Desktop entries of type Application can include one or more actions. An action represents an additional way to invoke the application. Application launchers should expose them to the user (for example, as a submenu) within the context of the application. This is used to build so called "Quicklists" or "Jumplists".
Each action is identified by a string, following the same format
as key names (see the section called “Entries”). Each identifier is associated
with an action group that must be present in the .desktop
file. The action group is a group named Desktop Action %s,
where %s is the action identifier.
It is not valid to have an action group for an action identifier not
mentioned in the Actions key. Such an action group
must be ignored by implementors.
The following keys are supported within each action group. If a REQUIRED key is not present in an action group, then the implementor should ignore this action.
Table 3. Action Specific Keys
| Key | Description | Value Type | REQ? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Label that will be shown to the user. Since actions are always shown in the context of a specific application (that is, as a submenu of a launcher), this only needs to be unambiguous within one application and should not include the application name. | localestring | YES | |
Icon | Icon to be shown together with the action. If the name is an absolute path, the given file will be used. If the name is not an absolute path, the algorithm described in the Icon Theme Specification will be used to locate the icon. Implementations may choose to ignore it. | iconstring | NO | |
Exec |
Program to execute for this action, possibly with arguments. See the
Exec key for details on how this key
works. The Exec key is required if DBusActivatable is not
set to true in the main desktop entry group. Even if
DBusActivatable is true, Exec should be
specified for compatibility with implementations that do not understand
DBusActivatable.
| string | NO |
Application actions should be supported by implementors. However, in
case they are not supported, implementors can simply ignore the
Actions key and the associated Desktop
Action action groups, and keep using the Desktop
Entry group: the primary way to describe and invoke the
application is through the Name, Icon and Exec keys from the
Desktop Entry group.
It is not expected that other desktop components showing application lists (software installers, for instance) will provide any user interface for these actions. Therefore applications must only include actions that make sense as general launchers.