How do I create an shortcut to a folder(not a symlink) in Ubuntu 18.04 like shortcuts in windows

I need to create a shortcut to a folder in Ubuntu 18.04 like I did it windows. I don't like symlinks for a navigation patterns I have used in windows. Symlink is not the best solution for me just because it works differently. Symlink brings a folder content to another folder, while shortcut helps me to navigate to the source folder.

Let's say I've got a folder with many projects. The one project is a major one which is 80% time spending. I'd like to create a shortcut to it so I can quickly navigate to that project. It might happen on rare occasion I need to navigate to another project then in windows I used to open the main project using that shortcut, THEN I GO ONE LEVEL UP AND SELECT ANOTHER PROJECT. This is not possible with symlinks. Because if I go up after I opened symlink I will be in a wrong place.

With shortcuts I don't need to have that many shortcuts as with symlinks. If I only have symlinks then I need to create at least 2 symlinks where in windows I would have just 1 shortcut.

Keyboard shortcut is not the same. The reson is that I normally create a folder called Links in which I have approximately 10 folder shortcuts. Remembering 10 keyboard shortcuts doesn't look like a great idea.

Creating a .desktop file also seems would not work as I believe it would work for 1 folder.

This way of working is not strongly supported in Ubuntu. Still, you can create a launcher to open a folder by creating a .desktop file.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Publications folder
Comment=Go to publications
Exec=xdg-open /home/user/Documents/Project
Terminal=false
Icon=
Type=Application

Replace the folder path and name after "xdg-open" with the actual path and name of your folder. You can supply an icon after "Icon="

Make the .desktop file executable (right-click the file, select "Properties", on the "Permissions" tab, check "Allow executing file as program")

You can now

• Place the file on your desktop
• Place the file in a hidden folder .local/share/applications in your home folder. Then, this item will show up in your applications. You can therefore quickly launch it as any other program.
• You can pin the icon to the dash for even quicker access.

Another possibility for quick access to that folder is to pin it as a bookmark in "Files". Highlight the folder in "Files" and drag it on the left bar. Drop it where it says "New bookmark". Shorter, go into the folder you want to bookmark, and press Ctrl+d.