Show a tray icon option not working on boot-up

[gkdiamond]

I have Thunderbird set as a Startup Program and to run minimized in Windows 10 Pro x64. I have all 3 options: Show an alert, Show a tray icon & Play a sound when receiving a new message enabled. If my computer is up and running and I receive a new email message all 3 options work as they should but when I boot-up my PC and immediately receive new messages, only the Play a sound and Show an alert work unless I click on the Desktop when the alert is showing and then Thunderbird will show a tray icon too, otherwise it will not. This defeats the purpose of the option to Show a tray icon and seems like a bug to me. Shouldn't it show a tray icon after boot-up without having to click on the Desktop when an alert is showing just as it does when the computer is running?

[DanRaisch]

Moving to Thunderbird Support, although the fact that the icon appears after clicking the desktop suggests it may be a Windows issue rather than anything to do with Thunderbird.

[DanRaisch]

Moving to Thunderbird Support, although the fact that the icon appears after clicking the desktop suggests it may be a Windows issue rather than anything to do with Thunderbird.

[makaiguy]

Moving to Thunderbird Support, although the fact that the icon appears after clicking the desktop suggests it may be a Windows issue rather than anything to do with Thunderbird.

That was my first thought, too. Windows is still doing a bunch of startup stuff behind the scenes after first popping up the display. Also, initiating a bunch of unnecessary programs at boot time can really extend the amount of time it takes for Windows to start up.

I suspect TBird is requesting the tray item before Windows has gotten to the point where it is ready to accept the request. If this is the problem, adding a delay before starting TBird could solve it.

Here's an article about how to make Windows delay the startup of chosen programs: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/set-delay ... ms-windows

[Edited to add:]

An additional way to do this without having to introduce additional programs into the mix would be to write a batch file to start up TBird that introduces the delay, and place a link to the batch file in your startup folder instead of a direct link to TBird.

delay_tbird.bat file:

Code: Select all

ECHO OFF
CLS
ECHO Starting Thunderbird with 15 second delay
TIMEOUT /T 15
c:
cd \Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird
thunderbird.exe

Replace the drive and path if necessary, and experiment with different delay times to find the value you need.

[gkdiamond]

Thanks Makai Guy, I tried your batch file with the 15 second delay but it did not work. That seems like more than enough time but I tried it again with a 30 second delay and still no tray icon so it looks like it is something else causing the problem.

[makaiguy]

I wouldn't be surprised that it could take a minute or more, depending on how much stuff you have getting loaded on startup, especially if some of them involve connecting to remote servers on the 'net.

[gkdiamond]

This is a follow-up to the problem(s) I am seeing in Thunderbird Mail.

After playing with Thunderbird for the past 2 weeks I believe the problem is more than likely with Thunderbird and not Windows 10. Other than the standard Windows and Task Scheduler stuff (and I have a lot of that blocked or disabled) there is only Thunderbird and one other user program running at startup. I do not think there is a timing issue because of Windows being busy but there may be a timing issue within Thunderbird Mail.

I have 2 accounts set up in Thunderbird, one POP3 and one IMAP (The IMAP account is a synchronized account). I believe Thunderbird Mail is not working correctly with the IMAP account. If I set only the POP3 account to check for email at startup and then receive messages, all 3 new message options always work correctly. If I set only the IMAP account to check for email at startup and then receive messages, it will be hit and miss as to which options work. Play a sound always works but the show an alert and show a tray icon options will sometimes both work, sometimes only one or the other will work and sometimes neither will work. When setting both accounts to check for email messages at startup the latter 2 options are just as sporatic as the IMAP account by itself. Sound will always work and most of the time an alert for the POP3 account will show (sometimes not) but the icon showing is hit and miss, usually more miss than hit.

When just the POP3 account is set to check for messages at start up and I hover over the icon it will show the number of messages received for the POP3 account as it should. If I single-click on the icon, the alert will show again as it should. When just the IMAP account is set to check for messages at start up, hovering over the icon (when I get an icon) will show the number of messages received as it should. Single clicking on the icon will only show the alert again if it was shown when the message was received but it also may not show it at all. When both accounts are set to check for new messages at start up, hovering over the icon will usually show the number of messages received for both accounts but sometimes just one or the other. When the icon is single clicked the alert for only one account will show, usually for the POP3 account but sometimes it will be for the IMAP account or no alert at all.

The problems only occur when the IMAP account is in play. I have also disabled any options in the IMAP account that are either not needed or used.

Other oddities or unusual things I have seen are: Three or four times Thunderbird has automatically opened to a normal window at startup from a minimized window (I have seen this same thing happen with Windows Live Mail on several occasions). I think each time it happened I had received mail but I am not sure about that. Sometimes the audio alert will sound twice in a row (maybe for each accounts messages?). Also, if the icon is not cleared and another email is received it is not added to the number of messages shown received when hovering over the icon.

[DanRaisch]

I have both POP and IMAP accounts running under Win 10 and don't see this problem. Who is the provider of that IMAP account.

[gkdiamond]

The IMAP account is from Microsoft (@live.com).

Right after my last post I received new mail at startup.

1. I got sound, I did not get an alert and I did get an icon.
2. Hovering over the icon showed 1 message each received for the POP3 and IMAP accounts.
3. Clicking once on the icon showed an alert for 2 messages for the IMAP account.
4. Opening Thunderbird to a normal window showed 4 new messages for the POP3 account and 2 new messages for the IMAP account.
5. Hovering over the icon again this time showed the correct number of messages received for both accounts (4 and 2).
6. Single clicking on the icon still showed only the 2 alerts for the IMAP account.