Thunderbird Mail Notification
 

hey guys!

i've read many threads in this forum dealing with similar problems, but i couldn't get my problem solved so far.
first off, i'm using linux mint 7 (based on ubuntu 9.04).

problem:
thunderbird does not show the mail notification icon in the tray.

it does however show the spash screen indicating sender and subject which disappears after a couple seconds. after that though i'm left without the tray icon (mail symbol). so if i'm not looking at the screen the moment a new mail pops in then i won't be able to see this from the gnome panel (i have to maximize thunderbird and see for myself).

so far i tried different thunderbird addons but none of them gave me the tray icon:
mailbox_alert-0.13.1-tb.xpi
libnotify_popups-0.1.2-fx+tb-linux.xpi

this one does show an icon but disables the thunderbird mail notification splash screen:
mozTrayBiff-1.2.3-tb2.0.0.0.xpi

i also tried firetray: here finally the "new mail" icon appears in the tray just like i want it. but you also get another thunderbird icon in the tray as this is actually the program's main purpose. for my purpose i only need the "new mail" icon that disappears after clicking on it (opening the unread mail).

what else:

- i have libnotify-bin installed
- i have thunderbird-traybiff installed
- the settings in thunderbird are activated (mail notification and sound)
- i have the indicator applet and notification area added on the gnome panel
- preffered mail apllication is set to thunderbird

summary:
no tray icon after mail income
mail notification splash screen working


please help!


thanx,
vercetti.

I guess this depends to a large extent on the distribution and the window manager that you use. You should provide a bit more information about your system to gather appropriate feedback.

Linux

ok thanx!

here i go: linux mint 7 (based on ubuntu 9.04), i'm running kernel 2.6.28.11 dual boot with winxp.
desktop environment: gnome
window manager: gnome

i've been trying some more angles the past few days, but none with the solution i'm looking for. i just want thunderbird to work like it's supposed to: popup message when new mails arrive and its envelope icon in the tray. nothing more! :-)

here's the update of the latest attempts:

at first the sound notification did not work but i got it working in the meantime, i just chose a different audio file in the thunderbird settings. don't know why it won't play its default sound but any other wav. file i try works.

as for the tray icon: i find it very strange that something like this doesn't work just the way it's supposed to. or does it actually work and it's something on my system that's causing this weird issue? are all the other thunderbird users getting their a.) thunderbird pop up message and b.) thunderbird tray icon without ever installing anything extra? i hope so...

what i've done in addition to the addons/programs and settings i mentioned in my first post:

i gave firetray a try which didn't help much with the tray icon issue. plus it's very buggy with the kernel/distro i'm using, found similar complains about strange progam behavior that i was witnessing also. and the older version of firetray doesn't support any tray icon feature.

i installed mail-notification thru the package manager and entered my imap inbox into its settings (account name, password, time intervals to go online and check for new mails,...) and turned off its pop up message function. so now the pop up message still comes from thunderbird and mail notification gives me the little envolope icon in the tray. this is pretty much how it should be originally just using thunderbird. i just think that it's a bit too much having to install a second program that also goes online and checks for my mails in order to get an icon in the tray that should work with thunderbird as is. overkill don't you think?

anyway, i'm leaving it at this for now until someone ever comes up with the solution. i've tried so many different thunderbird addons and tons of options and combinations. deinstalled and reinstalled thunderbird, tried it from scrath, then adding only one addon at a time, but no matter what i do the thunderbird icon does not appear.

thanx for any help or tips,
nice greetz,
vercetti.

p.s. notification area and the indicator applet are both on my gnome panel.