unwanted systray launch icons - how to purge them?

[tomcloyd]

This is getting really annoying. For reasons I cannot fathom I seem randomly to get application program icons stuck into my systray, on the right hand side of the taskbar. Some will actually launch an instance of the program, and some don't appear to do anything useful at all.

They all take up taskbar real estate that I want back.

Right now I have icons for Krusader (TWO of them), Muon package manager, jEdit, Chromium browser, Truecrypt (which is actually useful), and QShutDown.

Is there ANY way to get control of this mess? I want most of these things dumped.

What's oddest that each of my boxes have a different mix of such icons, in spite of the fact that I use them all for the same work. This actually makes sense to anyone?

Any suggestions or useful links (I couldn't find any)?

[vinnywright]

you can add sutch icons by right clicking the app in the menu and "add to panel" ,,,, what options do you get if you right click one of these disturbing icons ?

VINNY

[tomcloyd]

you can add sutch icons by right clicking the app in the menu and "add to panel"

Yeah. Tried that out. And now I have another !@%#@ icon I want to dump.

,,,, what options do you get if you right click one of these disturbing icons ?

VINNY

It varies with the icon. Try it yourself and you'll see. But in no case is there an option to dump the dratted thing. THAT's what I want. I can't believe that they can only be added. Just makes no sense.

[Snowhog]

Right-click on an empty area of the System Tray and click on System Tray Settings and then click on Entries. By default, each entry has a default Visibiity setting of Auto. You can change any/all of them to Hidden.

[kubicle]

To be clear, are we talking about application icons in the notification tray, plasma widgets in the notification tray or plasma widgets in the panel?

1. Application icons in the notification area:
This is an application setting ("show icon in the tray" or something similar) when the app is running, the icon will show in the tray. (you can disable this if the application allows you to disable this in it's settings...alternatively you can define application icon visibility like snowhog pointed out (when hidden, application icons will still be accessible by clicking the arrow on the tray, but won't take up space on the panel).
2. plasma widgets in the notification area:
Some plasma widgets can be "embedded" in the notification area, notification area settings>display.
3. plasma widgets in the panel can be removed when the panel config bar is visible.

[tomcloyd]

To be clear, are we talking about application icons in the notification tray...?

Yes. And they're not the sort you describe. They appear for unknown reasons and just stay there no matter what, taking up space. Snowhog's tip has to do with some of the programs, but not the one's whose icons I have been stuck with. BUT....

GOOD NEWS: I found the fix. Don't know is this was available in 13.10 or not, but in my 14.04, I can activate the panel tool box (click on the little gold teardrop at the far right of the taskbar panel). Then I can right-click on these sticky application icons and remove them.

Solved!

[kubicle]

GOOD NEWS: I found the fix. Don't know is this was available in 13.10 or not, but in my 14.04, I can activate the panel tool box (click on the little gold teardrop at the far right of the taskbar panel). Then I can right-click on these sticky application icons and remove them.

That actually describes the #3 solution I posted, which suggests the "icons" were actually plasma widgets/launchers...that doesn't really explain why they appeared, but explains why they were "stuck".

[tomcloyd]

That actually describes the #3 solution I posted, which suggests the "icons" were actually plasma widgets/launchers...that doesn't really explain why they appeared, but explains why they were "stuck".

I rejected #3 because of the "plasma widget" designation. I thought those were manually put in the systray by selecting them from those available when you open the toolbox and click the "add widget" link. I knew that these icons did NOT get there in that way. So, I'm still a bit confused. But...that's entirely normal! AND the icons are gone. Works for me.

Thanks for you comments and help, and those of all the others.

[kubicle]

Yes, that is a bit weird...are you sure the "launchers" were "inside" the notification area widget rather than just next to it? (This can be visually hard to tell depending on the plasma theme you are using)

If it happens again, you can test it by moving the notification area widget to a different spot on your panel and see if the "launcher icons" move with it or stay in place. Anyway, glad you got it solved, but it would be nice to know the actual cause because I haven't seen an issue like yours before.

[tomcloyd]

I have 4 KB14.04 boxes running. My main one no longer has this problem. One other does, however, and it's a Krusader icon, which IS in the notification (system tray) area. I also cannot seem to remove it by any means yet discussed in this thread.

I'm deeply puzzled as to how the icons got there in the first place. One was Krusader, and another was Muon (both KDE programs), but another was jEdit (non-KDE, java). It's hard to replicate the problem if it appears pseudo-randomly.