Add Keyboard Shortcut to Unity Lenses [Ubuntu]

Do you know that all the default Unity lenses come with a keyboard shortcut that you can use to quickly access it? For example, you can use “Super + a” to open the Application lens and “Super + f” to open the Files lens.

What if you have installed a custom lens and want to assign a keyboard shortcut to the lens? Here is how you can do so:

1. Open Nautilus and navigate to the folder “/usr/share/unity/lenses“. Find the lens that you want to add keyboard shortcut to and open it with superuser permission. For example:

gksu gedit /usr/share/unity/lenses/commands/commands.lens

2. At the end of the [Lens] section, add a new line:

Shortcut=c

where “c” is the alphabet that you want to set for this lens. Save and exit.

3. Now you can access the lens with “Super + c” (or the alphabet that you have set).

That’s it.

Damien

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.