Create a custom application link in LXPanel

If you are a Lubuntu or LXDE desktop environment fan, at one point or other you might have wanted to add an LXPanel launcher for an application which is distributed as a binary or as an archive (i.e. not the standard installation). However, it is rather tricky if you don’t know where to add what. This article is meant to be a small how-to on adding a custom app link in LXPanel. We will add a link to Pale Moon browser which is distributed as an archive. The archive is extracted in /opt. Steps:

1. Edit ~/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/panels/panel. Look for the Plugin type = launchbar section and add a link to the palemoon.desktop file (which we will create in the next step).

   Plugin {
    type = launchbar
    Config {
     ...
     Button {
      id=/usr/share/applications/palemoon.desktop
     }
     ...
    }
   }

2. Create a new file /usr/share/applications/palemoon.desktop as root and add the following in it:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=palemoon
   Comment= Browse internet
   Exec=/opt/palemoon/palemoon
   Icon=/opt/palemoon/browser/icons/mozicon128.png
   Type=Application
   Terminal=false
   StartupNotify=false
   Categories=Application;Internet;

   You will need to adjust the entries for a different application.

3. Logout and login and the new icon should show in LXPanel now.