How to integrate appimage?

Question

I would like to integrate an appimage into elementary OS.

I have created .desktop file (in /usr/share/applications) as per many instructions on the interweb,

all looks fine but the application doesn't show in "Applications"(app drawer)

Any idea what am I doing wrong, please?

(BTW, application runs and works OK, when executed manually)

PS(later edit): just found that my .desktop works fine :-)

I can find the appimage application on "Applications" drawer by searching for it,

(although it is not normally visible)

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=FreeCAD
Icon=/home/bambuko/Applications/Link_branch/1200px-FreeCAD-logo.svg.png
Exec=/home/bambuko/Applications/Link_branch/FreeCAD-asm3-Daily-Conda-Py3-Qt5-20210615-glibc2.12-x86_64.AppImage
Terminal=false

Answer 1

Well... I think I understand what is going on? Side loaded apps whether flatpak or appimage, do not list in app drawer, but are listed and shown in search. I had similar experience (to my original question re appimage FreeCAD app) with Okular installed using flatpak.

It is confusing and (in my humble opinion) it would be better if they were listed but with some indication that they are not official, but I guess it is what it is and as long as I know what is going on, it is OK.

Answer 2

One thing that might make this sort of thing easier in the future - AppImageLauncher :

https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher

If you install Eddy first, you can sideload this by downloading the deb from the git repo directly, instead of cluttering your system with PPA (because unfortunately, very few distros actually have this in their native repository) -

https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher/releases/download/v2.2.0/appimagelauncher_2.2.0-travis995.0f91801.bionic_arm64.deb

Once installed, this does two things :

1. Adds an integration service to the OS that scans for AppImages in the background, and

2. Extracts all the needed desktop entries from the AppImage when you double click on it.

It can also, by default, put all of the AppImages into an Application folder (or any other location you want)

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Eddy is in the AppCenter, and lets you sideload deb packages without dropping down to the command line. Otherwise, use dpkg -i to install the deb