Add applications to cinnamon menu in Linux Mint

Linux Mint is a beautiful desktop operating system based on Ubuntu Linux with outstanding customization features..

In this tutorial we will add a custom application in the Linux Mint main menu or Mint menu.

Linux Mint gives you full control over the look of your system. You can customize it as much as you want. Make it look like Mac, Windows or design your custom look.

What application can we add?

You can add almost any application in the mint menu but the suggested one are Appimages, executable text (sh) and terminal commands.

Also Read: How to install Ubuntu 20.04 (with pictures)?

There is no need to add installation packages like .deb to add in the menu as they automatically add themselves but if certain application don’t do so. Then follow this tutorial to add applications in Linux Mint menu.

Method 1: Add custom applications in Mint menu.

Step 1: On your Linux Mint desktop, find the Linux Mint menu and right click on it. It is on the bottom left of your screen or try pressing “Window” key on your keyboard.

I highlight this in the above picture.

add custom applications in linux mint 20

Step 2: Now click on the Configure… button as shown in the picture above. From here, we can easily configure Mint menu.

Also Read: Install Linux Mint 20 on VirtualBox (with Pictures)

You will find all configurations for Linux mint menu here, from changing the default menu icon to adding new items.

Step 3: Now, as we are in the Mint menu configuration, go to the Menu tab; it’s highlighted in the picture above and press Open the menu editor button.

Here we can see all the different categories available in the menu.

Step 4: If you want to create a new category, click New Menu and enter the name of the category. To add items, choose the suitable category and click on New Item.

choose the icon for application launcher.

Step 4: Now click on the Rocket icon as shown in the picture above. We can now set the icon for our launcher.

browse icons for your application launcher in linux mint menu.

Step 5: From the catalogue of thousands of icons, choose one that matches your purpose or click Browse to choose a custom icon.

choose the picture for your application launcher by clicking browse.

Step 6: Head to the directory where your icon is stored. It can be of any format including .ico, png, jpeg, jpg, etc..

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Click on image that you want to use as the icon of your launcher in Linux mint menu and click open.

after selecting the icon image choose it by clicking select

Step 7: Now your image will show in the menu, choose it and click Select to use it as the icon of your application.

Now fill in the name, enter the command or use browse button to select it manually.

Step 8: Now, after choosing the Icon, it’s time to give our launcher a name. Enter the name of your application in the Name field.

enter the command for our application launcher in mint menu.

Step 9: Now if it’s an application that can be launched via terminal, enter the terminal command in the Command field. For example, I have entered:

firefox kerneltips.com

This will start Firefox, and this website will load. You can leave the “Launch in Terminal?” checkbox empty as it is unnecessary.

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You can also choose an application manually by clicking on the Browse button and choosing your application.

The comment field describes the purpose of this launcher, You can leave it empty if you want.

press continue and then press close to close the mint menu

Step 10: After filling out all the required fields and the previous menu you can now see our application is listed in the Linux Mint menu. Now close the mint menu.

Step 11: Now open the menu and search for our application or go into the category you put it in and launch the application by clicking on it or by pressing Enter.

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Method 2: Add item to menu by creating a launcher on the Desktop

This method is similar to the previous one, the only difference is that instead of adding items via mint menu, this time we will create a launcher on the desktop and add it to the menu.

go to the linux desktop, right click and select Create a new launcher here...

Step 1: Go to your desktop and right click, now a menu with desktop configurations will appear on this menu select and click Create a new launcher here…

fill in the name and command for your new launcher.

Step 2: Now choose an icon for your application or leave it as it is and fill in the Name and command for the launcher. I have explained this elaborately in Method 1.

Step 3: After filling all the required fields, press OK to go the next step.

click yes to add the application in mint menu.

Step 4: Now it will ask you if you want to add this launcher to the menu as well. Click Yes, so it gets added to the menu too.

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It will be placed in the Other category by default.

Step 5: We have now successfully added the launcher to the menu. Verify this by searching it in the menu.

You can now delete the launcher on the desktop without disturbing the one in the menu.