Making Snap Application (Thunderbird) work in Icons-Only Task Manager

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tl;dr: How do I make a snap app like Thunderbird work like a native app, i.e., not spawn a new icon when launched and display the app’s icon for the running instance, with the icons-only task manager?

Before the KDE Neon 24.04 update, I was using Thunderbird as a native installation. Well, I’m pretty sure I was. The 22.04 repo kept Thunderbird held back from installing the big TB 128 upgrade.

After the upgrade to KDE Neon 24.04, Thunderbird became a Snap app. Now, I have TB 128, but it doesn’t work well with the icons-only task manager. It’s locked to the task manager. Launching the app creates a new app icon in the manager for the running instance with the Wayland logo on it. Every new window shows with a Wayland icon rather than TB’s.

The icon does appear correctly in the launcher.

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  1. Check below location for the .desktop file, example: Thunderbird.desktop.
  2. Copy the name before .desktop exactly.
  3. Now, Launch Thunderbird, press Alt+F3 in keyboard, Go to more actions> Special Applications Settings
  4. On the bottom click Add Property> Search for Desktop File name.
  5. Now paste the name you copied earlier. and Select force from the drop down menu.
  6. Apply and exit.

/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/

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That did it. Thank you!

/etc/profile.d/apps-bin-path.sh adds /var/lib/snapd/desktop to XDG_DATA_DIRS. Should it be adding /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications instead or in addition to? Would this make sure all snap apps load correctly? Would it eliminate the need for Special App Settings?