Back in the olden days of Ubuntu, when it used GNOME 2, a ‘Places’ menu was readily accessible from the top panel.
This let you quickly jump to a specific folder or drive instantly, without needing to first open a file manager to navigate there.
The arrival of the Unity Dash, which lets you search for files and folders with the tap of the super key, arguably “solved” the need for such menu.
But perhaps you still consider it a very handy way to navigate around. Maybe you’re find a list of locations in an indicator a faster way to open and switch between directoires than the Unity Dash.
Whatever reason you may have, here are 2‘Places’ indicator applets for Ubuntu that might just be what you’re looking for.
Places & Files Indicator for Ubuntu
Jacob Vlijm is nothing short of prolific! He churns out indicator applets nearly as fast I churn out bad puns and mixed metaphors!
His latest creation is Places Files Indicator ,a simple applet that shows a places menu, directory bookmarks and a list of your recently used files (negating the need for an entirely separate ‘recent files’ indicator).
By default the indicator lists yourhome directory, your Nautilus bookmarks (e.g., Pictures, Videos, etc), network, computer and houses a sub-menu showing a list of your 10 most recently edited/used files.
The indicator is available to install from a dedicated PPA maintained by the developer:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vlijm/placesfiles sudo apt update && sudo apt install placesfilesDon’t want to add a PPA? You don’t need to: grab an installer for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and above straight from the PPA packages page.
Files Indicator
Files-indicator is an alternative places indicator created bythe equally prolific developer Serg Kolo .
Serg’s FilesIndicator is aimed at the Unity desktop. It gives you easy access to recentfiles, pinned files, and bookmarked folders. You can use itto quickly check and openrecently used files and more.
Solo’s indicator also supports launching .desktop files that have been pinned ― i.e. applications! He says: “for instance if you have firefox.desktop pinned, it will launch firefox. Thus, the indicator can be used as quick launcher for programs.”
To install Files Indicator on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or above run the following commands in a new Terminal window:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:1047481448-2/sergkolo sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install files-indicatorDon’t want to add a PPA? Download an installer directly from the package archive page .