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Affinity Apps with Clean Wrappers & Icons

Step 1: Create the wrapper script wine-ew-affinity

Create a proper executable in ~/.local/bin (this folder is usually in $PATH):

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
nano ~/.local/bin/wine-ew-affinity

Paste this inside:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Wrapper for Affinity Wine prefix
rum ElementalWarriorWine-x86_64 "$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity/" "$@"

Save & exit (CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X).

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/wine-ew-affinity

-> Quick test it works (should launch Publisher 2 manually):

wine-ew-affinity wine "$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity/drive_c/Program Files/Affinity/Publisher 2/Publisher.exe"

Step 2: Download Affinity software icons

You can find and download the icons for Affinity software from this repository's Assets/Icons folder.

Step 3: Install your icons in the correct theme path

KDE & GNOME both follow the freedesktop.org icon spec.

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/

Copy your SVG files & rename consistently:

For Affinity by Canva's default icon:

cp /home/$USER/Downloads/Affinity-Canva.svg ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/affinity-canva.svg

For Affinity by Canva's square circle icon:

cp /home/$USER/Downloads/Affinity-Canva-Squircle.svg ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/affinity-canva.svg

For Affinity V1 and V2:

cp /home/$USER/Downloads/Designer.svg   ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/affinity-designer.svg
cp /home/$USER/Downloads/Photo.svg      ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/affinity-photo.svg
cp /home/$USER/Downloads/Publisher.svg  ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/affinity-publisher.svg

Step 4: Create .desktop launchers

Affinity by Canva

nano ~/.local/share/applications/affinity-canva.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Affinity by Canva
Exec=wine-ew-affinity wine "C:/Program Files/Affinity/Affinity/Affinity.exe"
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Icon=affinity-canva
Categories=Graphics;Deisgn;Publishing;

Alternative exec=

Exec=env 'WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity' wine-ew-affinity '$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity/drive_c/Program Files/Affinity/Affinity/Affinity.exe'

Affinity Designer 2

nano ~/.local/share/applications/affinity-designer.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Affinity Designer 2
Exec=wine-ew-affinity wine "C:/Program Files/Affinity/Designer 2/Designer.exe"
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Icon=affinity-designer
Categories=Graphics;Design;

Alternative exec=

Exec=env 'WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity' wine-ew-affinity '$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity/drive_c/Program Files/Affinity/Designer 2/Designer.exe'

Affinity Photo 2

nano ~/.local/share/applications/affinity-photo.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Affinity Photo 2
Exec=wine-ew-affinity wine "C:/Program Files/Affinity/Photo 2/Photo.exe"
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Icon=affinity-photo
Categories=Graphics;Photography;

Alternative exec=

Exec=env 'WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity' wine-ew-affinity '$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity/drive_c/Program Files/Affinity/Photo 2/Photo.exe'

Affinity Publisher 2

nano ~/.local/share/applications/affinity-publisher.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Affinity Publisher 2
Exec=wine-ew-affinity wine "C:/Program Files/Affinity/Publisher 2/Publisher.exe"
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Icon=affinity-publisher
Categories=Graphics;Publishing;

Alternative exec=

Exec=env 'WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity' wine-ew-affinity '$HOME/.local/share/wine/prefixes/affinity/drive_c/Program Files/Affinity/Publisher 2/Publisher.exe'

Step 5: Make them executable & update caches

chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/affinity-*.desktop

GNOME / Freedesktop menu cache:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

KDE Plasma menu & icon cache:

kbuildsycoca6
gtk-update-icon-cache ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor

Note

If you are on KDE Plasma 5, replace kbuildsycoca6 in the above command with kbuildsycoca5.

Step 6: Pin & Use

  • KDE Plasma

    • Open App Menu → search Affinity by Canva / Affinity Designer 2 / Publisher 2 / Photo 2
    • Right‑click → Pin to Task Manager or Add to Desktop

  • GNOME

    • Open Activities / App Grid → search the apps
    • Right‑click → Add to Favorites (adds to dock)

At this point, you have:

  • A reusable wine-ew-affinity wrapper (clean, shareable)
  • All apps showing in menus with your custom icons
  • Fully pinnable to taskbar/dock/desktop
  • No manual quoting or alias headaches