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I looked around for a solution that still works in 16.04. I found that previously offered solutions including the one which was accepted were for older versions of Ubuntu.

The results were Thunderbird would open but not minimised.

There are alternative solutions here and here that explain ways to do this, they are general purpose scripts which can be adapted. However, it's a bit complex for the task and not tailored to Thunderbird.

macourtney7
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  • There are at least two good (working) options for 16.04: http://askubuntu.com/questions/663187/how-can-i-run-a-program-on-startup-minimized/663288#663288 and http://askubuntu.com/questions/853891/how-can-i-make-firefox-run-in-the-background-like-chromium/854163#854163 I will link the first one as a dupe. – Jacob Vlijm Jan 10 '17 at 18:25

1 Answers1

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I achieved the desired behaviour in the following way:

1) Install alltray which provides an easy method to open Thunderbird at startup:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install alltray

2) Add to Startup Applications:

Startup Applications

This will open Thunderbird at startup but it will not be minimised.

----- UPDATE Minimize on Start and Close IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED -----

3) Then install Minimize on Start and Close in Thunderbird (Tools->Add-ons->Get Add-ons)

This needs to be configured (Tools->Add-ons->Extensions->Preferences) as follows:

Add-on Config

--------------------------------------------------

3) Then install Keep in Taskbar and restart Thunderbird.

This is a combination of previous suggestions from various locations that works in Ubuntu 16.04.

I thought I would share this to provide an easy, updated method for others.

macourtney7
  • 2,817