1712987 - Windows 10 Taskbar not auto-hiding due to Reminders window popping up while Thunderbird not the focused/active app (running in the background)

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Richard Leger]

In TB 89.0b4 (64-bit) on Windows 10 with the OS Taskbar set to auto-hide...

In some circumstances that yet have to be clarified but which I believe may be as follow... the TB Calendar Reminders Windows when triggered while TB is not the active app, seems to be auto-focused in TB (and possibly the Taskbar) and preventing the Taskbar to auto-hide (remained showed at the all time on the screen). The problem is all apps think the the task bar is hidden so the Taskbar actually overlap the bottom of each app hiding any data or interactive button in the app in the area behind the taskbar...

Clicking any area outside the Taskbar area or on the desktop area, does not trigger the Taskbar to hide any more...

As noticed to fix manually the you have to select TB in the Taskbar, go to the Reminders window and close it manually (top right cross icon) then the Taskbar hide immediately automatically.

That seems to only be happening while TB is up and running in the background... so it is likely due to a bug in TB somehow... something like the Reminders window taking and keeping the main focus while TB is running in the background (not the focused/active app on screen)?

That is a really annoying bug as it happens almost every-time the Reminders window pops up in the background!

i have yet found the exact way/steps to reproduce the issue at will as it may be that the Taskbar may need to be showing after focusing on another app first, while TB reminder windows is triggered in the background...

Comment 1

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Redirecting this bug to our Windows devs as I have no idea how to investigate this.

Comment 2

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Alright, there are several things here.

1. Richard, if you really want someone to look into this, please provide numbered or bulleted STR (in detail), Actual Result, Expected Result (in separate sections, preferably bulleted) according to BMO Bug writing guidelines. Following this format religiously is crucial for reproduction and bug analysis. If you take a step back, you'll find that your first paragraph already is a conglomerate of steps, actual results, your hypotheses for technical analysis etc. - pretty hard to understand, consuming more triage time, and making systematic analysis much harder, if not impossible.

2. I've tried to test this, but in spite of setting the taskbar to auto-hide, it is just refusing to auto-hide, ever. So unfortunately I am not able to test this.

3. From reading this random article about stubborn taskbar refusing to auto-hide, I understand the following:

Things which will prevent the taskbar from hiding
- Any "badge" on a taskbar icon (and I'd believe that TB's red spot with numbers of unread messages counts)
- Any flashing taskbar icon (which often happens when there are alerts like TB's calendar reminder alert)

So if there unattended alerts, it seems "by design" that the taskbar won't hide until you have acknowledged your attention-seeking item in some way.

4. In conclusion, this may not be a bug in Thunderbird at all, and it might be a bit of an "edge case", too...

5. The irony of karma. When trying to publish this comment, with Auto-hide taskbar still on but not working, i.e. taskbar stubbornly showing, I was unable to reach the Save Changes button because Firefox was assuming that the taskbar was hidden and was hence using that space for display (but now hidden behind the taskbar). That sucks (as described in comment 1). As an easy workaround, I have have switched Auto-hide taskbar OFF again - problem solved. ;-p

Comment 3

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Attachment: Screenshot: Windows setting to auto-hide taskbar

Comment 4

[Richard Leger]

(In reply to Thomas D. (:thomas8) from comment #2)

1. Richard, if you really want someone to look into this, please provide numbered or bulleted STR (in detail), Actual Result, Expected Result (in separate sections, preferably bulleted) according to BMO Bug writing guidelines. Following this format religiously is crucial for reproduction and bug analysis. If you take a step back, you'll find that your first paragraph already is a conglomerate of steps, actual results, your hypotheses for technical analysis etc. - pretty hard to understand, consuming more triage time, and making systematic analysis much harder, if not impossible.

Sorry but I don't really understand this request, what more info would be needed?

2. I've tried to test this, but in spite of setting the taskbar to auto-hide, it is just refusing to auto-hide, ever. So unfortunately I am not able to test this.

Have you tried to check that Reminder window is not showing in TB? Because I bet it could explain why you cannot hide the Taskbar... Close the Reminder windows or TB entirely and see if that works for you... Alternatively try to close all running app and switch Automatically Hide the taskbar OFF/ON again...

3. From reading this random article about stubborn taskbar refusing to auto-hide, I understand the following:

Things which will prevent the taskbar from hiding
- Any "badge" on a taskbar icon (and I'd believe that TB's red spot with numbers of unread messages counts)
- Any flashing taskbar icon (which often happens when there are alerts like TB's calendar reminder alert)

So if there unattended alerts, it seems "by design" that the taskbar won't hide until you have acknowledged your attention-seeking item in some way.

It further say...
"...
For the most part, these issues are by design, and are straightforward to solve—either give the app the attention it wants, or configure it to stop asking for your attention.
..."

So surely there must be a way for TB to behave differently not to cause the taskbar not to hide... when TB is running in the background...
Either the reminder windows shall pop-up on screen on the top of all Windows, or it should only pop-up if TB is running foreground... or else option...

I don't think the current behaviour is right...

4. In conclusion, this may not be a bug in Thunderbird at all, and it might be a bit of an "edge case", too...

Could mostly affect laptop users with smaller screen 14" or below or any users that like to hide their taskbar tu use the entire screen to manage data and access content :-)

5. The irony of karma. When trying to publish this comment, with Auto-hide taskbar still on but not working, i.e. taskbar stubbornly showing, I was unable to reach the Save Changes button because Firefox was assuming that the taskbar was hidden and was hence using that space for display (but now hidden behind the taskbar). That sucks (as described in comment 1).

That is the annoying side effect indeed... and that happens with any app... when the taskbar is not hiding properly...
I am not denying that there may be flaw in Windows OS design itself, but surely the problem occurring only with TB seems to indicate there must be different way to prevent TB causing the issue... as it only happen with this app, it looks like a bug in TB from end-user point of view... even though it may not totally be...

As an easy workaround, I have have switched Auto-hide taskbar OFF again - problem solved. ;-p

That is not really a satisfactory workaround... a bit cumbersome as it requires many clicks...
The alternative is just click on TB icon in the taskbar and close the Reminder window, then the taskbar will auto-hide again...
But in both case really not convenient considering the frequency to which the TB Reminder window appears!

It would also be handy if the Reminder window was not hiding with TB in the background when it pops up but either come up on the top of all windows in the foreground or don't prevent the taskbar to hide...

A better way could be to use the notification system of windows to remind about appointments! This way it would appear on the top of all windows at the bottom right to screen (on Windows) with other notifications... I believe that is how Apple does it on Mac, reminders event appears as system notifications... It would be a bit less intrusive that the current TB Reminders windows.
Indeed when using TB it is quite annoying to be in the middle of something and suddenly all seems to freeze shortly to allow the Reminders windows appearing "in front of your face"!

Comment 5

[Richard Leger]

FYI, in case it makes a difference my current version of Windows is 10 Pro 64 bits Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.985)

Comment 6

[John Bieling]

I am late to the game, sorry.

I did:

• set taskbar to autohide
• verified that taskbar hides with TB 91 Daily running in forground or background
• created an event 1h 5min in the future with a reminder set to 1h before the event
• switched to firefox with this bug open, TB in the background, taskbar hidden
• waited 5min
• taskbar showed itself and the TB icon was flashing
• clicked on TB to put it in forground
• calendar notification is shown
• taskbar automatically hide itself again

My TB has the red unread mail notification, but still, the taskbar hides. So I cannot confirm this bug in TB91.

Comment 7

[John Bieling]

Attachment: reminder_with_hidden_taskbar.PNG

Comment 8

[John Bieling]

Attachment: forcing_taskbar_to_show.PNG

Comment 9

[Richard Leger]

(In reply to John Bieling (:TbSync) from comment #6)

• clicked on TB to put it in forground
• calendar notification is shown
• taskbar automatically hide itself again

Try to skip those steps above and try to use other apps than TB... then you would see the taskbar is not hiding...

Comment 10

[John Bieling]

(In reply to Richard Leger from comment #9)

Try to skip those steps above and try to use other apps than TB... then you would see the taskbar is not hiding...

But that would make perfect sense to me, because the reason for the unhide has not been cleared. I will try to trigger such an "alert" from another app and see how they behave.

Comment 11

[John Bieling]

I have the same effect with the notification for an available daily update. Taskbar unhides and TB icon blinks and taskbar stays visible until I have brought it to the foreground once.

Comment 12

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Richard are you still seeing the issue?

Comment 13

[Richard Leger]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #12)

Richard are you still seeing the issue?

I gave up on this one and decided to keep my taskbar unhidden to fix permanently!

Comment 14

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Richard, thanks for the update.
Regardless, I don't think the taskbar not hiding is a Thunderbird bug, but a side effect of reminders issue - which is a different bug.