nemo-file-type-icons

A Nemo Python extension that displays correct custom icons for Google Drive files, PDFs, and videos — fixing the generic white-page icon that appears for 0-byte rclone-mounted Google Workspace files.

The Problem

When mounting Google Drive with rclone, Google Workspace files appear as .docx/.xlsx/.pptx with 0 bytes. GIO identifies them as application/x-zerosize, so Nemo falls back to a generic icon.

The native GVFS Google Drive mount (mounted via the Nemo sidebar) shows these files without extensions — only the MIME type is available for identification.

This extension solves both cases transparently with a single lightweight Nemo Python plugin — no manual icon assignment needed.

Requirements

• Linux Mint or any Cinnamon desktop with Nemo
• nemo-python package:

  sudo apt install nemo-python

rclone users: Your mount must support extended attributes (the default). If you use --no-xattrs or a read-only mount, custom icons cannot be written.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/AndiWitt/nemo-file-type-icons.git
cd nemo-file-type-icons
bash install.sh
nemo -q && nemo &

The install script copies:

• file-type-icons.py → ~/.local/share/nemo-python/extensions/
• icons/*.png → ~/.local/share/nemo-file-type-icons/icons/

Uninstallation

cd nemo-file-type-icons
bash uninstall.sh
nemo -q && nemo &

Note: Custom icon assignments are stored in GIO metadata (~/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/). These entries are harmless and will simply be ignored once the extension is removed. Nemo will fall back to its default icons automatically.

Supported file types

Type	Extensions	MIME type
Google Docs	.doc, .docx	application/vnd.google-apps.document
Google Sheets	.xls, .xlsx	application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet
Google Slides	.ppt, .pptx	application/vnd.google-apps.presentation
PDF	.pdf	application/pdf
Video	.mp4, .mkv, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .flv, .webm, .mpeg, .mpg, .m4v, .3gp, .ts, .mts	video/*

Adding new file types

Open ~/.local/share/nemo-python/extensions/file-type-icons.py in a text editor.

Files with extensions (local files, rclone mount) → add to EXT_MAP:

".xyz": f"file://{ICON_DIR}/my-icon.png",

GVFS/native files without extension → find the MIME type, then add to MIME_MAP:

"application/something": f"file://{ICON_DIR}/my-icon.png",

Find a file's MIME type:

gio info "/path/to/file" | grep content-type

Place the icon PNG in ~/.local/share/nemo-file-type-icons/icons/, then restart Nemo:

nemo -q && nemo &

How it works

Nemo opens a folder
  → calls update_file_info() for each file
  → extension checks MIME type first  (catches GVFS files without extension)
  → then checks file extension        (catches rclone mount and local files)
  → sets metadata::custom-icon = "file:///home/username/.local/share/nemo-file-type-icons/icons/..."
  → Nemo renders the custom icon instead of the generic one
  → on subsequent opens: value already set → skipped (no performance cost)

The metadata::custom-icon attribute is the same mechanism Nemo uses when you manually assign an icon via right-click → Properties → Icon.

Why other approaches didn't work

Approach	Reason it failed
MIME XML overrides	GIO ignores MIME mappings for 0-byte files
Icon theme name as custom-icon	Nemo requires a file:// URI, not a theme name
Thumbnail cache	Thumbnailer is never called for 0-byte files
Registering a thumbnailer	GIO reports standard::icon = x-zerosize regardless of actual type

License

MIT