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Luís de Sousa
Asked: 2016-08-02 01:18:35 +0800 CST

How to set the default document reader in Ubuntu 16.04?

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A long time ago it was possible to set default applications through the command line in the file ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list. But this file is no longer around.

How could I set Okular as the default document reader in Ubuntu 16.04 using the command line?

command-line

3 Answers

  1. In my knowledge you can set a default app through xdg-mime.

    xdg-mime default okular.desktop application/pdf

    To check if it worked:

    xdg-mime query default application/pdf
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  2. Best Answer

    Default applications seem to be set globally in the /usr/share/applications/defaults.list as association pairs between application and file. User specific file associations can be set in the file ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list. This file may not exist - perhaps after a fresh Ubuntu install - but can be created by the user.

    I now use a script like the one below to associate applications to file types. In this example Okular is associated with all document types (replacing Evince).

    #!/bin/bash

if [ -e ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list ]
then
    echo "The file exists"
    sed 's/evince/okular/' ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list > ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list
else
    echo "The file does not exist"
    sed 's/evince/okular/' /usr/share/applications/defaults.list > ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list
fi
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  3. The following worked for me:

    xdg-mime default okularApplication_pdf.desktop application/pdf

    I used Alex's previous answer (sorry, I could not comment it...) and updated it.

    The line:

    xdg-mime query default application/pdf works well.

    Now, all my pdfs are opened with Okular by default. Thank you, Alex!

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