How to start Thunderbird minimized on start-up?

I followed this tutorial to set start Thunderbird in minimized mode at startup, but it wasn't helpful.

After following the instructions, I could not even start Thunderbird. So I was forced to start TB in safe mode to delete the "FireTray Plugin" and fix this issue. After that it started to work but it deleted all my email accounts and I had to do that chore all over again .

So is there any working way to start Thunderbird minimized on start-up?

Solution 1:

I used this addon to start thunderbird in minimized mode by default and added a startup entry for thunderbird by following this guide.

Solution 2:

Let me make it clear, at least for people like me.

Making sure that thunderbird is automatically started on logon, involves just three steps:

1. Install "FireTray" addon on thunderbird
2. check "start application hidden to tray" option in FireTray preferences (Thunderbird -> Tools -> addons -> firetray -> preferences -> under tab "windows")
3. Follow this answer (its quick) to add thunderbird to startup (Note: the command field therein should be: thunderbird or /usr/bin/thunderbird)

Note that FireTray addon is a must have. Most people don't actually mean to quit entirely like the default behavior is, when they say "close" to window. They sure expect thunderbird to run in background and notify of all new email arrivals. And FireTray deals exactly with this problem.

Solution 3:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1529056

Solution 4:

I am actually using Ubuntu 13.10, but this solution should work fine at least back to 12.04. Firetray is an extension for Firefox that makes it so you can minimize to tray on close, and minimize on startup (you'll see the Thunderbird window popup for a quick second, but it's hardly an issue). Then just add thunderbird to Startup Applications and when you login thunderbird will flash for a second then be minimized in your system tray. It also has full support for the default messaging menu so it doesn't create a secondary thunderbird icon.

Now for those that may have tried this in the past, I know that I tried Firetray a couple years ago and it wouldn't work at all, it had lots of bugs when used with modern Ubuntu, but the latest version seems to work flawlessly with Ubuntu (at least version 13.10, but I don't see why it wouldn't work with any other version).