How to hide applications in Ubuntu Dash?

This short guide explains how to hide applications in Ubuntu dash. When you install a new application on the Ubuntu desktop system, a corresponding menu item (i.e. launcher) will be created and placed in the Dash or Application menu for quick access. The application launcher is nothing but a simple text file with a .desktop extension. The extension is .desktop, which acts as a shortcut to launch the application.

All .desktop files are usually stored in one of the following directories:

• /usr/share/applications
• /usr/local/share/applications
• ~ /.local/share/applications

Let's take a quick look at the /usr/share/applications/ directory.

$ ls /usr/share/applications/

This is a list of .desktop files for all applications in my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop.

If you open a .desktop entry file, such as vlc.desktop;

$ cat /usr/share/applications/vlc.desktop

You will see the detailed configuration information of the corresponding application.

Now let us see how to hide specific applications from Ubuntu Dash.

Hide apps from Ubuntu Dash

When you click the Show Applications option in the Ubuntu launcher, you will see all the installed programs in Ubuntu Dash. If you want to hide one of the program menu items so that it is not displayed in Ubuntu Dash, you can follow the steps below. I tested this guide on the Ubuntu 18.04 desktop and it worked as well as expected.

For example, I will show you how to hide the vlc application in Ubuntu dash.

When you type "vlc" in the dash, you will see the launcher icon below, as shown below.

If you want to hide the vlc application so that it is not displayed in the Ubuntu dash, use the following command to copy its .desktop file to the ~/.local/share/applications/ directory:

$ sudo cp /usr/share/applications/vlc.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

Important: Always copy the .desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications first, and then edit the locally copied file. Then, the local file will overwrite the global .desktop file at the next login.

Now, open the copied file in your favorite editor:

$ sudo nano ~/.local/share/applications/vlc.desktop

Add the following line before Actions= (if it exists), but below the first line, it is [Desktop Entry]:

Hidden=true

Save and close the file. Log out and log in again for it to take effect.

Now type vlc in the Ubuntu dash and you won't see it again.

To make the vlc application visible again, simply delete the "vlc.desktop" file from the ~/.local/share/applications/ directory.

Before deleting, please double check the vlc.desktop file path. You should delete it from ~/.local/share/applications/ instead of deleting it from /usr/share/applications/.