system tray (linux mint 20.2 xfce)

[rossdv8]

I'm trying to understand what exactly you lost. Can you post a picture of what you lost (and managed to get back again) and I (or someone else) might be able to tell you how to find it again, if there's a 'Next Time'

[ajgreeny]

By default xfce uses a simple clock applet in the panel which can be removed by fight clicking on it, and can then be added back by right clicking in the panel and using the panel -> preferences dialogue, items tab.

There is also a datetime applet available in the repos which is a little more configurable and which I tend to use - just my personal choice.

You can right click in either the clock or datetime applet to set preferences.

[Jo-con-Ël]

i was trying to remove one of the icons from it. and it took out the whole system tray

had to restart to get it back

I'm sure i willl do this again - can you please tell me how to get it back without restarting

Once you have restored deleted item on panel (XApp status plugin or Status Tray plugin?) you can try running xfce4-panel -r from command line (Alt+F2) or terminal (Alt+Ctrl+T) but depending on your system you would need to log-out&log-in or reboot.

Also you can restore panel defaults as indicated here but I think you will need to logout-login or reboot in the same way to see (all) application icons on system tray area.

Follow these recommendations to backup/restore panel in any case. I think restoring backup panel you won't need to re-log/reboot.

I don't need to restart panel/logout/reboot now after removing and restoring those items when tried on LM 20 and LM 20.3, but I remember i needed in the past, so I'm not sure in your case.

(Edited)