Applications Menu (Main Menu) customization in Lubuntu 20.04 LTS (LXQt)

[mahesh]

Note: probably also works for other flavors of Ubuntu, but I am not able to test it.

The Applications Menu (bottom left corner of the screen) in Lubuntu is NOT some "menu file", so there's no reason to search for it, it doesn't exist.

Rather, it's a "frame", filled with content every time you (or others) login, making it user specific. The basic menu structure is defined in:
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/etc/xdg/menus/lxqt-applications.menu
It defines the names/headlines of the menu items shown at the first/main level and assigns these names to Categories (more about that a bit later).
I most strongly discourage you from changing this file! But using it as lookup reference is a good idea.

The real content of the menu is read from .desktop files, one or more category entries per file; modifying the Applications Menu is done by editing the .desktop files.

The .desktop files are located in:

Admin user:
Code:

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610Normal user:
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$HOME/.local/share/applicationsEach .desktop file contains a line called Categories. This parameter determines the location of the menu item in the Applications Menu. The basic/mandatory categories defined for Linux systems are:
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AudioVideo
Audio   
Video   
Development
Education   
Game   
Graphics   
Network
Office 
Settings
UtilityIf you look in:
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/etc/xdg/menus/lxqt-applications.menuYou'll find exactly these there, and also the association to the Applications Menu headlines.

Now to changing the Applications Menu for real:

• Removing an item from the Applications Menu: sudo edit the .desktop file in question and add the line: NoDisplay=true
• Relocate an item in the menu: sudo edit the .desktop file in question and locate the line "Categories". Change the category according to the list above.
• Add a new menu entry: the best approach is to copy an existing .desktop file and modify it to your program/name/category.

Cheers.