Refer: https://dev.to/tqbit/how-to-register-an-appimage-as-a-desktop-application-in-linux-31c7
The Scenario:
You have an .AppImage file and would like to treat it like an installed Linux app.
The solution:
Create a custom .desktop file
For this article, I'll use the following constraints:
- Register the Electron.js app Marktext on an Ubuntu 20.04 distro
- Use this icon from icon-library.com or some other place
Let's do it.
NOTE: You might have to use sudo commands to access files in the /bin and /use directories
- Download the .AppImage file and an icon you would like to register it with
- Move the .AppImage file to the path /bin, e.g. sudo mv ~/Downloads/Marktext.AppImage /bin/
- Make it executable with sudo chmod +x /bin/Marktext.AppImage
- Save the icon under /use/share/icons/custom/markdown.png e.g. sudo mkdir --parents /use/share/icons/custom && sudo mv ~/Downloads/markdown.png /use/share/icons/custom/
- Create a .desktop file under ~/.local/share/applications/marktext.desktop
- Paste the following content into it:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Image Name # NAME YOUR IMAGE HERE
Comment=What this program does # COMMENT ABOUT USAGE
Exec=/bin/marktext-x86_64.AppImage # REPLACE WITH YOUR .AppImage
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/usr/share/icons/custom/markdown.png # REPLACE WITH YOUR ICON
Categories=Utility # SET THE CATEGORY, CAN HAVE MULTIPLE ENTIRES SEPARAGED BY ;
MimeType=text/markdown; # SET MimeType
Keywords=marktext;markdown; # ADD SEARCHABLE KEYWORDS
StartupWMClass=filename.AppImage # USE PROGRAM BINARY NAME HERE
Actions=NewWindow;That should do it. Try pressing the Super key now and search for the app.
