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InvisibleShadowGhost
Asked: 2018-10-20 04:42:35 +0800 CST

Thunderbird unread message count not displayed

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Thunderbird doesn't show the unread counter on its symbol in the dock for me on Ubuntu 18.04 and 18.10 (both with gnome). Is that normal? If not, does anybody know what the problem could be?

thunderbird gnome-shell ubuntu-dock

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I solved it!

    I was missing the thunderbird-gnome-support package which is not installed with the thunderbird package by default, it must be installed explicitly. Having it installed, my thunderbird dock icon shows the unread counter as expected.

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  2. Somehow it worked after a new install of Ubuntu 18.04 and it would have probably if I have not changed something.
    There is a discussion around this topic on Mozilla Bugzilla, please leave your comments.

    Make sure following is in place to get the new email/message badge/counter for the Thunderbird Icon (Ubuntu Dock, Dash-To-Dock):
    1. Ensure that indicator support is installed on your system (packages libindicator7 and libindicator3-7 as mentioned here), it is most likely already installed. If not, install them, e.g. in a terminal: 

    sudo apt-get install libindicator7 libindicator3-7

    This will enable your system to receive indicator messages.
    2. In Thunderbird open Tools → Add-ons: Ensure that the add-on/extension named "Messaging Menu and Unity Launcher Integration" is enabled (it should be installed by default - I disabled as I thought Ubuntu 18.04 has no Unity anymore but Gnome but it also works with Gnome).
    3. Ensure thunderbird-gnome-support package is installed as mentioned by InvisibleShadowGost (it should be installed by default as well).
    4. Restart Thunderbird and maybe logout/in as well.

    Other possibilities to get the functionality to see the unread messages:
    - FireTray: Thunderbird 60 tray icon (js-ctypes version of Firetray)
    - systray-x: SysTray-X: A system tray extension for Thunderbird 68+. Needs both the add-on AND the companion app installed to work.

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