HOWTO: Start Thunderbird (and others) minimized to tray.

[Laserbeast]

I've always curious as to why Thunderbird and some other programs don't minimize to the system tray when minimized. Normally I'm used to an e-mail client sitting in the tray and not on my taskbar when not in use.

Here's my way of doing it:

Install Kdocker:

sudo apt-get install kdocker

Easy enough, now let's tell your programs to start in the tray when opened :

-Find program you wish to start in tray through K Menu or any dock (in this case Thunderbird), right click and choose Edit Item. Go to the Application tab and down to Command, enter the following:

kdocker -m mozilla-thunderbird &

I chose "-m" because when it normally autohides the program on launch, it actually comes up for 3-5 seconds and then minimizes, kind of defeating the purpose. This way on application launch, the window is opened and is also docked to the tray.

Some more documentation and program launch options are available on the official site, here.

Enjoy,
Chris