Closed Bug 208923 Opened 21 years ago Closed 6 years ago

minimize to system tray icon/icon menu for Windows

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, enhancement)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Mail Window Front End
Platform:
All
Windows
Type:
enhancement
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED
Milestone:
Thunderbird 76.0

People

(Reporter: raccettura, Assigned: darktrojan)

References

(
URL
)

Details

(Whiteboard: [duptome][fixed by bug 1626161])

User Story

Workarounds:
- linux: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-reanimated/ [1] (replacing https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/ which only worked to version 52(?)
- Windows: https://github.com/gyunaev/birdtray

[1] For GNU/Linux users, desktop environments are rich and easily support customizations. You will find the AllTray utility, compatible with Gnome, KDE, and Xfce (see this excellent tutorial).  This software can minimize any application in the systray by replacing for example, their shortcuts like this:
/usr/bin/alltray/usr/bin/thunderbird -s

Attachments

(1 file)

Proposition 1 of possible implementation
14.12 KB, image/png
Details 
User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030609
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030609

Thunderbird should adopt the icon tray... but better than mozilla has/did.

Use it similar to how AIM or MSN use it, allowing for easy access to common
functions like "Check Mail", "Open Mail Window", "Compose Mail", etc.

It would be nicer to minimize the mail window to the system tray, rather than
the task bar.  Saves space and looks nicer.  Most people like their mail client
open all day... so it saves for those people.

Secondly, it could show how many messages are in the inbox by right clicking on
the icon...

"Inbox (5)" perhaps?

Something similar to how Mail.app has that menu when open in the doc. (BTW the
feature on the Mac side would be good).

Would be nice and convient for all


Since It's going to get a nice overhaul so it looks pretty... and is easier to
use... why not make it the perfect mail client?

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
Good idea, but thunderbird is not yet posting bugs in Bugzilla. Please report on
the forums at http://www.mozillazine.org/
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 21 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
v invalid
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
Anyone know if an when there will be thunderbird in bugzilla?

I would hope so... perhaps then open the bug up again.

My mistake... sorry.
.
Status: VERIFIED → UNCONFIRMED
Product: MailNews → Thunderbird
Resolution: INVALID → ---
Version: Trunk → unspecified
.
Assignee: sspitzer → scott
QA Contact: esther → asa
Summary: Thunderbird system tray icon/icon menu → system tray icon/icon menu
*** Bug 214240 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Confirming. I like this idea.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
*** Bug 214648 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
This is my first concept drawing of possible implementation.  Note there isn't
even an icon (I just used AIM).

To exmplain Functionality...

Send & Recieve Mail does just as the button does.  Sends and Recieves all mail.
 Possibly put an arrow to specify the specific account.

Compose a Message - self explanatory ;-)

Go To Inbox - goes to the first inbox in your profile.	Arrow allows you to
choose which inbox to go to.

Notifications -  Still to file a bug for this.	But it should give you the
option of turning notifications on/off.  Good for gamers.  Often the Mozilla
notifications cause game slowdowns if I forget to shutdown Mozilla.  Disabling
notification would be good.  Easy access makes it simple to do.

Address Book - Easy access to the good old Address Book

Switch Profiles - Says it all

Settings - Need I say more?

Exit - I wonder what this could do ;-D


Anyway... just to give an idea of what I was thinking.	Would be nice if it
also give Mozilla style notifications of Messages ("You have 1 new message").  


And of course an option to have it remain open and checking email when all
windows are closed.  So I don't need to have my email window open all day in
the taskbar.  Just keep it in the System Tray.	I'll open the window only when
I want to read my email.
I think the Proposition 1 of possible implementation would be perfect. The
reason it'd be nice to have in the system tray is because if you have it
checking for new mail every say 30 minutes then it has to be running which mean
it takes up more space then it would need to.
I hope that this system tray client doesn't use much memory (right now TB is
open and is using around 25 MB of RAM). It should provide minimal mail checking
functionality and ability to launch real TB app. But if it does use more memory
(and there's no way around it) it'd be good if it acted partly like quick launch
on mozilla suite.
This is a great idea; I was just about to suggest this myself when I found this.
 I really hope this makes it in.
QA Contact: asa
*** Bug 225609 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
CC --> mscott

I think there is enough backing in forums, and this bug.  Not to mention, the
functionality is pretty useful (especially on windows).  Being able to minimize
to the tray, and access popular features with ease is important.

I remember the mozillazine forum having a discussion on using third party
software to allow you to minimize to the tray (for those interested, search there).

Could we possibly target this bug?  I think this would prove to be a very useful
feature to many users/potential users.  I know I hate always having a window in
my taskbar on windows.  Waste of space.  Especially since my email is *always* open.
*** Bug 226309 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Sorry for the bug spam but I figure people might be interested in an interim
solution.  There is freeware application called trayit that lets you minimize
any application to the taskbar by right-clicking the close button.  This gives
you the best of both worlds in that you can choose to minimize to taskbar,
minimize to tray, or close the application. http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm

It only works on windows, it doesn't give any application options while
minimized and it doesn't reduce the memory footprint...but it's a start.
The sole purpose I registered here at bugzilla was to reqeuest this enhancement.
I really would love to see this feature implemented :) 
I'd very much like to see this implemented, particularly the 'no appearance on
taskbar' side of thing. Another application I have open all day is Winamp, and
it allows me to set it not to take up any taskbar real-estate.

With regards to the eventual behaviour, I could see it as an extension to the
New Mail Notification icon thing - have one icon in the system tray when there's
no new mail, and a different icon when there is. Left-clicking on the icon
always brings up the TB main window, and right-clicking gives a context menu.
Just wanted to add support for this request. For all the good reasons already
given in its favour.
*** Bug 235890 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 235946 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
thundertray does this trick for now:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1063659252

bould be nice to have it integrated in feature releases. (with the extra stuff
mentioned above)
Depends on: 115348
I think this is the only feature that is missing in thunderbird project, in 
fact it should be obligatory, but not only in microsoft plataforms but in all 
plataforms, mainly in linux or every OS that has a graphic enviroment.
I want to add a "me too" to this feature request.
And I'd like to propose an (optional) shortcut key for the minimize to tray 
function: Escape.
Wow, what a mind-reader you are! I was just thinking about that as I saw the new
mail icon in my system tray.  I think being able to set a global hotkey would be
a nice feature.  It should be configurable to whatever you want, and the same
key should either minimize or restore the window, whichever would be the oposite
of its current state.  However, this should probably be filed as a seperate bug.

I used Thundertray for a while (see comment 22) to have this functionality, but
it stopped working with one of the recent nightlies and I don't know if it's
just a problem with me or if something became incompatible.  Does anyone else know?

Also, any idea when this feature might make it in?  It would be a very useful
feature.
Thundertray has stopped working for me as well for the creator of Thundertray. 
I mailed him about this, but sadly, I have to announce, he won't be updating 
Thundertray anymore.
I'll be adding my vote for this bug, hoping someone will find the time for 
creating this very handy dandy feature :)
I just wanted to add a vote for this bug. I was sad to see it was not in the 0.7
release, hope it will be added by 1.0
CC
I too would like to vote for this "bug", I think it would be a great feature. 
For some reason, I can't seem to vote for it however.  What exactly is it that
makes a bug "voteable"?
See http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=104670
first *extension* that implements minimizing to systray (no context menu yet).
The current (new mail) icon allows you to open the main window after a double 
click. How about opening it after just a single (left) click?
And about closing it if it's open already?
*** Bug 256740 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
With no voting system implemented in this version of bugzilla. At least i dont
see it in here anywhere. I would like to add my name to the list of eager
systrayers. I dont even care if the memory foot print is reduced in the short
time frame. Removing the taskbar clutter alone would be nice.
"Me Too" comment.
I think it would be the best if there is an option like in winamp where the user
can set which way he/she prefer.
Maybe: 
'Show icon in [] taskbar | [X] tray'
and ability to minimize to tray if it is checked. It can be both as well (not
radio button). It can be also a possiblity if both are checked... it could only
be minimized to taskbar.

Please sign this bug as will fix or won't fix! :) (I hope the first one)
Finally I found this:
http://minimizetotray.mozdev.org/
It seems to me fine, but this is only another extension. Is it possible that
Thunderbird 1.0 include something similar?
Flags: blocking-aviary1.0?
not a 1. stop ship bug.
Flags: blocking-aviary1.0? → blocking-aviary1.0-
Keywords: helpwanted
I'm assuming the tray icon will keep the current "new mail" notification
functionality? Ideally, the icon could have a hover showing a quick overview of
the state of folders (e.g., read/total messages, like "Inbox 3/20") or subjects
and senders of new mail. PARC and MSR have had a number of research prototypes
with this kinds of notification in the last few years, and I think such features
are really useful.
Even just minimizing Thunderbird to the tray (like Notepad2 can do, if you've
ever used it) would be useful.  A seperate client that uses less RAM would be
nicer.  Something like Gmail notifier.
*** Bug 276788 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 272244 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
For what it's worth, many many hours have been spent on the design issues and
potential problems, and we've handled many of them in the MinimizeToTray extension. 
http://minimizetotray.mozdev.org/   If this feature ever gets worked on again,
contact me or Mook at the link I provided, and we can help you with what we've
seen so far.
(In reply to comment #42)
> For what it's worth, many many hours have been spent on the design issues and
> potential problems, and we've handled many of them in the MinimizeToTray
extension. 
> http://minimizetotray.mozdev.org/   If this feature ever gets worked on again,
> contact me or Mook at the link I provided, and we can help you with what we've
> seen so far.

the biggest problem with this solution (same with powermenu) is that if you have
just one firefox window and have firefox as default browser, if you click a link
for example in outlook, the link will open in that minimized to tray window
without any visual indication where it was opened (the window doesn't popup or
anything), if I didn't know that, I would say that default browser failed to
start and open that window. I switched back to mozilla where such problems don't
exist.
It could be nice to similarly like MS Outlook when minimize to have onlz an icon
in the tray.
*** Bug 286293 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I think more effort should go into implementing this feature in the upcoming
thunderbird release. The initial bugreport is almost 2 years old. Even MS
Outlook has this feature.

These kind of features determine how much the userbase will grow.

The plugin from minimizetotray.mozdev.org is a nice patch, but has very limited
features and should not be a plugin, it should be a standard feature of thunderbird.


i agree with everyone on this. it should be a basic feature of thunderbird. and
i would like to recommend you make a feature request page for "bugs" like this
as gaim did on sourceforge.net because it's not really a bug.
Yes, in the mean time i have found an alternative. There is this app called
"TrayIconizer". You can put the launch string for it in the shortcut of thunder
bird(or any other app) and when you minimize it,  the application goes straight
to the tray icon.
Yes I would also like a feature like this.
But also for sunbird because I use both Sunbird and Thunderbird but they take up
to much space ( I use linux)
*** Bug 312640 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 314656 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 320987 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
How about another option of closing Thunderbird completely leaving only a tray icon to notify you of new email?

The tray program can poll the mail servers at set intervals and notify you of new email on the server

It's only once when you double click the tray icon, it opens up the full-blown Thunderbird and downloads all your email.

The benefits of implementing this:
1. Minimal memory usage when Thunderbird is not in use.
2. Have control of when you download your emails.
3. Only download emails when you view them, so it does not suck up bandwidth in the middle of streaming/playing games thus causing lag when you dont want to.


This is perfectly feasible with the patch attached to bug 325353
Depends on: 325353
*** Bug 360618 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I too think this is a vital feature. MinimizeToTray does the job to a degree but at present (Thunderbird 2.0) it does not work, and is inconsistent across Firefox/Thunderbird/Sunbird. Perhaps this feature should be integrated into the backend. I certainly see usage of this for Calendaring and Email, less so for web browsing.

If implemented wholesale it should allow for faster startup of the application, but reduced memory footprint when minimised to the tray.
QA Contact: front-end
I am glad to find I am not alone on this one.  Being able to keep thunderbird open all day but in the systray would be a huge help.  Keeping it open on the task bar is cumbersome and outdated.  People with smaller monitors don't have room for this and shouldn't have to.
+100
Summary: system tray icon/icon menu → minimize to system tray icon/icon menu
Nominating wanted-thunderbird3 due to number of dupes.
Flags: wanted-thunderbird3?
Still nothing to see from this feature in version 3.0a1.
I'd really appreciate having something like this in the future releases.
(In reply to comment #61)
> Still nothing to see from this feature in version 3.0a1.
> I'd really appreciate having something like this in the future releases.

Bug 325353 has to be fixed first before any work can be done here.
Version: unspecified → Trunk
Assignee: mscott → nobody
I vote for this feature!

I want to know at any time, if I receive a new mail. And it's very annoying to have Thunderbird in the taskbar all the time
No longer depends on: 115348
Hi all,

I absolutely agree with you.
I had this feature in Microsoft Outlook and I do not understand that Thunderbird wait so long to do it.

Bye
Will we see this feature on v3.0 ?
wanted‑thunderbird3-; isn't likely to happen without bug 325353.
Flags: wanted-thunderbird3? → wanted-thunderbird3-
any news? any progress?
guys, can we finally expect this feature for Thunderbird 3?
i´ve jsut read changes in Thunderbird 3.0 Beta 1 (http://www.rumblingedge.com/2008/11/26/thunderbird-30-beta-1-released/)and it´s not included, so far.
I am trying out Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 - and I am really dissapointed that nobody works over that issue :/ still... it was created in 2003 - a long time ago - does any developer reading that? Could anybody post anything about reasons why that issue is still new/open? Even if it is hard to implement tray functionality, any information about that would nice.. Could it be included to thunderbird milestone?
Sorry if I sound rude, but... Don't spam.

If a developer will be interested, he'll/she'll do something then.
If noone is doing anything, you can just wait or vote (yes, there's such functionality in bugzilla).

Until Thunderbird gets official tray icon support, install FireTray extension.
Firetray extension does not add any functionality. Thunderbird already minimises to the "tray" and this is surely a misunderstanding of the feature we are requesting in Ubuntu. Ubuntu Linux users would like to nest the application in the toolbar, which is in the top Gnome panel. Please see http://www.ubuntu.com
If I'm not mistaken, "tray" in this bug refers to the Windows system tray.
Yes, Ubuntu has two panels in the default Gnome desktop. The top panel is a toolbar and the lower panel is where application "windows" sit. Minimising Thunderbird to the lower panel as a window, takes-up too much space on either one or more of the desktop's provided, and is not ideal. Very easy to loose Thunderbird and the application quits, or is closed by the user who then has to reopen, wasting time and energy and making nonesense of the notifications.

http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm
http://minimizetotray.mozdev.org/
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Thundertray/1063659252/1#reviews

All of the above are Windoze solutions. Where is the Ubuntu Linux solution for
the Third World Ubuntu Community?

Any help on this, appreciated.
Peace.
Yes, Ubuntu has two panels in the default Gnome desktop. The top panel is a toolbar and the lower panel is where application "windows" sit. Minimising Thunderbird to the lower panel as a window, takes-up too much space on either one or more of the desktop's provided, and is not ideal. Very easy to loose Thunderbird and the application quits, or is closed and quit by the user who then has to restart, wasting time and energy in the process and making nonsense of the notifications. Solutions would be similar to Amarok or Transmission Bit-Torrent.

http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm
http://minimizetotray.mozdev.org/
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Thundertray/1063659252/1#reviews


All of the above are Windoze solutions. Where is the Ubuntu Linux solution for
the Third World Ubuntu Community?

Any help on this, appreciated.
Peace.
I am looking into this issue and its... old... Created in 2003 - it is stated there that help is wanted :) anybody knows what is the problem with that issue? anything blocks implementation of that? I could help - maybe any of the watchers too - could someone provide technical description of difficulties making that issue unresolved so long? Maybe now is the time to focus on it - as I said I could help - but I need an introduction as I am new to Mozilla API :)
(In reply to comment #80)
> Where is the Ubuntu Linux solution for the Third World Ubuntu Community?
The Firetray extension is for Linux:
http://code.google.com/p/firetray/

(In reply to comment #81)
> I am looking into this issue and its... old... Created in 2003 - it is stated
> there that help is wanted :) anybody knows what is the problem with that issue?
See bug 325353: Prism has already implemented this, but the code needs to be ported to toolkit, where it can be used by Firefox/Thunderbird etc.
http://svn.mozilla.org/projects/webrunner/trunk/components/src/windows/nsNotificationArea.cpp
(In reply to comment #81)

> making that issue unresolved so long? Maybe now is the time to focus on it - as
> I said I could help - but I need an introduction as I am new to Mozilla API :)

Some instructions are provided at https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Comm-central . You can join the developers on http://irc.mozilla.org in #maildev.
I also requested this feature on launchpad, and you can follow the discussion here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mozilla-thunderbird/+bug/376715
What is the deal with this? Is Mozilla just going to ignore this altogether? If Mozilla wants to pick up any market share, they should at least try and CATCH UP TO THE COMPETITION i.e. Outlook! Oh well I guess Thunderbird will always have to look up to Outlook in terms of features. What's new...
I'm completely agree with a_lipford@yahoo.com. When really this simple function will be available. Thunderbird wants to be in first place, but it doesn't do anything.
For Windows, as of Win7, Microsoft explicitly recommends *against* doing this:

"In this example from Windows Vista, Outlook and Windows Live™ Messenger are single-instance applications that minimize to notification area icons. ... Note: This icon pattern is no longer recommended for Windows 7. Use regular taskbar buttons instead if your program has desktop presence." [1]

Granted, Thunderbird currently doesn't have a lot of support for Windows 7 features (mostly because Gecko 1.9.1 doesn't support them either), but I think it would make more sense to put effort into Windows 7 support these days.

[1] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511448.aspx
Jim,
for one, Thunderbird still supports older versions of Windows,
and then, this bug is still valid for Linux too.
Even on Linux, this isn't always the right way to do it. As of Ubuntu Lucid, the recommended strategy is to use the Messaging Menu (this works on KDE and Gnome, assuming you have the menu installed) as opposed to the system tray. There are some guidelines for doing this here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MessagingMenu#Recommended%20behavior%20for%20e-mail%20clients

I don't know if the Messaging Menu dictates a particular behavior with regard to minimizing, but I do know that Evolution doesn't minimize to the tray/Messaging Menu, even though it does support the latter.

That's not to say that I think this should be WONTFIX, but rather that I think the other ways (that target newer platforms) should be prioritized.
please add this functionality guys, its annoying trying to find addons that work with new versions of thunderbird. Outlook has minimise the tray icon, so should thunderbird!
the source code for the add-on that adds support for minimising to tray icon is here, please integrate it into the thunderbird source code: https://tn123.org/mintrayr/
I've been using Thunderbird on Windows for a long time now, and have always been annoyed by the need to get a third-party program to minimize it to the system tray.  Having said that, that option was always available, and recently the Thunderbird and Ubuntu developers have done a bit of work integrating Thunderbird into Ubuntu's messaging menu, so that platform is getting better, too.

I guess what I think I'm saying is that the people who are paid to work on Thunderbird are working on more important things, but I would love to see a patch from the community that fixes this.

(And now, hopefully everyone else who wants this feature but can't or doesn't want to do the work can stop commenting in this bug.  ;)

Thanks,
Blake.
Blocks: 528858
(In reply to Jim Porter (:squib) from comment #90)
> For Windows, as of Win7, Microsoft explicitly recommends *against* doing
> this:

MS is silly :p
I'm using Windows 7 and I'd still like to see a minimize to tray (with Escape as shortcut). I don't want to clutter my taskbar and alt-tab switcher.
See Also: → 899913
Why has this feature still not been added, we've asked for this useful feature that all other email clients have for 11yrs now.
Windows users can get this with https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/

If you are interested in this functionality but not interested in coding it the proper way to do this in bugzilla is to cc on the bug and/or vote without comment please
Whiteboard: [gs] → [gs][workaround:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/ ]
Whiteboard: [gs][workaround:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/ ] → [duptome][gs][workaround:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/ ]
For all people bothering you need:

First (for minimizing to system tray at all):

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/

Second (for minimizing to tray on startup):

https://addons.mozilla.org/de/thunderbird/addon/minimize-on-start-and-close/

Third (for starting thundebird with windows):

Under Win 10 use "Windows-Button + R" then type "shell:startup" then create a shotcut (e.g. to desktop) of Thunderbird and copy  it in the previously opened startup folder

For other OS google how to add a program to startup.

And fast as this Thunderbird doesn't even need to be on your taskbar at all!

PS.: I know its not a support forum but after 14 years maybe it's nice someone clears it up, as beeing the most easy and intuitve thing a program has to offer (start).
Old bug or not, Bugzilla is our professional working environment as much as it is our issue tracker, and abusive comments will not be tolerated.  Thunderbird is an entirely community-driven effort at this point, and abusive comments asking people who are volunteering their already-scarce time to build "this stupiditly nonsence easy feature" are not going to move a new feature forward so much as an inch, much less carry it over the finish line. 

I encourage you to read our etiquette and contributor guidelines, linked below the comment boxes in all Bugzilla bugs, and take them to heart. Should you decline to do so, my next step will be suspending your account.
All extension providing this functionality are no longer supported and their development is discontinued. Are there any updates on this feature?
Add-on FireTray allowed not only to see the number of new mails but also informs about bew incoming chat messages. (https://foudfou.github.io/FireTray/)  Unfortunately this add-on is discontinued too. I really hope that this functionality can become natively supported by Thunderbird when the old add-ons stop working there.
Please add this functionality. Thunderbird 60 drops .xpi support, there are no longer any addons that work with thunderbird 60. The addon "Minimize to tray (revived)" (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/) is the 12th most popular addon. This very simple functionality needs adding to thunderbird.
> Thunderbird 60 drops .xpi support

Where did you hear this? That's not true, and in fact I have a number of old-style extensions I develop that work just fine in Thunderbird 60+. However, add-ons will likely need some small updates for TB 60, so they've been marked as incompatible by default.
It would be great if somebody could port https://github.com/foudfou/FireTray which works under different OS (Linux and Windows) and is very easy and comfortable in use. Currently, AFAIK there is no solution for TB 60.
Just a reminder, as there is currently no working AddOn for Tray-Support anymore (all stopped working as of Thunderbird 60), this bug is still relevant, 15 years later. :)
I've been searching like crazy for a native "minimize to tray" function in TB 60, since the last version of 'MinimizeToTray' is deprecated - but i soon realized that there's no such function added.

So if there's someone that got the time (and the will ofc) and knowledge that could port https://github.com/foudfou/FireTray - i would be very happy, and i guess a lot of other ppl would be too!

I'm sorry for the echo, but i felt the thread needed a "bump".

Best regards, meffe
This is why author of FireTray deprecated the addon:
https://foudil.fr/blog/209/the-web-is-not-the-platform/

I looked at the source code and there are far more lines than I expected. I think there is a way to make this feature happen, and the way is to talk with the author if he accepts money for doing it. If yes, we could make a fundraiser. I think it happened many times before in open source. Since this ticket is so popular, we may have actually gather some considerable sum.
Its incredible.
I can not understand this, do people around thunderbird actually use it?
Are they really running it just minimized or run it when they need it instead of in the background?
how can they just not have tray extension ready, or feature already build in?
It seems like tray icons may not be "modern enough" - see the link mkkot recently posted:
"GtkStatusIcon has been deprecated in 3.14. You should consider using notifications or more modern platform-specific APIs instead."
(Which is why raising money probably wouldn't help.)
Is there any official acknowledgement from the TB team that this is a highly requested feature? If so, is there a response? Unfortunately the developers of the third party plugins have stopped supporting their extension. This is an important feature to me.
Yes, the Thunderbird team is aware that many people want this.

Given Microsoft is recommending *against* doing this nowadays (comment 90), and on linux this isn't really a thing - I think reality is this is not going so happen.

Sorry, it's a thing of the past.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 21 years ago → 6 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Restrict Comments: true
Does anyone know of services that sit in the system tray, check IMAP servers for new mail and launch Thunderbird on double click? I'd need that for Windows 7+10 and Cinnamon Desktop.
Got this from Clemens W:

Possible workaround: If you're using a window manager with workspaces and if you can live with Thunderbird sitting on its own workspace, maybe devilspie is a solution for you!

Example configuration file:
; ~/.devilspie/thunderbird.ds
( if
( is ( application_name ) "Thunderbird" )
( begin
( maximize )
( skip_tasklist )
( set_workspace 2 )
)
)
For those who really need this on Windows, https://github.com/benbuck/rbtray with the 'winkey+alt+down arrow' combination works  for minimizing Thunderbird to system tray.
This can also be set via GUI (System settings) in KDE desktop, to always open and keep Thunderbird on a specific virtual desktop (workspace), maximized. Then there is a setting to not show apps from other desktops in the taskbar. But TB icon will be present in the systray on all desktops.

On Windows this may be useful (and Outlook supports it at least up to version 2013), I'm not sure how the new "virtual desktops" in Windows 10 work.
Sorry, there would be no systray icon in my scenario.
User Story: (updated)
Whiteboard: [duptome][gs][workaround:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/minimizetotray-revived/ ] → [duptome][gs]
See Also: → 1486221

We ended up fixing this in bug 208923 after all. No plans to backport, so 76 betas and up.

Assignee: nobody → geoff
Resolution: WONTFIX → FIXED
Whiteboard: [duptome][gs] → [duptome][fixed by bug 208923]
Target Milestone: --- → Thunderbird 76.0
See Also: 1486221 →
Whiteboard: [duptome][fixed by bug 208923] → [duptome][fixed by bug 1626161]

From bug 1626161 it seems this was fixed for Windows only, while this issue is about Linux as well. Any plans to tackle that?

None at all.

OS: All → Windows
Summary: minimize to system tray icon/icon menu → minimize to system tray icon/icon menu for Windows
See Also: → 1679702
Depends on: 1626161
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