.
One is ~/.local/share/applications and the other is /usr/share/applications.
Ubuntu Software would put .desktop files in this 2nd location, so look and see if one already exists there.

Since you post in the "New" forum, here are a few more comments.

~/.local/share/applications and ~/local/share applications are both in your home folder, and they are not the same. ~/.local/share/applications is inside a hidden folder (namely, ~/.local). Hidden folder names start with a . (dot). ~/local/share/applications is inside ~/local, which is not a hidden folder.

Ctrl+H when using the file manager will toggle the display of hidden folders and their contents (and hidden files) that are within your working directory. ls -a in your terminal will list all folders and files, including hidden ones.

Also, /.local is not the same as ~/.local because

~/ stands for your home folder and
/ by itself is the root folder of the file system.

Big difference, so you have to take care about naming folders in commands.

[taneal1]

You copied it to a wrong folder. There are two places where .desktop files are detected.
One is ~/.local/share/applications and the other is /usr/share/applications.
Ubuntu Software would put .desktop files in this 2nd location, so look and see if one already exists there.

Thanks, Dennis.

When I attempt to move or copy the blender.desktop into the /usr/share/applications folder produces a 'You don't have permission to copy here...' Shades of the dreaded Windows OS.

EDIT: After 30+ minutes or so of screwing around with the "sudo cp" command and getting "no such directory" I tried going to the individual folders 'open in terminal' and using those paths - still didn't work... I finally got it to work. Now I have the blender.desktop file in the /usr/showapplications with all the other apps. It still does not show in "show applications." As an homage to windows and its never-ending reboot requirements, I rebooted. Still no Blender in show applications...

When I have gathered my strength for another fight to the death I'll attempt to copy the blender file to the other folder...

EDIT 2: Both files given above now contain the Blender.desktop file. Blender is *still* not available from show applications...