1614402 - Provide a way of removing Calendar & Tasks icons from tab toolbar for those not using them

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Toolbars and Tabs, enhancement)

Description

[Calum Mackay]

Between Daily 0206 & 0208 I get two new icons added to my toolbar, with tooltips:

"Switch to the calendar tab"

"Switch to the tasks tab"

I use neither calendar nor tasks.

Attempting to remove them by customising the toolbar doesn't work: I can drag them to the box, but they don't get removed from the bar.

Nothing in errors console.

Nothing showing in Add-ons, i.e. nothing that I can remove, since I don't use Calendar/Tasks.

Comment 1

[Calum Mackay]

Attachment: Screenshot 2020-02-10 at 5.13.23 pm.png

Screenshot of the two new icons

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

I seem to recall there was discussion about this, but I don't remember the conclusions.

Related is bug 1654374

Comment 4

[[e-mail]]

It seems there are quite a few who have no use for these in 78!!!!!

Comment 5

[Calum Mackay]

Thanks for the workaround suggestion Paul, in bug 1654374; but it didn't work for me: buttons still there…
MacOS 10.15.5; Daily 20200721

$ cat ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/*/userchrome.css
/*
 * Remove unneeded Calendar & Tasks buttons
 *
 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1654374#c4
 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1614402
 */
#calendar-tab-button,
#task-tab-button {
display: none !important;
}

Comment 6

[[e-mail]]

Have you enable custom styles? If not here is how:

Settings/Options > Advanced > General > Config Editor

toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets > true

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #4)

It seems there are quite a few who have no use for these in 78!!!!!

Although we do have a few requests, and not to dismiss the request but to provide context, the response for removing these icons appears to be underwhelming given that we now have over 150,000 users on this version (or newer, on beta) and only a handful of requests.

Comment 8

[[e-mail]]

Well at least this thread now contains the information for those that want to!

Comment 9

[Paul Morris [:pmorris]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #3)

I seem to recall there was discussion about this, but I don't remember the conclusions.

The plan is to move these buttons to a different location as part of a general redesign of the UI. We decided to leave them as-is for now, and not put additional effort towards them since they will be changing anyway. A side effect of that is that they can't be removed due to their current implementation, at least without using userchrome.css.

If anyone is sufficiently motivated, it would be possible to make an add-on that would hide the buttons. It would need to be a MailExtensions experiment that inserts the css to hide them (as with userchrome.css).

Edit: Also we didn't want to hide them as part of "disabling calendar and tasks" (bug 1654374), both for discoverability and since one would need to open the calendar tab in order to enable a calendar.

Comment 10

[Calum Mackay]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #6)

Have you enable custom styles? If not here is how:

Settings/Options > Advanced > General > Config Editor

toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets > true

Thanks Paul; I tried that, but the buttons still appear.

$ grep toolkit ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/*/user.js
user_pref("toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets", true);

and confirmed as modified, true in config editor.

Comment 11

[[e-mail]]

Did you create the userchrome.css and put it in the correct place?

Comment 12

[alta88]

(In reply to Paul Morris [:pmorris] from comment #9)

additional effort

Do you mean like adding |removable="true"| to the buttons and then to maintain discoverability adding a menuitem like for Chat to open the tabs?

The following 2 commands entered in the developer console and a restart will probably take longer (use .removeValue to unset):
Services.xulStore.setValue(document.URL, "task-tab-button", "hidden", true)
Services.xulStore.setValue(document.URL, "calendar-tab-button", "hidden", true)

Comment 13

[Calum Mackay]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #11)

Did you create the userchrome.css and put it in the correct place?

Thanks Paul; depends on what the correct place is :)

see my comment #5. Is that wrong?

Comment 14

[[e-mail]]

I see that you are using MacOS.

Sorry, I do not know the correct location for it on that.

Perhaps a google search will tell you the correct location!

Comment 15

[Calum Mackay]

thanks Paul; my mistake.

I had the css file in the profile dir, instead of in the chrome subdir. Working now, buttons removed.

i.e. it should be:

$ cat ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxx.default/chrome/userChrome.css
/*
 * Remove unneeded Calendar & Tasks buttons
 *
 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1654374#c4
 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1614402
 */
#calendar-tab-button,
#task-tab-button {
display: none !important;
}

$ grep toolkit ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxx.default/user.js
user_pref("toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets", true);

thanks again, all.

Comment 16

[Calum Mackay]

Finally, to add a justification (although I'm fine with the css fix): the buttons take useful horizontal space away from tabs.

If you have two side-by-side windows, and many tabs in each window, you don't want two sets of buttons making the tab widths smaller, and thus truncating the "folder - account" text.

Comment 17

[ednl]

Thanks for the useful summary, Calum. Now I am left with the calendar button in the status bar. Can anyone tell what its css ID is, so that I may remove it as well?

Comment 18

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Attachment: Screenshot: Code/ID of Calendar button in status bar

(In reply to ednl from comment #17)

calendar button in the status bar. Can anyone tell what its css ID is, so that I may remove it as well?

Here it is.

Comment 19

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

(In reply to ednl from comment #17)

Thanks for the useful summary, Calum. Now I am left with the calendar button in the status bar. Can anyone tell what its css ID is, so that I may remove it as well?

The Today Pane icon?

Did you enable a calendar?

No icons should be in the Status bar if there are no calendars enabled.

Comment 20

[Calum Mackay]

thanks Walt,

(In reply to WaltS48 [:walts48] from comment #19)

The Today Pane icon?

Did you enable a calendar?

No icons should be in the Status bar if there are no calendars enabled.

What do you mean by "enable a calendar"?

I've not used moz calendaring since I last used standalone Sunbird, a long time ago. I've not knowingly enabled a calendar, nor do I see any such options in Preferences, yet I have the Today Pane icon in the right of the status bar.

Comment 21

[Calum Mackay]

(In reply to Thomas D. from comment #18)

Here it is.

thanks Thomas! That worked for me.

My current file:

$ cat ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxx.default/chrome/userChrome.css
/*
 * Remove unneeded Calendar & Tasks buttons; calum 22/7/2020
 *
 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1654374#c4
 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1614402
 */
#calendar-status-todaypane-button,
#calendar-tab-button,
#task-tab-button {
display: none !important;
}

$ grep toolkit ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxx.default/user.js
user_pref("toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets", true);

Comment 22

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

(In reply to Calum Mackay from comment #20)

thanks Walt,

(In reply to WaltS48 [:walts48] from comment #19)

The Today Pane icon?

Did you enable a calendar?

No icons should be in the Status bar if there are no calendars enabled.

What do you mean by "enable a calendar"?

I've not used moz calendaring since I last used standalone Sunbird, a long time ago. I've not knowingly enabled a calendar, nor do I see any such options in Preferences, yet I have the Today Pane icon in the right of the status bar.

My question was directed at ednl and about the comment of an icon in the Status bar.

By enable a calendar I mean:
Going to the Calendar tab or Tasks tab using the icons you want to remove.
Right-click on the Home calendar.
Select Properties and put a check mark in the box for "Enable This Calendar".

In version 78 that permanently enables the Calendar and Task tabs, adds Events and Tasks to the Menu, enables the Calendar preferences in Preferences and enables the Today Pane. The icon also has the words "Today Pane" in it.

Comment 23

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

Attachment: today-pane.png

Comment 24

[Calum Mackay]

(In reply to WaltS48 [:walts48] from comment #22)

By enable a calendar I mean:
Going to the Calendar tab or Tasks tab using the icons you want to remove.
Right-click on the Home calendar.
Select Properties and put a check mark in the box for "Enable This Calendar".

In version 78 that permanently enables the Calendar and Task tabs, adds Events and Tasks to the Menu, enables the Calendar preferences in Preferences and enables the Today Pane. The icon also has the words "Today Pane" in it.

Thanks Walt; I definitely didn't do any of those things, yet I still had the Today Pane in my status bar. But now removed via Chrome, thanks.

Comment 25

[ednl]

Thanks Thomas and Calum. Yes, I am in the same situation as Calum; haven't used Calendar & Tasks, don't need them, get the icons anyway, and can't remove them from the interface.

Comment 26

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

Interesting that you both would have a Today Pane icon.

I just disabled all of my Calendars in Thunderbird 78.1.0. on Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS Linux.
Events and Tasks was removed from the Menu bar and button.
View > Today Pane and View > Calendar were removed from the Menu bar and button.
Edit > Calendar Properties was removed from the Menu bar.
Calendar preferences was removed from Preferences (Options on Windows)
The Today Pane disappeared.
The Calendar tab remained with the "All calendars are currently disabled. Enable an existing calendar or create a new one to create and edit events" warning showing.
Closed the Calendar tab and all that remained were the "Switch to the calendar tab" and "Switch to the tasks tab" icons.

Sorry you had to go to all that trouble to remove the Today Pane icon.
Hope you don't have any of the other items I mentioned above.

Comment 27

[Calum Mackay]

thanks Walt; I do have many of those items, despite never having enabled a calendar., but I don't regularly see them so am happy to ignore, now that I've been able to remove the main window icons.

But I might try your steps above, too; thanks!

Comment 28

[ten Raa]

I wish to second the request to remove the calendar and tasks icons.

Comment 29

[Silvio Bierman]

I also wish to second the request to remove the calendar and task icons and the Today pane thing. I use Thunderbird for e-mail and e-mail only and would like to be able to disable and visually remove anything else.

Comment 30

[b]

I too want to remove the calendar and tasks item and the Today Pane button. I'm not here for clutter and random features that are already mature elsewhere. Just mail. Thunderbird is a mailer. Just mail.