313628 - Make Notification alert envelope persist in system tray until all unread messages are read

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, enhancement)

Description

[Jerry Baker]

20051024 trunk

For quite some time the envelope notification of new mail in the system tray has disappeared after opening the first unread message. This is disturbing to my work flow because once I open one unread message, it appears that I have no more. For any folders that are off the screen there could be new mail messages, but I wouldn't know it. I have to scroll up and down my list of folders everytime that envelope shows up to make sure I'm not missing anything.

The icon should remain until all new unread messages have been opened. I don't know how much state information Thunderbird has, but if it's possible to differentiate between a new message, and one marked as unread, I think the envelope should persist until there are no new unread messages.

Comment 1

[Ray Booysen]

This sounds more like an enhancement than a bug as this is a user pref.

Comment 2

[Jerry Baker]

I do believe it is a recent regression though.

Comment 3

[Ray Booysen]

To be honest, I have seen this behaviour since I started using 0.1.  The message envelope has always disappeared from view as I constantly have unread mail in my folders.

Its weird if you have only seen it start happening now.

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Jerry, does new summary better describe what you want?

Bryan, afaik this doesn't square with how notification alert is currently designed. Bievenu might know why it's done this way.

Comment 5

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

this seems like a preference as it really builds on how people use the their read / unread status to manage mail.  If you're the type who leaves messages unread to attend to them you probably don't want the icon in the tray all the time because you won't know when new mail arrives.  If you're the type who uses stars or tags to manage mail and marks everything as read as you go through it then this behaviour likely makes the most sense.

Comment 6

[Jerry Baker]

IMHO the envelope notification has a specific purpose: to let the user know that there are new unread messages in the mail window where it is likely that they are not visible. The user is probably browsing in another window, playing a game, or anything else other than staring at the mail window. Since users might not be in the practice of leaving their mail window open to watch for new messages, the envelope functions to say, "hey, there are new unread messages over here where you can't see them. You should come take a look." When the envelope disappears it says to me, "ok, there are no more new unread messages for you to see."

I don't think there should be an envelope notification for every unread message because there is a difference between new unread, and just marked unread. It should persist if there are any messages which have *never* been read. It seems to me that is its purpose. If I have to periodically open my mail window and scroll up and down to check for new messages, what purpose is a new message notification serving?

Comment 7

[emmfis]

In my opinion it is closer to a bug and here's why: even if you read one single unread message from one of your accounts from any device (say, e.g., your phone) the envelope system tray icon disappears. At the very least the icon should remain there until one email that is unread is read on the computer where the envelope was displayed

Comment 8

[Dan Pernokis]

My comment from Bug #634656:

I just checked my Windows 7 settings for TB -- surprised to find it is currently set to "Hide Icon & Notifications".

What I see is an always-on-top popup window announcing the current stream of emails that just came in, or the most recent if none from a previous round got read in the meantime. This lasts about 30 seconds, then disappears. It's a good notification if I'm AT the screen, but I miss it if I turn my head or leave it unattended. I also get a persistent icon notice in the system tray (but it's in the "hidden" system tray area, by choice). I look here and usually check my email screen often enough to know what's come in.

I happened to have unread email on hand just now, so I pulled the icon to the main system tray area. The icon persisted until I read these emails -- that is, I changed their READ status buttons to "read". Then I sent myself an email -- got the 30-second popup, then as it faded, an icon showed up new in the system tray and persisted until I read the new letter.

So I would say the notification is working as it should (and as requested by Bug #313628).

Comment 9

[Dan Pernokis]

BTW, running TB 78.6.1 (standard public release) on Windows 7 Pro (32-bit).

Comment 10

[Jerry Baker]

Is this fixed between 68 -> 78? Because I'm running 68.12.1 on Windows 10 x64 and the biff envelope disappears after reading the first unread message still, and I have "Always show all icons in the notification area" turned on.

Comment 11

[Dan Pernokis]

I don't know about earlier versions, and I personally don't have a means to test it. But the process has worked on Windows 7 just as I described it for a long time -- I think pre-dating v68 -- so this may well be a Windows 10 issue.

As for your Comment #7...
"At the very least the icon should remain there until one email that is unread is read on the computer where the envelope was displayed."
...I agree fully with this concept. But it's always good to know there might be more -- especially if emails are sorted by DATE (which actually could be anytime) rather than RECEIVED DATE, or if emails are filtered & diverted to other mailboxes which might be closed or off screen.