Adding grouped icons to favorite bar in Ubuntu 18.04

Is there anyway to add icons groups to the favorites bar aka Ubuntu dock (something like drawers or unity-launcher-folders) in Ubuntu 18.04 ?

Solution 1:

It seems there isn't any way right now. But you can try an extremely hacky trick following the steps below.

1. Create a new file called app-folder.desktop in your ~/.local/share/applications/ directory and open it with a text editor.

2. Add the following lines and save the file.

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=App folder
   Comment=Launch multiple apps from a single launcher
   Exec=notify-send "Right click" "to launch your favourite applications!"
   Icon=/full/path/to/your/icon-file
   Terminal=false
   Type=Application
   Actions=app1;app2;app3;
   
   [Desktop Action app1]
   Name=Files
   Exec=nautilus
   [Desktop Action app2]
   Name=Text Editor
   Exec=gedit
   [Desktop Action app3]
   Name=Terminal
   Exec=gnome-terminal
   

   Note that I'm adding only three applications - Files, Text Editor, and Terminal. You can add applications of your choice following the scheme above.

3. Re-login just to be sure.

Now search for "App folder" in Activities overview, it should appear. Right click on it and "add to favourites" to pin it to the Ubuntu dock. Then if you click on the icon you should see a pop-up notification saying

Right click
_{to launch your favourite applications!}

If you right click on it you should see the name of the applications. Click on one, it should launch the corresponding application.