28

I have a question for you all.

It's possible to "hide" thunderbird from the unity application bar when thunderbird is running?

For my is unhelpfull see thunderbird on the "mail" tray ( near shutdown button) and the unity "running" application.

If i close thunder with the close button, it don't notify me new email.

1
  • See this: brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28707 - a suggestion to add this feature. MinimizeToTray revived and Firetray don't work satisfactorily for me. With one of these extensions running, when I first launch evolution 3 or 4 windows open. Additionally after closing evolution to the messaging menu several times, when I re-open evolution the global menu is lost.
    – stuart10
    Oct 18, 2011 at 18:35

10 Answers 10

27

You can use the plug in called "Minimize to Tray" in Thunderbird to achieve that. Once installed Press F9 to minimize Thunderbird to the system tray. You will keep on receiving the Emails when it is minimized.

This works perfectly fine when you click the mail icon in the system tray.

I hope this will be helpful.

enter image description here enter image description here

3
  • Very good Abhijeet. It works. I only added the Enhanced Desktop Notification Addon so it notifies me via notify-send bubbles of a new mail. May 2, 2012 at 20:08
  • Not sure if the add-on has been updated since you posted your answer but F9 does nothing in Ubuntu 12.04 - minimising pushes it straight to the system tray though, which is ideal.
    – Ken Sharp
    Feb 23, 2015 at 21:25
  • I know KenSharp is using 12.04 and having problems. I'm on 14.04 and using this addon. It didn't seem to be working for me either, BUT, I followed the instructions below, provided by @Mark Tully and it seems to be working fine now. Just remember to go back into the add-on menu -> Extensions -> MinTrayR->preferences and click the "Instead of closing and when minimizing" option. Hitting F9 still does nothing, but at least it will minimize to the tray and not take up room on my launcher now.
    – casper
    Jun 25, 2016 at 15:53
12

The MinimizeToTray revived add-on for Thunderbird can be configured to hide the Thunderbird icon in the Unity launcher when the close button is pressed, while leaving Thunderbird running and allowing it to be accessed through the mail indicator.

It may be installed by going to Tools --> Add-ons in Thunderbird and searching for MinimizeToTray. Once it is installed, the add-on's preferences can be configured to hide Thunderbird rather than closing or minimizing it when the close or minimize button is pressed.

Configure the add-on as follows:

  1. Once the add-on is installed, go to Tools --> Add-ons again and click the Preferences button for the MinimizeToTray (revived) add-on.
  2. In the Minimize to tray section, select Instead of closing and when minimizing option from the list.
  3. In the Unity Launcher (on the left hand side), right click on Thunderbird's entry and ensure that Keep in Launcher is not ticked.

Once this is done, clicking the close or minimize button in Thunderbird should hide it. It may be recalled using the Mail entry in the Messaging Menu. To quit the program (rather than just hiding it), use File --> Quit in Thunderbird.

1
  • 1
    MinimizeToTray revived and Firetray don't work satisfactorily for me. With one of these extensions running, when I first launch evolution 3 or 4 windows open. Additionally after closing evolution to the messaging menu several times, when I re-open evolution the global menu is lost.
    – stuart10
    Oct 20, 2011 at 1:21
2

I have a solution that may help you, but it would require you using Compiz.

Setting it up

  1. Start Compiz and enable the plugin 'Window Rules'.
  2. Copy the following line

    class=Thunderbird
    
  3. Paste the code into the box titled 'Skip Taskbar'. This lets you have Thunderbird active while hiding it from your Launcher.

  4. There are other options within this plugin that may be of use to you. E.g, there is the option to remove the close button from the window of any particular application, in this case if you use that code, it will be Thunderbird. Though I tried this and it worked a bit odd with a bug or two with that feature, so give it a try and use it for a bit to see if that one works for you.

1

The MinimizeToTray revived add-on for Thunderbird can be configured to hide the Thunderbird icon in the Unity launcher when the close button is pressed, while leaving Thunderbird running and allowing it to be accessed through the mail indicator.

It may be installed by going to Tools --> Add-ons in Thunderbird and searching for MinimizeToTray. Once it is installed, the add-on's preferences can be configured to hide Thunderbird rather than closing or minimizing it when the close or minimize button is pressed.

1

Install an Addon Called FireTray , Visit the Addon Preferences/Options/Settings and adjust accordingly. When You See that page, you'll know what to Do

enter image description here

4
  • Thats funny. I was trying that one after I made the question but still has issues. Will update my question so it might give you a better idea and help me because having this working would really help. May 2, 2012 at 17:45
  • you might wanna logout and log back in, may it works in sync with unity I Use to use it, but now stopped. May 2, 2012 at 17:47
  • Yes already did that. I also thought it might need a login/logout. May 2, 2012 at 17:48
  • Works for Thunderbird > 50 as well.
    – saaj
    May 31, 2018 at 9:52
0

No, Thunderbird has no support to hide itself like that. Why don't you just move it to the bottom of your launcher if you want it out of the way and don't want to use the keyboard shortcuts for it?

0

What you need is Popper. Popper reads the new emails from POP3 and IMAP email servers and notifies about the number, subject, sender and time of new emails in the indicator applet and via a notification bubble.

How to install?

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open the terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install popper

How to configure?

Press the super key (windows key) and search for popper. enter image description here

Open the Popper configurator and select "start popper automatically after login". enter image description here

Now open the Thunderbird, and goto account settings through edit menu and select server settings under your Email Address and copy the server name and port number. enter image description here

Go back to Popper configurator and select the "Account" tab enter image description here

select "add" to add new email address, Fill the fields like this:

Name: Any name of your choice
Server: Paste the server address hare that you just copied from Thunderbird
User: Your real email address
Password: Password of your email address
Port: Paste the port number hare that you copied from Thunderbird and select 'SSL only'

Select IMAP if your email provider sports IMAP (Gmail, Yahoo and GMX)

Set the check frequency (how often should popper check for new mails).

Now open the "Test" tab of Popper configurator: enter image description here

and hit "Test Email Connection", You should see a success message "OK Authentication Complete" if not than check your email address and other settings again.

Hit "Save and Exit". That's it.

3
  • I have lot of rules in Thunderbird, even automaticly ignoring rule. It's little hard to combine both clients...
    – confiq
    May 2, 2012 at 19:05
  • What archive is this package in. I did not find it on packages.ubuntu.com
    – txwikinger
    May 14, 2012 at 21:05
  • @txwikinger Search in Software Center on your Ubuntu installation, Or you can install via terminal. May 14, 2012 at 21:10
0

maybe this will help you.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1529056

Quote (and edit the way I did this):

Got this to work for me in 12.04

Install wmctrl

Make a script called start_thunderbird_hidden.sh in example /home (you can of course change the name of the script and where you put it)

$ chmod +x ~/home/start_thunderbird_hidden.sh

Make the contents of the script as follows:

  #!/bin/bash

thunderbird &
while [[ $(wmctrl -l | grep Thunderbird) == "" ]]; do sleep 0.1; done
wmctrl -r Thunderbird -b add,hidden
wmctrl -k on

Had to include the full path rather than using ~/ to get it to work 5. Go to Startup Applications -> add -> Command: /home//start_thunderbird_hidden.sh

Now thunderbird start on login and hide inside the launcher.

To completely remove the App indicator on the left follow the link. (not tested by me)

0

Here is the way that best suits me. I am sure it is the same to most others.

Making sure that thunderbird is automatically started on logon, plus it doesn't entirely quit on closing the window (stupid default behaviour!) involves just three steps:

  1. Install "FireTray" addon on thunderbird
  2. check "start application hidden to tray" option in FireTray preferences (Thunderbird -> Tools -> addons -> firetray -> preferences -> under tab "windows")
  3. Follow this answer to set thunderbird to startup (the command field should be filled as thunderbird or /usr/bin/thunderbird)
-1

you should check out popper, it autostarts at login,it will notify you when you have any new mail, even set custom sounds to notify you (or none) its great, it says when you have mail, then you open thunderbird to read 'em

check it out here

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/email-notification-in-ubuntu-popper/

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