313694 - Only changing (switching) mail "folders" removes the new mail notification icon from the system tray

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b5) Gecko/20051024 Firefox/1.5
Build Identifier: User Agent: "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b5) Gecko/20051024 Thunderbird/1.5" - Build ID: 2005102412

When new mail arrives, an "envelope" icon appears in the system tray. Reading or deleting mail (even all new mail) does not remove this "new mail" icon. Only changing "folders" in Thunderbird left pane does it.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
A1. Select "Inbox" in the left pane.
A2. Wait for a mail to arrive (optionally, send a mail to yourself).
A3. Read or delete all the mail which arrived at step A2.
--------------
B1. Wait for another mail to arrive (or send mail to yourself).
B2. Do not read any of the mail which arrived at step B1.
B3. Select another mail folder, e.g., "Sent Items".
Actual Results:  
An "envelope" icon appears in the system tray at step A2 above. At step A3 it does not disappear. But at step B3 it does. This is counter-intuitive for an icon meaning "You have new mail".

Expected Results:  
The "envelope" icon should have disappeared at step A3, reappeared at step B1, and not disappeared at step B3.

Comment 1

[David :Bienvenu]

yeah, I've been noticing this as well.

Comment 2

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

I had thought this behavior was intended.  Note that the New flag on an account (which functions differently than the New flag on the messages/folders) will block subsequent notifications -- bug 210148.  

The New flag for messages and folders is similarly ephemeral.  If you're 
viewing the Inbox when those messages arrive, and you switch folders without doing anything else, all those messages lose their New flag (as does the 
Inbox).

Comment 3

[buffalopizza]

I agree that this is annoying and misleading behavior, even if it is intentional. Most of my mail is filtered straight to subfolders. The envelope icon and new mail notification persist until I click on the inbox after reading mail... even when there is nothing in my inbox!

IMHO, the new mail notification should clear as soon as you bring Tbird to the foreground and click anywhere inside it. That signifies that you have responded to the notification and it can go away. That's all it should take.

Comment 4

[Jakob Kramer Hero]

I agree. The problem still persists with the latest version of Thunderbird (2.0.0.21). This bug is of course nothing that crashes TB, but it's somthing you keep seeing, once you've first noticed the behaviour of the letter icon in the tray.

The pop-up text says something along the lines of "Local Folders have x new messages". It is misleading that this text (and the icon) remains, even after the messages in question have been read, and that the text and icon only disappear once you choose another folder from the folder pane. 

Correct behaviour should be that the letter icon disappears once all new messages have been read. Similar the pop-up text should change, when you have read some of the messages (if, for instance, you receive 2 new messages, the pop-up text should read "Local Folders have 2 new messages", but this should change to "Local Folders have 1 new message" once you have read the first of the two messages. When the second message has been read, the icon (and pop-up text) should disappear without the user having to choose a different folder from the folder pane.

Comment 7

[Manuele]

After 4 (four!) years this bug still lives in my TB... :-(

Comment 9

[Kuno Meyer]

The problem persists with the current release of TB (3.0.1).

Comment 14

[[:Aureliano Buendía]]

Request wanted-thunderbird3.1 flag (is a minor bug but very tedious and annoying to many as can be read on various forums)

Comment 15

[Gordon Barbay]

Just chiming to say I also have this problem with 3.0.4.  Email notification icon persists until I click the Inbox, even if all the new mail is in sub-folders. Also, the new mail in the sub-folders has to be read before clicking the Inbox will clear the icon.  I don't mind the icon persisting until the last bit of new mail is marked read (as opposed to just opening TB after new mail has arrived - maybe it can be an option), but you shouldn't have to click on Inbox just to clear the icon. TB should be smart enough to know where all the mail is and if its been read or not and act accordingly.

Comment 16

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

(In reply to comment #14)
> Request wanted-thunderbird3.1 flag (is a minor bug but very tedious and
> annoying to many as can be read on various forums)

Not going to want for a specific version. wanted generally though.

Comment 17

[Frank Busch]

Bug persists in 3.1.2

Comment 18

[ask]

... and in 3.1.6

Comment 20

[Hasan Ateş]

Still present as of 6.0.1

Comment 21

[Gordon Barbay]

6 years after first reported, this bug still persists in 8.0.

One thing I will add is that the icon can be made to go away by clicking on most of the default folders (Junk, Sent, Drafts, as well as Inbox - however not Trash or Outbox)

Comment 24

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

FWIW, I (the reporter) am not on Windows anymore, I don't have a system tray with new mail notifications anymore, and I'm not using Thunderbird anymore (but SeaMonkey), so this bug isn't relevant for me anymore, and if it ever gets FIXED I won't be able to VERIFY anything.

Comment 26

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Do you still see this?

I cannot reproduce.

Comment 27

[Jakob Kramer Hero]

I used to see it, but it's some time ago (at least several months). 

I haven't noticed it lately (but I haven't watched out for it either). I can say, that I just received mail, and the envelope icon disappeared without me having to change folders.

Comment 28

[Roman]

I have just tested this. The tray icon disappears as soon as a new message is marked read. Looks like it's been fixed.

Comment 29

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Thanks for the feedback