Trouble running Applmage

Question

I’m new to elementary OS. I downloaded Kdenlive and some other AppImage program like Balena Etcher, but elementary OS says that it does not support this type of file. Is there any way to run it?

Answer 1

A Note on Flatpaks

elementary OS doesn't have out-of-the-box support for AppImages but prefers Flatpaks. There is a Kdenlive Flatpak available if you're interested. Unfortunately, not all apps are available as Flatpaks, such as Balena Etcher which you mention.

Running an AppImage

To run AppImages, you just need to set the file as executable. Then you will be able to run the AppImage by double clicking it in Files. I've outlined how to do this here.

1. Right click the AppImage file in Files.

2. Select Properties.

3. Click the Permissions tab.

4. For the Owner: row, click the Execute button to give the file execute permissions.

5. Hit the Close button.

6. Now double click the AppImage to run it.

Desktop Integration

I've found it much more helpful to use AppImageLauncher as this makes the application available through the application launcher. It stores AppImages in the ~/Applications directory by default. To use AppImageLauncher, follow these instructions.

1. Open Terminal to run the following commands.

2. Download the latest release of AppImageLauncher for Ubuntu 18.04. I'm assuming you are on elementary OS 5 / 5.1.

wget -q -nv -O - https://api.github.com/repos/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher/releases/latest \
  | awk -F': ' '/browser_download_url/ && /bionic_amd64\.deb/ \
  {gsub(/"/, "", $(NF)); system("wget -qLP ~/Downloads/ " $(NF))}'

3. Install the AppImageLauncher deb package.

sudo apt -y install ~/Downloads/appimagelauncher_*.bionic_amd64.deb

4. Remove the AppImageLauncher deb file since it's no longer needed.

rm ~/Downloads/appimagelauncher_*.bionic_amd64.deb

5. Double click your AppImage file.

6. In the prompt that appears click Integrate and run.

7. Now you can launch the application directly from the applications menu.