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I have downloaded a few App Images that work better than their electron counterpart- however, I would like to add them to my list of applications that can be accessed from Show Applications. I would also like to add to favorite for easy access from the task bar.

Rafael Zasas
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1 Answers1

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To include any application in your applications menu, create a .desktop launcher in your ~/.local/share/applications directory. Once it appears in your menu, you can pin it from there in your favorites. ~ is a shorthand for the path of your home directory, e.g. /home/user.

A .desktop launcher is nothing more than a plain text file with a .desktop extension. A valid launcher contains at least the Name=, Exec=, and Type=` lines, for example:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Avidemux
Exec=/home/vanadium/.appimage/avidemux_2.8.0.appImage %f
Type=Application

The name is what is shown in the application overview. The Exec= line must point to a valid executable, or the launcher will not show up. Type=application tells the system this is a reference to an application, not to an URI.

A fancier version at least specifies also an icon. An generic name adds search terms for the menu.

You can specify a full pathname to an icon file, but a better practice is to place it in your ~/.local/share/icons folder. Make that folder if you do not have it. Then the icon will be found just by its file name, without extension. For example, if you stored the icon as ~/.local/share/icons/avidemux.png, then the Icon= line simply ca read Icon=avidemux.

An example of a more fatty version of the .desktop launcher above is:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Avidemux
GenericName=Video Editor
Comment=Multiplatform video editor
Exec=/home/vanadium/.appimage/avidemux_2.8.0.appImage %f
Icon=avidemux
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=AudioVideo;AudioVideoEditing;Video;
MimeType=video/mpeg;video/x-mpeg;video/mp4;video/x-m4v;video/quicktime;video/3gp;video/mkv;video/x-matroska;video/webm;video/flv;video/x-flv;video/dv;video/x-msvideo;video/x-ms-wmv;video/x-ms-asf;video/x-anim;

Tip specific for appimages: appimages typically contain a sample desktop file and icons. That can save you typing and searching on the internet.

  • Run the appimage

  • In a terminal, find out where the appimage is mounted from the output of the command 'mount'.

    $ mount
...
avidemux_2.8.0.appImage on /tmp/.mount_avidem5jL4TC type fuse.avidemux_2.8.0.appImage (ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000)

  • With your file manager, take a look in the mounted folder (/tmp/.mount_avidem5jL4TC, and see whether there is an icon and a .desktop file you can use. Edit the .desktop file so it points to the actual appimage file.

vanadium
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