Comment 20 for bug 676886

The new quicklist option just runs the "inkscape" command, so it simply launches a new Inkscape window with default settings. As I understand it, this is needed because the default launcher can't open multiple windows...

In other words, the first time that you click on the launcher, Inkscape opens a new window. Subsequent clicks on the launcher just switch focus to the existing window. If the user wants to create a new document, they need to use "File->New->..." in Inkscape. With the new quicklist option, the user can now also create additional drawings from the launcher (right click on icon, choose "New Drawing"). In terms of providing a cohesive user experience, this is probably a good thing!

I don't know about accessing recent documents from launchers. Maybe one of the Unity devs can help here?