Desktop App install guides

The Mattermost Desktop App is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems. The Desktop App supports all the features of the web experience, plus the following features:

• Connect to multiple Mattermost servers from a single interface, and navigate between servers using keyboard shortcuts.

• Auto-start Mattermost when a user logs into their machine.

• Add Mattermost to the Windows Start menu, the Taskbar, the Dock, or the System Tray.

• (Windows/macOS) Deep link to the Desktop App via the mattermost:// protocol if the app is already installed.

• (Linux) Set up Desktop Entry for the application to more easily integrate into a desktop environment.

Install and update the Mattermost Desktop App

You can download the Desktop App directly from our Downloads page. You can also use the following installation guides for Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Ubuntu/DebianCentOS/RHELGeneric LinuxmacOSWindows

A .deb package is available for Debian 9 and for Ubuntu releases 18.04 LTS or later. Automatic app updates aren’t supported. You must update your app manually.

1. At the command line, set up the Mattermost repository on your system:

   curl -o- https://deb.packages.mattermost.com/setup-repo.sh | sudo bash
   

2. Install the Mattermost Desktop App:

   sudo apt install mattermost-desktop
   

3. Update the Mattermost Desktop App:

   sudo apt upgrade mattermost-desktop
   

Snapcraft package

A snap is available for systems that have Snapcraft installed. Snapcraft is installed by default on Ubuntu 16.04 and later, but for most other Linux distributions you can install it manually. To install Snapcraft, see Install snapd on the Snapcraft website for details.

1. At the command line, execute the following command:

   sudo snap install mattermost-desktop --beta
   

2. Run Mattermost as a desktop app.

Tip

You can review the current version of your Desktop App by selecting the More icon located in the top left corner of the Mattermost window, then selecting Help > Version….

Additional documentation resources

The following additional documentation resources are also available for the Mattermost Desktop App:

• Desktop App changelog

• Minimum software requirements

• Configure your Desktop App experience

• Source code

• Contributor’s guide

Troubleshooting your Desktop App installation

“Installation has failed” dialog

The app data might be corrupted. Remove all the files in %LOCALAPPDATA%\mattermost, then try reinstalling the app.

“The application “Mattermost” can’t be opened” dialog

On macOS Catalina, this dialog can be triggered if the Mac Archive Utility is the default method for decompressing files. In this case using a third-party tool such as Keka or Unarchiver may resolve the problem.

Desktop App window is black and doesn’t load the page

1. First, make sure you have installed the latest desktop app version.

2. Clear your cache and reload the app from View > Clear Cache and Reload or use CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+R.

3. Quit the app and restart it to see if the issue clears.

4. Disable GPU hardware acceleration from File > Settings on Windows and Linux or Mattermost > Settings on macOS, and unselect Use GPU hardware acceleration.

5. If you are using a special video driver, such as Optimus, try disabling it to see if the problem is resolved.

If none of the above steps resolve the issue, please open a new ticket in the Mattermost Troubleshooting Forum.

Desktop App is not visible, but the Mattermost icon is in the Task Bar

This issue can occur on Windows in a multiple-monitor setup. When you disconnect the monitor that Mattermost is displayed on, Mattermost continues to display at screen coordinates that no longer exist.

To resolve this issue, you can reset the desktop app screen location by deleting the screen location file. When the file is not present, the desktop app displays on the primary monitor by default.

To reset the desktop app screen location:

1. If the desktop app is running, right-click the Mattermost icon in the task bar, then select Close Window.

2. Open Windows File Explorer, and go to the %APPDATA%\\Mattermost folder.

3. Delete the file bounds-info.json.

Desktop App constantly refreshes the page

This issue can occur when localStorage has an unexpected state. To resolve the issue:

• Windows: Open Windows File Explorer, go to the %APPDATA%\Mattermost folder, then delete the Local Storage folder.

• Mac: Open Finder, go to the ~/Library/Application Support/Mattermost folder, then delete the Local Storage folder.

• Linux: Open the File Manager, go to the ~/.config/Mattermost folder, then delete the Local Storage folder. Linux file managers may hide folders starting with a period by default. You can delete them from the terminal using rm -rf ~/.config/Mattermost.

Desktop App constantly asks to log in to Mattermost server

This issue can occur after a crash or unexpected shutdown of the desktop app that causes the app data to be corrupted. To resolve the issue:

• Windows: Open Windows File Explorer, go to the %APPDATA%\\Mattermost folder, then delete the IndexedDB folder and the Cookies and Cookies-journal files.

• Mac: Open Finder, go to the ~/Library/Application Support/Mattermost folder, then delete the IndexedDB folder and the Cookies and Cookies-journal files.

• Linux: Open the file manager, go to the ~/.config/Mattermost folder, then delete the IndexedDB folder and the Cookies and Cookies-journal files. Linux file managers may hide folders starting with a period by default. You can delete them from the terminal using rm -rf ~/.config/Mattermost.

“Internal error: BrowserWindow ‘unresponsive’ event has been emitted”

Selecting Show Details on the dialog provides logs. Ways to resolve the issue:

1. Clear the cache via View > Clear Cache and Reload or CTRL+SHIFT+R.

2. Go to App Settings via File > Settings or CTRL+COMMA and unselect hardware acceleration.

Desktop app not responsive within Citrix Virtual Apps or Desktop Environment

Append Mattermost.exe; to the Registry Key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CtxUvi\UviProcessExcludes and reboot the system.

For further assistance, review the Troubleshooting forum for previously reported errors, or join the Mattermost user community for troubleshooting help.

Report Desktop App issues

When reporting issues found in the Mattermost Desktop App, it’s helpful to include the contents of the Developer Tools Console along with the information on this page.

To access the Developer Tools Console:

1. In the menu bar, go to View > Developer Tools for Current Tab.

2. Select the Console tab.

3. Right-click the log entry, then select Save As.

4. Save the file, then send it along with a description of your issue.

5. Close the console to disable the Developer Tools.

You can open an additional set of developer tools for each server you have added to the desktop app. The tools can be opened by pasting this command in the Developer Tools Console you opened with the steps described above:

document.getElementsByTagName("webview")[0].openDevTools();

Windows

macOS

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