How to open files in a program calc for example!

How do I create a link from desktop to a file in another directory or other disk or at least open the directory on what ever disk that the files are in.
And please if a script is needed…You know send me to where I can download it compile or whatever.

There is some discrepancy between what you ask in the title, and what you ask in the body of the question. Second, the default Fedora desktop does not support icons/launchers/etc on the desktop. Lacking info on the desktop you may be using, I assume you use the default Fedora desktop, i.e., Gnome Shell.

For what concerns the question in your title: you have the default file associations. Thus, an ‘.ods’ file automatically will be opened in Calc. You can open in another program by right-clicking the file in Files, then selecting “Open with”. In that dialog, you can permanently change the default application.

For what concerns the question in the body of your message: to create a link to another folder, right-click the folder in Files, and select “Create Link”. A link is created in the current folder to that folder that you right-clicked. You can rename that link and move it to a different folder if desired. Clicking the link will open the contents of the target folder.

You can also create a link to a file. However, be careful, because editing a file opened through its link may break the link because of the way many applications nowadays handle updating a file - they first create a temporary file, then when saving delete the original (which could be the link) then rename the temporary file to the name of the file.

A different approach that works more like MS Windows shortcuts are .desktop launchers of type “Directory” or “Link”. This, however, is not widely supported anymore.

The methods Gnome Shell implements quick access to files with different approaches:

  1. There is quick name search to quickly locate and access a file wherever in your file system.
  2. There is the “Recents” folder that automatically will collect files that were recently opened.
  3. There is the “Starred” system, allowing you to manually mark folders or files for quick access through the “Starred” folder.
1 Like

You might have to give us a bit more information how your workflow looks like and what environment you use.

I do like to work a lot in the terminal. So for me the place to store “helper scripts” is in /home/username/bin (because it is already in the search path) . I also do have some .desktop files to add them to the “dash to dock” or make them available in the “show apps” section.

Let us know what you like to do, maybe we have an idea how you can solve it.

1 Like

I am not one for 3 or more steps to open a file in a specific location and not for the mac which stores them in one place. I am for the the windows process one or double click and a file in a specific directory will open and save back to same location in the same location that it is stored in. 3 mouse clicks times open amount say a year x3000 opening is 9000 mouse clicks as apposed to 3000. Bye the bye I am not a windows or mac fan because they are don’t do that OS’s
Thanks for your help.

See that windows is already sticking it nose in my answers as seen in the last sentence.

Are you asking to symlink the file ? Like on Windows this would be a Shortcut to the file?

Also, your title does not reflect this, I was under the impression you wanted to :

1 Like

There is also the option to bookmark a folder in Files (in case you are using GNOME), by dragging the specific folder to the left panel of the file manager. This action triggers a New Bookmark option, and you have to place the dragged folder specifically on it.

1 Like

If you start the app like:

libreoffice --calc /home/ilikelinux/Documents/calc/mysheet.ods
You can create a .desktop file and add the command above as exec value (just change paths for your needs). This way when you add this to the dash, you can open your calc sheet with one click saving the other two :slight_smile:

I hope this helps

2 Likes

Useful for those with multiple browser profiles !

If i would need that, I would make me a helper script and save it in $HOME/bin. So I do have more options than the gnome based DE’s.

All these are work around answers The question is quite clear. click a link and it opens in the directory it is stored and opened from the desktop. In reply if I copy and create a link of a file in a directory or other drive and paste a link on the desktopy or a directory on the desktop it opens and save on the desk top. Just like a mac instead of saving where it is saved

Maybe Gnome is not for you, then. KDE or one of the other spins might better match what you like to do.

You can create files or symbolic links on the desktop and you can also copy launchers to the desktop. Everything you create in the directory ~/Desktop will appear on the desktop.

If the question is clear to you, then that is perhaps fine for you. It is not clear for me, though. Still I am guessing that maybe you are using the default Gnome desktop.