up vote 93 down vote favorite
19

I'm wondering how it's possible to remove the little mail indicator applet in the global menu. I've uninstalled all the programs that use it, like Thunderbird, Empathy, and Gwibber, since I don't use any of them, but the icon is still there.

Any ideas?

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11 Answers 11

up vote 82 down vote accepted

You can remove the message indicator by removing the indicator-messages Install indicator-messages package by clicking on that link and clicking uninstall. Or by executing the following command in a terminal: 

sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages

Then log out and back in.

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2  
@When I did that, this icon disappeared. However, it caused some bugs to emerge - clock/calendar is dissappearing from time to time and sometimes programs menu bar integrated with top bar is not working properly. Any idea why? – Rafal Oct 25 '13 at 10:20
21  
No need to logout just run killall unity-panel-service – desgua Apr 28 '14 at 12:27
11  
Why uninstall a package used by multiple programs when you can just disable the Thunderbird addon? – Ian Dunn Apr 25 '15 at 7:04
2  
@IanDunn because many people, like the person who asked the original question, don't use any of the multiple programs that use indicator-messages. – Michael Martin-Smucker May 4 '15 at 5:48
2  
I have to agree with @IanDunn, the least intrusive method should be used. Naive users dont understand how heavy of an impact removing certain services might have, so simply disabling the icon, rather than removing the entire service, would be the better suggestion. You can then supplement your answer by suggesting the removal of the service/app. – Todd Dec 2 '15 at 0:00
up vote 0 down vote

Run sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages and then either log out or run killall unity-panel-service for the changes to take effect.

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up vote 56 down vote

If Thunderbird Mail is installed and is the default mail application in system settings->Details: then start Thunderbird, go to menu->Tools->Add-ons->Extensions and disable Thunderbird extension "Messaging Menu and Unity Launcher integration". Quit Thunderbird. Logout and Login to Ubuntu.

This solved it on Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 LTS without the need to uninstall anything.

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Thanks a lot. I was searching for that option earlier under preferences. – Thu Yein Tun Mar 27 '15 at 15:43
1  
I can confirm this works as of 16.12.2015 on Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS 64-bit. – Vesnog Dec 16 '15 at 20:48
1  
In my machine I had to go to menu->Tools->Add-ons->Extensions – morhook Jun 29 '16 at 18:03
1  
Works also on Ubuntu 16.04 – rneves Nov 4 '16 at 16:34
2  
This should be the preferred solution. – Fr. John Jenkins Apr 5 '17 at 19:51
up vote 2 down vote

The messages indicator only appears when an application has registered to use it; by default, no applications are registered to use it, meaning that the messages indicator is hidden. However, some applications, such as Thunderbird, register with the indicator as soon as you open them and leave no apparent way to remove them. (It's possible there's an option buried somewhere in Thunderbird's Preferences menu, but I haven't looked too thoroughly.)

My solution is to reset the list of applications registered with the indicator to the default (empty), then kill the indicator to refresh it. (For some reason, the messages indicator doesn't seem to automatically refresh itself, unlike all the other indicators, and pretty much everything else in dconf for that matter...)

Open a terminal and copy/paste the following:

dconf reset /com/canonical/indicator/messages/applications
killall indicator-messages-service
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This worked for me. I uninstalled Thunderbird but the icon was still there. Followed the instructions and now it's gone and stays gone. Seems less dangerous than removing the indicator package completely. – Alan Plum Feb 3 '17 at 15:27
up vote 4 down vote

On 12.04 (precise):

sudo apt-get remove -y indicator-messages
killall indicator-messages-service
killall unity-panel-service
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Works good in 14.04 under gnome-fallback – user371211 Jul 23 '15 at 13:19
    
This also works on 16.04 LTS. – Alan Plum Feb 3 '17 at 15:24
up vote 1 down vote

1) In a terminal:

sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages
sudo killall gnome-panel

This will remove the package, and then remove the icon without rebooting.

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up vote 8 down vote

Remove the package indicator-messages from within the Ubuntu Software Center.

Then reboot, gone!

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2  
I couldn't find it in the Software Center, so I did a sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages, log out and log in. The icon is now gone. – Thierry Lam Oct 22 '11 at 13:54
1  
for more advanced package management install synaptic from USS.. – sarveshlad Oct 22 '11 at 20:29
1  
You shouldn't need to reboot. – lfaraone Jul 7 '13 at 21:41
1  
No need to logout or reboot just run killall unity-panel-service – insign Nov 30 '14 at 3:41
up vote 5 down vote

This instruction will not remove the sound icon on Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise)

The program can be uninstalled from your system by opening the program "terminal", and typing in

sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages -y

It will ask you for your password, and then it will remove the program from your system.

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up vote 2 down vote

There is a word of caution for removing the e-mail icon. You will also loose the Sound Control icon as both are connected to each-other. By removing the "indicator applet" package you will no longer be able to access or control the sound settings by clicking on the panel icon.

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5  
That is why you remove indicator-messages and not indicator as a whole. – Valentin Klinghammer Feb 18 '13 at 10:11
    
Removed indicator-messages under 16.04 LTS and the sound (and everything else) is still there after reboot. – Alan Plum Feb 3 '17 at 15:25
up vote 2 down vote

this works in the gnome shell for 11.04, not sure about Unity interface:

open synaptic + remove "indicator-messages" + log out and log back in

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I really don't know how to "open synaptic".... – George Bailey May 25 '11 at 17:57
    
@George: if you use Unity: open the Dash (click on the ubuntu symbol in the top left corner), start typing 'synaptic', and click on 'synaptic package manager'. – joris May 25 '11 at 18:47
    
@joris: Is this permanent? I don't want to get rid of it if there is no way to get it back. – George Bailey May 25 '11 at 21:17
1  
@GeorgeBailey If you want it back you just install that package again (which would require the CD or another way to transfer the package's installation data to the machine since there's no internet). – htorque May 25 '11 at 22:00
up vote -1 down vote

On Ubuntu 10.10 or earlier versions click with right mouse button on the icon and click on Remove From Panel

On Ubuntu 11.04 (Unity) click with right mouse button on the icon and click on Keep In Launcher Removing icons on Ubuntu 11.04 Classic works the same as on Ubuntu 10.10

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