minimize app to system tray

Solution 1:

  • C# System Tray Minimize To Tray With NotifyIcon
  • Minimize window to system tray

Handle the form’s Resize event. In this handler, you override the basic functionality of the Resize event to make the form minimize to the system tray and not to the taskbar. This can be done by doing the following in your form’s Resize event handler: Check whether the form’s WindowState property is set to FormWindowState.Minimized. If yes, hide your form, enable the NotifyIcon object, and show the balloon tip that shows some information. Once the WindowState becomes FormWindowState.Normal, disable the NotifyIcon object by setting its Visible property to false. Now, you want the window to reappear when you double click on the NotifyIcon object in the taskbar. For this, handle the NotifyIcon’s MouseDoubleClick event. Here, you show the form using the Show() method.

private void frmMain_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (FormWindowState.Minimized == this.WindowState)
    {
       mynotifyicon.Visible = true;
       mynotifyicon.ShowBalloonTip(500);
       this.Hide();
    }

    else if (FormWindowState.Normal == this.WindowState)
    {
       mynotifyicon.Visible = false;
    }
}

Solution 2:

I found this to accomplish the entire solution. The answer above fails to remove the window from the task bar.

private void ImportStatusForm_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (this.WindowState == FormWindowState.Minimized)
    {
        notifyIcon.Visible = true;
        notifyIcon.ShowBalloonTip(3000);
        this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
    }
}

private void notifyIcon_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
    this.ShowInTaskbar = true;
    notifyIcon.Visible = false;
}

Also it is good to set the following properties of the notify icon control using the forms designer.

this.notifyIcon.BalloonTipIcon = System.Windows.Forms.ToolTipIcon.Info; //Shows the info icon so the user doesn't think there is an error.
this.notifyIcon.BalloonTipText = "[Balloon Text when Minimized]";
this.notifyIcon.BalloonTipTitle = "[Balloon Title when Minimized]";
this.notifyIcon.Icon = ((System.Drawing.Icon)(resources.GetObject("notifyIcon.Icon"))); //The tray icon to use
this.notifyIcon.Text = "[Message shown when hovering over tray icon]";

Solution 3:

don't forget to add icon file to your notifyIcon or it will not appear in the tray.

Solution 4:

I'd go with

private void Form1_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     if (FormWindowState.Minimized == this.WindowState)
     {
          notifyIcon1.Visible = true;
          notifyIcon1.ShowBalloonTip(500);
          this.Hide();    
     }
     else if (FormWindowState.Normal == this.WindowState)
     {
          notifyIcon1.Visible = false;
     }
}

private void notifyIcon1_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
     this.Show();
     this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
}