Windows type shortcuts to files and folders

[Jan Claeys]

Colin Law schreef op di 03-03-2015 om 09:05 [+0000]:
> On 2 March 2015 at 15:40, Johan Kriel <jek at hotmail.co.za> wrote:
> > I would like to suggest the availability of shortcuts to files and folders
> > (like those used in Windows) also in addition to the currently available
> > symbolic links. Symbolic links do have their useful place, but they can also
> > be a real pain in the ass on occasion. For example, I regularly have to jump
> > back and forth several times during the day between two or more folders.
> > Using Ubuntu symlinks for this purpose just takes me deeper and deeper into
> > an artificial directory structure with an ever increasing path length.
> > Windows type shortcuts, which jumps directly to another folder using the
> > normal path, would work much better in this case. Please consider this. It
> > would help a lot.
> 
> Do you mean just a .desktop file that runs nautilus and opens the
> required folder?

I think he means some way to create a special file that when
double-clicked "instructs" the *current* Nautilus window/tab to show
another directory, and not open a new window/tab.  I don't think
Nautilus supports this right now (but I might be wrong).

OTOH it seams that the reason why he wants this is to switch around
between several folders quickly & easily.

The existing ways to do the latter currently are:
      * bookmarked folders; they will appear in the sidebar and are easy
        to jump to that way — I use this for folders I use very often
      * open each of the folders you are jumping between in their own
        tab (or maybe window), so that you can just switch between those
        tabs (windows) — I usually have one Nautilus window with
        multiple tabs per "project" or "task" I work on
      * use the "back" & "forward" buttons in Nautilus; when you hold
        them down for a moment, a menu drops down with a list of recent
        locations, similar to the same buttons in web browsers
      * use the "Recently used" location in the Nautilus sidebar to jump
        back to a recently used file/location

@Johan: are the above methods not sufficient for your use case(s)?


-- 
Jan Claeys