1918035 - want pref for showing/hiding system tray icon

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: OS Integration, enhancement)

Description

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

We should add a pref to hide/show the system tray icon.

For windows we have minimize-to-tray-label - https://searchfox.org/comm-central/search?q=minimize-to-tray-label&path=&case=true&regexp=false
The behavior on linux should probably be the same and use this same setting. That is, don't show the icon when Thunderbird is maximized.

Comment 1

[Francesco (no longer active, use PM for contact)]

You mean "add UI for the existing prefs mail.biff.show_tray_icon and mail.minimizeToTray"?

Comment 2

[Anje]

Are you talking about this which is already in version 115.15.0 and beta 131.0b5

• Settings > General
  

• Scroll down to 'Incoming Mails' section
  

• uncheck - 'Show a tray icon for unread messages'
  

• Then restart Thunderbird for it to effect.
  

OR

• In Config Editor:
• mail.biff.show_tray_icon
• set to 'false' to switch it off

I find that option displays icon or not in Tray.

The main reason for the person at that link asking for help to switch it all off is because two identical icons each for a different profile is not helpful.
I run two versions of TB on different profiles, it's easy for me to see which is which because one is a 'beta' version actually says 'Beta' on icon, but you can understand how difficult it would be if you have two different profiles both running off a release version.
How do you which system tray icon is for which profile ?

Comment 3

[Eugene Savitsky]

Attachment: no setting for tray icon

I'm on TB 131b6 and I do not have such a setting.
openSUSE Tumbleweed, if it matters.

Comment 4

[Francesco (no longer active, use PM for contact)]

On Windows, there is an button: "Change preferences for the app icon [App Icon Options]". Maybe that should also be enabled for Linux.

Comment 5

[Klaus Kusche]

1.) I can confirm that in TB 136 on linux there is no mail.biff.show_tray_icon, and I found no way to turn the new system tray icon off:
It is always shown, no matter if there are unread/new mails or not.

2.) This is very annoying: There is no other app using the system tray on my system, so my system tray is normally invisible, giving more space to more important things in the taskbar. With thunderbird running, the system tray becomes always visible, takes up space, and is distracing.

Comment 6

[Josh Ellithorpe]

Yeah it would be really nice to get a setting for this. Having it always show on Linux is a waste of space in my system tray. If it only showed when doing a notification would be significantly better, but having the option to just turn it off would be the best.

Comment 7

[stef]

I can confirm that the tray icon is always visible and I found no way to turn it off (Linux Mint XFCE). There really should be a way to disable it, as (in my personal use case) there is no benefit and it just wastes space.

Comment 8

[Jörg Bornemann]

The Thunderbird tray icon appeared for me with 136.0.
OS: Arch Linux, KDE Plasma 6.3.3, X11

The tray icon (thunderbird logo, not the mail notification icon) is always visible.
It has a context menu with one option: "Quit Mozilla Thunderbird".
Clicking or double-clicking on it does nothing.

Please remove that icon again or add an option for removing it.

Comment 9

[Heiko Tietze]

(In reply to Jörg Bornemann from comment #8)

Please remove that icon again or add an option for removing it.

Rather than just removing the icon I'd recommend to add functionality. I'm using birdtray which shows/hides the app, informs me about new messages, and has a context menu too. IIRC, TB had this feature once upon the time.

Comment 10

[m.krippendorf]

Also, the tray icon doesn't seem to respect dark mode. On my machine it is a black blob on a dark gray background.

Comment 11

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Attachment: Bug 1918035 - [linux] want pref for showing/hiding system tray icon. r=babolivier

For mail.biff.show_tray_icon_always true show the tray icon.

Comment 12

[php4funs]

This is unbelievable.

To the person who decided to add a tray icon: Never, ever do that again without also having a setting to hide it.

Also, when you add the setting, make sure it's easily discoverable by right-clicking on the tray icon itself (perhaps with a "settings" menu item that brings you to the tray-icon-related settings, if not a checkbox right there in the context menu). Right now the only option in the context menu is "Quit Thunderbird".

Comment 13

[Klaus Kusche]

(In reply to php4funs from comment #12)

Right now the only option in the context menu is "Quit Thunderbird".

So if this is the only functionality of the tray icon, the question is: What is this icon good for, anyway? What is the use or benefit of the icon?
The icon does not even change if there is new or unread mail (which is what I'd have expected)?

Comment 14

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

The idea was to add more functionality there, but that has not yet happened.

Anyway, not the topic for this bug.

Comment 15

[php4funs]

the question is: What is this icon good for, anyway? What is the use or benefit of the icon?

I was so annoyed by the fact that I could not remove the icon which I don't need, that I didn't even realize the icon does absolutely nothing and is completely useless.
The bare minimum one would expect is that by clicking it you bring Thunderbird to focus. It doesn't even do that. Or, as you say, that it would change depending on whether or not you have new or unread mail, which apparently it doesn't either.

The only current function of the icon is to let you know that Thunderbird is open and allow you to close it. For which we already have the task manager icon.

Please, until you add a setting for whether or not to show the icon, AND until the icon actually serves some purpose, urgently remove it.

Comment 16

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/a82bd8fc0bc0
[linux] want pref for showing/hiding system tray icon. r=babolivier,heather

Comment 17

[Corey Bryant]

Comment on attachment 9472494 [details]
Bug 1918035 - [linux] want pref for showing/hiding system tray icon. r=babolivier

Uplift Approval Request

• Please state case for uplift consideration and ensure bug severity is set: This patch is a prerequisite for bug 1955299. Without this patch, the mail.biff.show_tray_icon_always pref does nothing.
• User impact if declined: Some users will continue to not see the Thunderbird icon, and instead see a white squire or otherwise, regardless of the mail.biff.show_tray_icon_always setting
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Daily?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Beta?: No
• Needs manual test from QA?: No
• If yes, steps to reproduce:
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): The change is limited to rust/sys_tray/src/linux/mod.rs
• String changes made/needed:

Comment 18

[Corey Bryant]

Comment on attachment 9472494 [details]
Bug 1918035 - [linux] want pref for showing/hiding system tray icon. r=babolivier

[Triage Comment]
Approved for release

Comment 19

[Daniel Darnell [:dandarnell]]

Thunderbird 137.0:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-release/rev/cb35b2a9c20c