Strategy to Reduce Tray Clutter?

[Kendoori]

I am a fan of a clean desktop. On Windows 10 there's a way of selectively showing which tray area notifications display, of for them to show when truly active. I would like to have similar behavior in 19.1. I tried the Collapsible Systray but it doesn't behave as I expect, and it seems that it is an either/or situation with the default SysTray applet. Am wondering if I'm approaching this wrong.

[Hoser Rob]

Linux isn't just a free version of WIndows, it works differently, and trying to get it to behave like Windows is really a dead end.

A better Linux way is to use multiple desktops/virtual workspaces. For some reason many Linux newbies used to Windows are reluctant to use them or can't see the point. I don't know why that is. From the beginning of my time with Linux I've been using them and if there's one thing I couldn't live without in an OS it's multiple desktops.

[Kendoori]

I've been using Mint since 2009, so not really a newbie; nor am I trying to get Mint to act like Windows. My interest is simple, just be able to choose to hide notification tray icons when they are not active.

I'm not a fan of virtual desktops on Mint or Windows. I've tried, but just awkward for me.

[smurphos]

How exactly do extra workspaces help with systray clutter? They might help with window-list clutter but that's a different question.

Collapsible systray is good but it's drawback is that you can't decide what to do with systray icons whilst they are inactive so it need to be set up over a period of time.

E.g. I use it and have all my always on icons collapsed. I rarely need them and if I do it's just an extra click or hover to show them. Many applications with a systray icon have options in their own preferences for when the icon is shown. Prime example is the update manager, which you can set to only show an icon when updates are actually available. So I don't have that set to be collapsed and it shows when it's useful to be shown and stays visible until I deal with it.

[Kendoori]

@smurphos so if you use Collapsible, do you turn off the System Tray applet too?

One of my issues is that I use the transparency extension, and Collapsible's icon doesn't properly show

[smurphos]

Yep - you shouldn't have two tray applets active (even on different panels) - they can conflict in weird ways.

I've just checked I can use the transparent panel extension OK with Collapsible Systray here (19.1 all applets and the extension fully up to date). It doesn't work well with the Mint-X desktop theme, but none of the symbolic icons look good in that combo and that is just because Mint-X has a light coloured panel when not forced to be transparent.

[redlined]

another applet that may be of use: Drawer

hide a few applet to have a neater panel, and make them show up again by a click

iow, Install an(other) applet to show/hide other applets (found in Cinnamon Applets manager)

edit to add: this warning from Collapsible Systray applet may apply for Drawer as well

IMPORTANT: Due to the way Cinnamon handles tray icons, you can only use one tray applet at a time. So if you want to use this applet, please be sure you aren't using any other tray applets such as the default one. Otherwise Cinnamon might become unstable or even crash.

and note from comments on Drawer spices page:

Simon Plaistowe-1 year ago
How do you hide applets with this? I see no way to do it. I've tried dragging them onto this applet and I've looked for a configurable list in the settings. What am I missing?

Dimytri Komanatov-1 year ago
Same issue as Simon. Love the idea but can't find how/where to add apps to this.

tester1230980582340923-409-1 year ago
Use panel edit mode and drag the drawer icon to the right of any apps you wish to keep hidden. When you stop panel edit mode it will collapse all items to the left of the icon.

Hope this helps!

[smurphos]

edit to add: this warning from Collapsible Systray applet may apply for Drawer as well

IMPORTANT: Due to the way Cinnamon handles tray icons, you can only use one tray applet at a time. So if you want to use this applet, please be sure you aren't using any other tray applets such as the default one. Otherwise Cinnamon might become unstable or even crash.

Nope it doesn't