An easy way to create a desktop shortcut?

I wonder, isn't still there an easy way to create a desktop shortcut in Ubuntu 14.04 (or Unity)? There is no context menu on desktop doing this.

So I tried the following: I looked for an app I want to create a shortcut for in the dash, then I tried to drag it to the desktop. And guess what? I got the error:

1. Right click the file you want a link to in your file manager.
2. Select "Create link" from the context menu.
3. Move that link wherever you want it.

In the case of application launchers, they're placed in /usr/share/applications/. The procedure is identical. We have several shortcut editor applications if you want advanced functionality, but I suspect the method above should suffice?

When we discover bugs in Ubuntu and we would like them to be fixed, we report them to the developers. This is done on http://Launchpad.net.

Try to press Ctrl and Shift (I have used left ones) together when drag'n'dropping app or folder to desktop ;-)

I find this works:

1. Open Nautilus
2. Navigate to /usr/share/applications
3. Right-click on the application you want to use and select copy
4. Click on your desktop and select paste
5. Right click on the icon that has just been created and select properties
6. On the Permissions tab check Execute then click Close

Done!

The above answers all assume that the desktop file is in /usr/share/applications, but sometimes it is not the case. So I posted my answer in case these answers do not work.

Usually when running the application or package you have installed, the icon of the application will appear in the launcher. That is to say, ubuntu has already automatically created a desktop file for the application. All you need to do is to find it and copy it to the desktop. More often than not it is in /usr/share/applications, as assumed by all other answers to this question, but sometimes it is in ~/.local/share/applications, or elsewhere you have no idea about. In the following I will add an icon for Qt Creator which is not in /usr/share/applications by default to the desktop to illustrate this method.

(1) After installation of Qt, run Qt Creator.

(2) Locate the path to the executable. This can be done by search the list of System Monitor in the Processes tab for the particular process for that application and view the process property.

(3) Record the path, say, /home/zh/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator for Qt Creator. Search the disk for desktop file containing this path using command sudo find / -name "*.desktop"|xargs grep /home/zh/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator. You will get "/home/zh/.local/share/applications/DigiaQt-qtcreator-community.desktop".

(4) Copy that desktop file to ~/Desktop, then you are all set.