Search/Add to Plank an appimage

My system information, besides that I'm running gnome, doesn't seem relevant to this issue that should be really obvious to me but isn't, but I have put it below to satisfy the rules lol

Ok, I use Prospect Mail as an appimage to access my Outlook email. If I search for it in the Super key menu, I can only find it in Files. Which is fine, because then I can just select and run the appimage from there, but I don't like that I have to do that extra step.

So I was trying to learn how to add an application to the dock (which my research indicates is Plank) and I simply can't find anything about it. Am I just a bad searcher? Can you point me to the right location?

When I searched the forum, I found only completely unrelated issues (probably because this has a simple one sentence answer I just haven't found yet.

I tried creating a script to run it from the Super search, but selecting it only makes it open in gvim.

Sorry if this is a dumb question lol

 $ inxi -Faz 
System:    Kernel: 5.13.10-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=a2f9b7ce-1d14-45ec-960d-80f6deb84e9b 
           rw rootflags=subvol=@ quiet 
           cryptdevice=UUID=ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366:luks-ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366 
           root=/dev/mapper/luks-ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366 splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 
           vt.global_cursor_default=0 systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 loglevel=3 pcie_aspm=off 
           ath10k_core.skip_otp=y 
           Desktop: GNOME 40.4 tk: GTK 3.24.30 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM 40.1 Distro: Garuda Linux 
           base: Arch Linux 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro AN515-42 v: V1.18 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: RR model: Freed_RRS v: V1.18 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.18 date: 06/18/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 8.8 Wh (29.6%) condition: 29.7/48.9 Wh (60.7%) volts: 14.0 min: 15.2 
           model: LG 0x41,0x43,0x31,0x34,0x42,0x38,0x007A type: Li-ion serial: <filter> 
           status: Discharging 
           Device-1: apple_mfi_fastcharge model: N/A serial: N/A charge: N/A status: N/A 
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Zen family: 17 (23) model-id: 11 (17) stepping: 0 microcode: 810100B cache: L2: 2 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 31938 
           Speed: 1532 MHz max: 1600 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1532 2: 1416 3: 1400 4: 1368 
           5: 1545 6: 1460 7: 1378 8: 1434 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 
           mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Baffin [Radeon RX 460/560D / Pro 450/455/460/555/555X/560/560X] 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:67ef 
           class-ID: 0380 
           Device-2: AMD Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:15dd 
           class-ID: 0300 
           Device-3: Chicony HD WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-1:2 chip-ID: 04f2:b5f7 
           class-ID: 0e02 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: gnome-shell driver: loaded: amdgpu,ati 
           unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") s-diag: 582mm (22.9") 
           Monitor-1: eDP res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x194mm (13.5x7.6") diag: 395mm (15.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.41.0 5.13.10-zen1-1-zen LLVM 12.0.1) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 21.1.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 04:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:15de class-ID: 0403 
           Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 04:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.10-zen1-1-zen running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no 
           Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no 
           Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.33 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
           driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus-ID: 02:00.1 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: enp2s0f1 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lite-On 
           driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 2000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:003e class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: enp4s0f3u1c4i2 state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Lite-On type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-4:2 chip-ID: 04ca:3016 
           class-ID: e001 
           Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 12 state: up address: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 874.74 GiB (93.9%) 
           SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT1000MX500SSD1 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: 
           physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 033 scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 931.25 GiB size: 931.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 874.74 GiB (93.9%) fs: btrfs 
           dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366 
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.45%) used: 708 KiB (0.3%) fs: vfat 
           dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
           ID-3: /home raw-size: 931.25 GiB size: 931.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 874.74 GiB (93.9%) fs: btrfs 
           dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366 
           ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 931.25 GiB size: 931.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 874.74 GiB (93.9%) 
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366 
           ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 931.25 GiB size: 931.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 874.74 GiB (93.9%) 
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-ed9fb91f-024a-4397-9ad0-e4eabee27366 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 30.27 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
           GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 47.0 C watts: 11.07 device: amdgpu temp: 53.0 C 
Info:      Processes: 366 Uptime: 2d 10h 38m wakeups: 20 Memory: 30.27 GiB used: 8.95 GiB (29.5%) 
           Init: systemd v: 249 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 12.0.1 Packages: 
           pacman: 1758 lib: 541 Shell: fish v: 3.3.1 default: Bash v: 5.1.8 running-in: gnome-terminal 
           inxi: 3.3.06 

Create a .desktop file for it and place it in ~/.local/share/applications. You can copy one of the existing desktops and change the details. The exec line should point to the appimage.

4 Likes

I have created a .desktop file and placed it in ~/.local/applications. This is what's in my .desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/home/sappur/Desktop/Prospect Mail-0.3.1-dev.AppImage
Name=Prospect Mail
Icon=/home/sappur/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/outlook.png

But it still doesn't pull up the appimage when I search it. Am I doing something wrong?

You probably can’t have a space there. Try renaming the file or escaping the space.

2 Likes

That fixed it, thank you.
Edit: To put it on the dock, you just drag and drop the icon onto the dock. Search "Prospect Mail", click and drag it to the dock on the bottom = "Prospect Mail has been added to your Favorites" lol
I don't know why that never occurred to me.

For anyone that doesn't know, the escape character is a backslash
so a path is usually /home/sappur/name with spaces
but if it gives you trouble at the terminal or with commands or whatever, just put
/home/sappur/name\ with\ spaces

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