How to create a bookmark under "computer" in the Sidebar of the nautilus file manager in 12.04?

Question

Somehow, I removed the Downloads bookmark in the Sidebar under "Computer". Is there any way I can make a new one? Possibly with the same icon? I still have my Downloads directory. I just don't have the bookmark under "Computer" anymore, and it has the ordinary folder icon. I know it's not the most significant question, but it's a question nonetheless. Also, I'm not sure, but it may be important to note that I'm using unity 2d.

Solution 1

You need to do a couple of things then a log out/in should restore. (may be another way but this should suffice

First restore your current Downloads folder's icon

Open your home folder & right click on the Downloads folder > properties. Click on the folder icon, this will bring up a select custom icon window.

Browse to File System > usr > share > icons > Humanity > places > 48 & select the 1st folder_downloads.svg This should restore the icon to your Downloads folder

Now back in nautilus window > home folder

View > Show Hidden Files, open the folder .config. Inside is a file - user-dirs.dirs

You can either edit or just delete this file. If deleting then after do a log out in & hopefully all will be restored. If you want to edit then look for this line - XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/" & edit to this

XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"

Then do a log out/in

Solution 2

Enter the directory you want to bookmark and go to Bookmarks → Add bookmark or just press Ctrl+D.

Solution 3

My experience has been that you cannot really delete these shortcuts directly. If you rename the Downloads directory, then the shortcut will automatically rename itself to match the new name, even if you create a new directory named Downloads. So, how did you delete it?

Do you have a shortcut with the white down arrow in a folder? If so, that would be the former Downloads folder, and if you were to rename the actual folder, the shortcut will be renamed.

Is your current downloads folder named "Downloads", exactly? The first thing I do with a new distro is to delete all those folders (Pictures, Documents, Downloads, Music), and then add back a link to a shared partition, and name the links back to the original names. It then assumes the special icon automatically.

Solution 4

Just drag it there (literally). It'll make a shortcut / link

You can see how I've done this here for various folders.

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Comments

[William R.]

For whatever reason, that doesn't exactly work for me. Once I release, the icon goes back to it's original position.

[Deepak Verma]

Are you using Nautilus? It looks strange to me.

[William R.]

It is definitely Nautilus with the default ambiance theme. I'd tell you what version, but I don't know how to find that info.

[William R.]

Honestly, I can't remember specifically how I did it. I vaguely recall dragging the initial Downloads bookmark to the trash, and then I confused myself because I made another Downloads bookmark. No, I cannot find the folder with the down arrow on it, anywhere. Yes, it is currently named "Downloads" exactly.

[Deepak Verma]

That's strange, because as I said, I delete the Downloads folder, but I usually create the new one right away. Perhaps it has something to do with closing Nautilus when the folder does not exist. Perhaps I'll try it with a test system and post the results here.

[William R.]

I cannot thank you enough. Although it was a seemingly infinitesimal problem, your precise instructions worked like a charm.

[Deepak Verma]

The good news: I was able to duplicate the problem. I renamed one of the special directories (delete will also do it), then logged out. On logging in, I renamed it back, and it was added to Shortcuts (not under Computer), with standard icon. The bad news: I could not find out how to fix it. I tried completely removing nautilus on a test system, which involved reinstalling nautilus, ubuntu-desktop, gnome-session, etc. Didn't change anything. I assume you could find the icon and change that, but no way to get it back under "computer". Personally, I don't know if that's good or bad. :)

[Deepak Verma]

Oh, one more thing. I also tested this in a Fedora 16 vm running Gnome classic, and it has the same problem. So, it seems to be a Gnome problem.

[Deepak Verma]

For most programs, including Nautilus, you can go to the "help" menu, choose "about", and it will tell you the version.

[William R.]

Doug's solution worked for me. It was back under "computer" and everything. Also, if it helps anyone, I am using nautilus 3.4.1.

[Deepak Verma]

Same here, in that this may be helpful in organizing the "Places" sidebar so all the Bookmarks are in one place. Currently, I have some Bookmarks under the Bookmarks group, and others, like these, under Computer. I might want to rearrange them, especially to make "File System" easier to see.

[thorstorm]

This might be usefull to add another non-standard folder to the COMPUTER list. I'm testing that right now.

[thorstorm]

Adding lines to the list to add other folders to the COMPUTER list doesn't seem to work.

[uvasal]

This is not Nautilus for Ubuntu 12

[Alexis Wilke]

Excellent! Ctlr-D works. I do not have the menu because it otherwise goes in the bar at the top which is unusable on a normal system. Thank you.

[T.J. Crowder]

+1, this definitely works in Nautilus. Sadly not in Nemo, but <kbd>Ctrl+D</kbd> does the trick there.

[Pierre Thibault]

It works for me but when I start a new session, all the changes are lost. Any idea?