Ubuntu developers seem to be working hard to make the Ubuntu experience with Unity as smooth as possible.
After yesterday’s update to my Ubuntu 12.04 daily alpha build, I noticed that my Microsoft Office applications installed via Crossover 10, are being correctly recognized on the Unity launcher and also the Unity dash. It came as a pleasant surprise to me!
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| MS Outlook |
Previously, when I used to open MS Word/ Excel or any Wine application, all of the applications would end up using the same icon. It was a nightmare if you had multiple windows open! This seems to have been resolved in the latest update. Unity now uses the native application icons. It also supports drag and drop feature, meaning, you can drag the icon from Unity dash and drop it on the launcher and the application opens up to use the same icon when clicked on. Other improvements include correct Alt+Tab and Alt+` interpretation and correct tool tips.
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| Correct Atl+` recognition |
I hope this change remains permanent until Ubuntu 12.04 is released and is not broken by any new feature addition to Unity.
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| Unity dash search |
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| MS Powerpoint |
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| MS Excel |
UPDATE: As many readers have pointed out, it works if you install applications using PlayOnLinux or Crossover. Unity does not seem to recognize apps when installed directly from wine or winetricks.
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Ubuntu developers seem to be working hard to make the Ubuntu experience with Unity as smooth as possible.
This works only if you use Crossover 10, if you use Crossover 11 or Wine this doesn't work, but there is a workaround.
Go to $HOME/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs and open /.desktop with gedit.
I'll use 7-Zip as example.
Replace:
wine "C[…].lnk"
with
wine "C:/Program Files/7-Zip/7zFM.exe"
and add
StartupWMClass=7zFM.exe
Save and next time you run 7-Zip it should use 7-Zip icon and title.
If it doesn't, run (ALT+F2):
unity –replace
or log off.
Thanks for the update! But it works if you use PlayOnLinux as well. 🙂
That doesn't work at all. So realy its a bug in wine or unoty?
In Ubuntu 12.04 it doesn't work anymore.
It works if you install applications using PlayOnLinux and Crossover. It does not seem to work when installed directly from wine or winetricks
Adding the StartupWMClass did the trick for me, I didn't need to change the Exec line.
When installed under latest Ubuntu (12.10) with latest Wine(1.5.17), MS* Apps are started from their respective links. There is some integration in dash, unfortunately the left bar did not integrate properly and shows WINE icon no matter which application is started. Way to get around this is to create (or modify) "Desktop file", like this one:
~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs/Microsoft Office/Word.desktop
———————————————–
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Word
Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/home/voyager/.wine" wine 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE'
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Comment=Create and edit professional-looking documents such as letters, papers, reports, and booklets by using Microsoft Office Word.
Icon=FD9C_wordicon.0
Terminal=false
Categories=Office
StartupWMClass=WINWORD.EXE
———————————————–
as earlier stated it is very important to get StartupWMClass right 😉
Hope this saves someone's time, as there are much more pleasant things to do out there than figuring out obscure configurations.