How-To: make Birdtray work

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JayM
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How-To: make Birdtray work

#1 Post by JayM »

Birdtray is yet another new email notification applet for Thunderbird that's currently available in the MX Test Repo. Its many features are listed on its github page. However, it also has some drawbacks such as needing Thunderbird to run continuously in the background, and it isn't as easy to configure as other email notifiers (to put it mildly.) But for those who would like to try it, here's how to get it working properly.

(Note: right-click on the Birdtray icon in your notification area to get to its settings. Birdtray of course has to be running.)

1. Notifications
In Birdtray's settings on the Monitoring tab, you need to add email accounts that it will monitor (limited to two.) You must tell Birdtray where to find the file named "Inbox.msf" for each account:

1. Click Add Account then click the Browse button
2. Right-click then select Show Hidden Files
3. Double-click on the .thunderbird directory
4. Double-click on the default profile which will be a random string of characters followed by ".default"
5. Double-click on Mail
6. Double-click on the directory that's named after your email provider's POP3 or IMAP server, i.e. pop.gmail.com
7. Find the file named Inbox.msf and click on it to select it
8. Click the Open button


2. Visibility
By default, Birdtray will superimpose a lime-green digit indicating the number of unread email images in your inbox on top of the Thunderbird icon. This isn't obviously visible and is easy to overlook unless you're consciously watching for it. You can cause Birdtray to alternate between the standard icon and a grey version that's superimposed with the green digit by going to the General tab in its Settings and dragging the "Blinking speed:" slider bar further to the right. All the way to the right makes it alternate or blink slowly where slightly to the right gives you a very fast blink rate. Adjust it according to your preference. The blinking icon tends to attract your attention to it, letting you know that there's new unread email, and it's easier to see the number against the darker background. (Tip: If you have no unread email messages to test Birdtray with, right-click on one or more message(s) in your Thunderbird inbox, select "Mark" then "Mark as unread".)

3. Making Birdtray work more smoothly with Thunderbird
As stated above, Birdtray needs Thunderbird to be running in order to work, so you have to manually start it prior to starting Birdtray. Also, left-clicking on the Birdtray icon does absolutely nothing by default: you have to right-click and toggle between "Show Thunderbird" and "Hide Thunderbird". Here's how to let Birdtray take charge and make it behave as expected so it starts Thunderbird for you and hides it, automatically restarts Thunderbird if you should accidentally close it, closes Thunderbird hen you quit Birdtray, and toggles between showing and hiding Thunderbird upon a left mouse click so you can read your new email by simply clicking on the Birdtray notification icon:

1. In Birdtray's settings, click on the "Hiding" tab.
2. Tic the checkbox to select every option on the screen, including those to the left of the text "and hide it" except for the one to the left of "Show red X in tray icon if Thunderbird is not running" as this isn't needed since now Birdtray will always start or restart Thunderbird for you whenever Birdtray's running while Thunderbird is not. (You may select the red X option too if you want, but I personally find seeing a big red X in my notifications, however briefly, to be annoying.)

4. Automatically starting Birdtray when you log in
Birdtray lacks the feature to automatically start, and creating an auto-start .desktop file that points to its executable doesn't always work on some systems, requiring a delay before it starts while your entire login process completes and everything settles down. It seems to work fine on other systems though. Here's the work-around should you need it for your computer:

1. Open Thunar, enable viewing hidden files in the View menu, navigate to .config/sutostart, right-click and select "Create document" of type "empty file" and name it "birdtray-start".
2. Right-click on that document and select "Open with" then "Open with FeatherPad".
3. Copy the following code and paste it into that document:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
sleep 30s
birdtray
then click the save icon.
4. Right-click on the document, click the Properties tab, and tic the checkbox next to "Allow this file to run as a program".

Log out and log back in to test it. Birdtray should start within a short time after you've logged back in. Left-clicking on its icon in your notification area should open Thunderbird and allow you to read your mail. You can experiment with decreasing the 30 second delay and find the shortest amount that still allows Birdtray to auto-start.
Last edited by JayM on Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:41 am, edited 19 times in total.
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fehlix
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Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#2 Post by fehlix »

JayM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:32 amThe problem is that Birdtray has no means of showing and accessing hidden directories in it's file-browsing screen, and if you change the directory name in which Thunderbird's profile is stored Thunderbird will no longer work.
It works for me this way:
Either press Ctrl+H to display hidden (.dot)-files to navigate
or
Copy from within default file manager e.g. Thunar the inbox.msf using e.g. Ctrl+C ( to copy the full path into the clipboard) e.g. here my imap example:

Code: Select all

/home/USERNAME/.thunderbird/XXXXXX.default/ImapMail/imap.XXX.XX/INBOX.msf 
and paste with Ctrl+V this full path into the "Folder" field or after clicking on "browse" into the Location field within birdtray.
:puppy:
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JayM
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Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#3 Post by JayM »

fehlix wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 8:08 am
JayM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:32 amThe problem is that Birdtray has no means of showing and accessing hidden directories in it's file-browsing screen, and if you change the directory name in which Thunderbird's profile is stored Thunderbird will no longer work.
It works for me this way:
Either press Ctrl+H to display hidden (.dot)-files to navigate
or
Copy from within default file manager e.g. Thunar the inbox.msf using e.g. Ctrl+C ( to copy the full path into the clipboard) e.g. here my imap example:

Code: Select all

/home/USERNAME/.thunderbird/XXXXXX.default/ImapMail/imap.XXX.XX/INBOX.msf 
and paste with Ctrl+V this full path into the "Folder" field or after clicking on "browse" into the Location field within birdtray.
:puppy:
I tried that and the Open button for selecting the file it needed to access was still greyed out. Birdtray's monitoring setup screen cannot access or use hidden directories. That's a bug in the application. Kindly see viewtopic.php?f=134&t=47317
:smile:
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fehlix
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Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#4 Post by fehlix »

JayM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 8:37 am That's a bug in the application. Kindly see viewtopic.php?f=134&t=47317
Not a bug here, with the version installed from mx-testrepo:
Paste into Folder-Entry-Field or Location field:
Paste_Ito_Folder_Location.png
Or alternatively Toggle hidden with Ctrl+H to naviagte
Paste_Into_Location_or_Press_Ctrl+H.png
:puppy:
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JayM
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Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#5 Post by JayM »

Huh. It doesn't work for me using the same version from the test repo:
Image

(Ignore the fact that it's .thunderbird-save not .thunderbird. The problem is that the Open button is greyed out.)
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fehlix
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Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#6 Post by fehlix »

JayM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:25 am Huh. It doesn't work for me using the same version from the test repo:
The filechooser appear to be different than the one I got displayed:
Thats the version:

Code: Select all

apttestrepo policy birdtray
birdtray:
  Installed: 1.4-1~mx17+1
  Candidate: 1.4-1~mx17+1
  Version table:
 *** 1.4-1~mx17+1 500
        500 https://mxlinux.mirror.iphh.net/packages/mx/testrepo stretch/test amd64 Packages
What about pasting directly the full path into the "Folder" field, without browsing with the file-chooser .
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H, Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 (Quad core), 32GB RAM,
GeForce GTX 770, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, Seagate Barracuda 4TB

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JayM
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Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#7 Post by JayM »

fehlix wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:31 am
JayM wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:25 am Huh. It doesn't work for me using the same version from the test repo:
The filechooser appear to be different than the one I got displayed:
Thats the version:

Code: Select all

apttestrepo policy birdtray
birdtray:
  Installed: 1.4-1~mx17+1
  Candidate: 1.4-1~mx17+1
  Version table:
 *** 1.4-1~mx17+1 500
        500 https://mxlinux.mirror.iphh.net/packages/mx/testrepo stretch/test amd64 Packages
What about pasting directly the fulld path into the "Folder" field, without browsing with the file-chooser .
Fehlix, you sly devil! That works indeed! Now I have to modify my how-to, but as it's 9:40PM and I have yet to eat dinner it will have to wait until tomorrow. Thank you, good sir!
Please read the Forum Rules, How To Ask For Help, How to Break Your System and Don't Break Debian. Always include your full Quick System Info (QSI) with each and every new help request.

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JayM
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Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:47 am

Re: HOW-TO: make Birdtray work

#8 Post by JayM »

By the way I discovered that if you right-click in an empty area within that file browser you can enable showing hidden files.
:bagoverhead:
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