Restore Missing Volume Button to System Tray After Upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 (Gnome 3 Classic/Fallback)

Please note: this is an updated version of the guide for restoring the volume button in Ubuntu 10.04/Gnome 2, and is specifically for those using the Gnome 3 “Classic” (Fallback) desktop (though may be applicable for Gnome-Shell and Unity).

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If you’ve just upgraded to 12.04 “Precise Pangolin” and found that the volume icon/button is missing from the system tray (at the far-right of the top Gnome panel), you can choose between adding the newer indicator applet, or running the old stand-alone volume button like back in Gnome 2. With the indicator applet, it will load automatically with each boot, but it doesn’t take much to get the legacy volume button to do the same.

Volume Button:

Note: Those who’ve had to do this before in Ubuntu 10.04 through to 11.10 will have noted the package gnome-volume-control-applet no longer exists, but since it has just been renamed, all you need to do is change the command to gnome-sound-applet.

To run it for the current session, hit Alt+F2 to open the Run Application app, paste gnome-sound-applet into the text field, and click the Run button (you can also enter the command into a terminal, but the button will disappear if you close the terminal).

To get it to start automatically from the next reboot, click the cog in the top-right (in Unity) and open Startup Applications and add it as a new entry with a name like “Volume Button”. If you’re using Gnome Classic, your user menu in the top-right won’t include Startup Applications, so just run gnome-session-properties via Alt+F2 or in a terminal.

If for some reason the volume app is missing on your system, run sudo apt-get install gnome-sound-applet in the terminal.

Indicator Applet:

Alt+Right-click an empty area of the panel (if you have Compiz effects enabled, then you will need to hold Alt+Super/Windows while right-clicking), choose Add to Panel, then drag Indicator Applet Complete to next to the clock in the system tray, or wherever you want to put it instead. The volume button will be restored, but as part of the Indicator Applet which also has a mail/message notifier for Evolution and messaging apps, as well as showing when other apps like Rhythmbox music player are open.

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Mozilla Thunderbird Email Notification in Ubuntu: How to Get a Green Envelope Indicator & Gnome’s Libnotify Popup for New Mail

If you’ve set up Indicator Applet to include Mozilla Thunderbird, you may have noticed that the notifications are somewhat limited compared to what you get for the default email client, Evolution. But by installing a Thunderbird add-on and a small package, you can get a green envelope notification for newly received mail in the Indicator Applet, as well as a “black bubble” pop-up notification that blends in with the rest of your Gnome desktop.

First off, download the “Indicators for Thunderbird” add-on and install it:

In Thunderbird, go to Tools > Add-ons, click the Install button, locate/select the file you downloaded, and click OK.

You will note that the envelope indicator will be green when you get new mail, but you may also get an error message complaining about that libnotify-bin must be installed (to get popup notifications), so just enter the following into a terminal:

sudo apt-get install libnotify-bin

Once installed, you’ll get the familiar “black bubbles” popups for incoming mail.

 

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Bonus: Also works with other distros like Arch.

Limitation: Only works with your Inbox; if you filter your incoming email into different folders, you won’t be informed when new (filtered) email arrives.

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Remove Evolution Mail Notifier from Indicator Applet in Ubuntu’s Panel

Remove the Volume Button from the Indicator Applet in Ubuntu’s Panel

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Did this information make your day? Did it rescue you from hours of headache? Then please consider making a donation via PayPal, to buy me a donut, beer, or some fish’n’chips for my time and effort! Many thanks!

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Email Notification: Add Mozilla Thunderbird to the Indicator Applet in Ubuntu’s System Tray

At the time of Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid Lynx“, the Indicator Applet used for notifications in the Gnome panel’s system tray sorely lacks any configurability. While I imagine that soon enough you’ll at least be able to remove entries from it, it may be a while before it is truly user-friendly and offers a way to easily add more apps to it.

For those of us that don’t use the default email client Evolution, but instead use Mozilla’s Thunderbird, the notification area is less than useful. But there is a way to add Thunderbird to the Indicator Applet, and it only takes a few minutes.

First, you need to create a Desktop file for Indicator Applet, so enter the following into a terminal:

sudo touch /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop

… then open it for editing:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop

… adding the following text (if it doesn’t already exist):

[Desktop Entry]

Encoding=UTF-8

Name=Mozilla Thunderbird Mail/News

Comment=Read/Write Mail/News with Mozilla Thunderbird

GenericName=Mail Client

Exec=thunderbird %u

Terminal=false

X-MultipleArgs=false

Type=Application

Icon=thunderbird

Categories=Application;Network;Email;

MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;

StartupWMClass=Thunderbird-bin

StartupNotify=true

Note that you need to make sure you have specified the correct command next to Exec=, as for your particular version it could be something like thunderbird-3.0 %u (you can find out by right-clicking a Thunderbird launcher and choosing Properties). Once finished, save and close the file.

You now need to create another file for Thunderbird:

sudo touch /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/thunderbird

… and open it for editing:

sudo gedit /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/thunderbird

… adding the following line:

/usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop

All you need to do now is logout and back in again, and Mozilla Thunderbird Mail/News should be in the Indicator Applet’s mail menu.

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If while trying to run sudo touch /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/thunderbird you get the following error message:

touch: cannot touch `/usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/thunderbird’: No such file or directory

… it means you have uninstalled indicator-messages, so you need to reinstall it with this command:

sudo apt-get install indicator-messages

If your system tray is missing after this install, just log out and back in again, and it should be fine (you can try killall gnome-panel, but in my case the notification area was not restored until I had logged back in).

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Get a Green Envelope Indicator & Gnome’s Libnotify Popup for New Mail

Remove Evolution Mail Notifier from Indicator Applet in Ubuntu’s System Tray

Restore Missing Volume Button to System Tray After Upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04

Remove the Volume Button from the Indicator Applet in Ubuntu’s Panel

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Did this information make your day? Did it rescue you from hours of headache? Then please consider making a donation via PayPal, to buy me a donut, beer, or some fish’n’chips for my time and effort! Many thanks!

Buy Ubuntu Genius a Beer to say Thanks!

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