How hard is it to make mail alerts work?

JohnnyGui · Jan 21, 2024

Nor the Mail app nor the new Outlook app show any email alerts when the apps are closed. This has been going on for more than a year now and worked fine before.

I have tried everything
- Disable and re-enable alerts in the app and Windows Settings
- Deleted and reinstalled the app
- Deleted and re-added my mail accounts
- Focus is turned off
- Using a PC so there's no battery saving option
- Clean installing Windows

Is anyone else actually having this issue or am I the only one?

Wisewiz · Jan 21, 2024

I have that "issue," and I accept it. I get no notifications from my Thunderbird Mail unless Thunderbird is running. So what? If I want to know whether I have any new mail, I open my mail client, and it updates and reports activity since I last had it open. I leave it running whenever the computer is running, however, so that's not an issue unless I've closed Thunderbird or restarted the computer, and then I re-open Thunderbird if I want to know what's current.

I think maybe EVERYONE is actually having this issue, and you're not the only one by far.

idgat · Jan 21, 2024

JohnnyGui said:
This has been going on for more than a year now and worked fine before.

Can't see how this would have worked before .. if a program is not running then the features/functions of the program are not available

EDIT Ah ha!! But was it really actually still running - not visibly but perhaps minimised to the SysTray and/or running in the background. Check your programs settings to see if current version allows this.

Or just don't close the program, leave it running.

EDIT 2 Of course this will not work for web based email access

BamaInArk · Jan 21, 2024

No different than your other post about this.....
Mail app not alerting for incoming Outlook mails

I'm not sure how you ever got this to work with the App actually closed/not running in the first place. Unless you were running the App minimized which is how you were still getting alerts to new mail.

Wisewiz · Jan 21, 2024

With the mail client running but backgrounded, so that it's only in the taskbar icon, I get this when there's nothing new:

and this when there's something new. End of story.

dacrone · Jan 21, 2024

It will never work without the process running, unless you install a web browser extension (like Outlook‘s), but even then you’ll have to leave the web browser running. You can make any app (to include Outlook desktop program) close to the tray so they are still running.

Wisewiz · Jan 21, 2024

Yep. Background it to the tray or background it to the taskbar; makes no diff. Just keep 'er running, and you'll get your alerts. Shut 'er down, and you'll get none. As Mammy Yokum used to say, "Ah has spoken!"

Edwin · Jan 21, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Yep. Background it to the tray

Yep.

Helmut · Jan 22, 2024

I don't have the issue with the Mail App(6 Accounts) or New Outlook. I get the indicator/preview in the Notification centre and badges on the Taskbar icons.

Settings > System > Notifications > Notifications On, No Focus sessions.

Settings are the same for each Email provider and Mail, Group notifications.
Show notification banner, Show notifications in notification centre are ticked.
Hide content on Lock screen is On.
Normal priority.

In the Apps list 3 dots Advanced options > Background Apps permissions > Power optimised(recommended).

A couple of weeks ago New Outlook was uninstalled because of an incompatible account, data sent to MS. It will be installed again later in the year.

JohnnyGui · Jan 22, 2024

Wisewiz said:
I have that "issue," and I accept it. I get no notifications from my Thunderbird Mail unless Thunderbird is running. So what? If I want to know whether I have any new mail, I open my mail client, and it updates and reports activity since I last had it open. I leave it running whenever the computer is running, however, so that's not an issue unless I've closed Thunderbird or restarted the computer, and then I re-open Thunderbird if I want to know what's current.

I think maybe EVERYONE is actually having this issue, and you're not the only one by far.

I guess it depends on one's habit to constantly open it when the PC is running. But if you're used to getting alerts without having to open it, why is there an extra step necessary now in 2024? I'm used to getting a notification when I'm waiting for an email, not to constantly remind myself to open the client to see if it has arrived yet. That is the issue.

@idgat @BamaInArk @dacrone @Wisewiz @Edwin
I can recall very well receiving mail alerts even after pressing the X button on the Mail app. It doesn't go to the systray at all and it simply closes. Perhaps it was running as a background process but that begs the question why such a feature is removed.

The fact that there are several threads about this issue shows that it used to work before. Example here containing several other threads

BamaInArk said:
No different than your other post about this.....
Mail app not alerting for incoming Outlook mails

That thread is 5 months old and I didn't receive any replies to my last posts nor did it provide fitting answers/fixes. I decided not to necro an old thread that didn't get replies after my last posts in the first place.

Wisewiz · Jan 22, 2024

That's all right, Helmut, but the point is that you have to have the mail client running in order to get the alerts. OP (#1 above) wants to be able to get alerts without having the client running. No can do.

JohnnyGui · Jan 22, 2024

Wisewiz said:
That's all right, Helmut, but the point is that you have to have the mail client running in order to get the alerts. OP (#1 above) wants to be able to get alerts without having the client running. No can do.

Please see my post above yours where I pinged you. It used to work as shown by several other threads.

Helmut said:
I don't have the issue with the Mail App(6 Accounts) or New Outlook. I get the indicator/preview in the Notification centre and badges on the Taskbar icons.

Settings > System > Notifications > Notifications On, No Focus sessions.

Settings are the same for each Email provider and Mail, Group notifications.
Show notification banner, Show notifications in notification centre are ticked.
Hide content on Lock screen is On.
Normal priority.

In the Apps list 3 dots Advanced options > Background Apps permissions > Power optimised(recommended).

A couple of weeks ago New Outlook was uninstalled because of an incompatible account, data sent to MS. It will be installed again later in the year.

Are you actually still getting mail alerts after completely closing the Mail/Outlook app?

Wisewiz · Jan 22, 2024

JohnnyGui said:
I'm used to getting a notification when I'm waiting for an email, not to constantly remind myself to open the client to see if it has arrived yet. That is the issue.

You don't have to open it to see alerts, if it's already running in the background.

JohnnyGui said:
I can recall very well receiving mail alerts even after pressing the X button on the Mail app.

You will have to forgive us for doubting the accuracy of that claim.

JohnnyGui said:
The fact that there are several threads about this issue shows that it used to work before.

I disagree. The fact that there are several threads about this "issue" only shows that there are other people who, like you, want the mail program to do things when it's not running.

Nobody here means to be unfriendly. Everybody here just wants to help you understand the facts, as opposed to the wishes. AFAIK, no mail client does anything at all so long as it's not running. I get mail alerts all the time on my iPhone, and I have to open my client to see the mail header or to read the mail. But that just shows that the client is running all the time in the background, and the icon on my phone's home page is always active, even when I haven't opened the client program in days. It's running when my phone is powered on.

BamaInArk · Jan 22, 2024

As I was looking in to this I realize my "New" Outlook does notify me. I just rarely use that account but remembered I do occasionally see notifications in the system tray. To verify I sent an email to my Outlook email acct and it showed up with an alert.
In the case of "new' Outlook however it is running in the background on system bootup.

Wisewiz · Jan 22, 2024

BamaInArk said:
In the case of "new' Outlook however it is running in the background on system bootup.

I think that's exactly the point. Whether you actually opened the program or not, it's running when your system has booted, even though you may not see any indication on the taskbar, the tray, or the desktop that it's running until you see an alert. If you look in Task Manager > Startup, you'll see the indicator that it's set to run at boot.

JohnnyGui · Jan 22, 2024

Wisewiz said:
You don't have to open it to see alerts, if it's already running in the background.

I'd have to open it to make it run in the background when I start up the PC right?

Wisewiz said:
You will have to forgive us for doubting the accuracy of that claim.

Then that's on you. In my previous thread I stated it worked with my Gmail account even after closing the Mail app. That was during the time of the issue so I am aware what I was witnessing during that time.

Wisewiz said:
I disagree. The fact that there are several threads about this "issue" only shows that there are other people who, like you, want the mail program to do things when it's not running.

I disagree because that depends on what the other threads are stating. The threads are clearly stating that it used to work before and that all of a sudden it doesn't, and I am one of them who witnessed this. It's not like threads are appearing all of a sudden around the same period of time because they are demanding something that never worked before.

Wisewiz said:
Nobody here means to be unfriendly. Everybody here just wants to help you understand the facts, as opposed to the wishes. AFAIK, no mail client does anything at all so long as it's not running. I get mail alerts all the time on my iPhone, and I have to open my client to see the mail header or to read the mail. But that just shows that the client is running all the time in the background, and the icon on my phone's home page is always active, even when I haven't opened the client program in days. It's running when my phone is powered on.

I am aware of these facts but I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing anymore. For all that matters, the Mail app might have been running as a background process after closing the app, I still got alerts back then. It might be so that there is no background process anymore after closing the Mail app. But again, that begs the question why this got removed.

Wisewiz said:
I think that's exactly the point. Whether you actually opened the program or not, it's running when your system has booted, even though you may not see any indication on the taskbar, the tray, or the desktop that it's running until you see an alert. If you look in Task Manager > Startup, you'll see the indicator that it's set to run at boot.

I think there's a misunderstanding because that's exactly the issue I'm talking about! I don't get any alerts unless I open Outlook app itself or when it's minimized in the system tray.

JohnnyGui · Jan 22, 2024

BamaInArk said:
As I was looking in to this I realize my "New" Outlook does notify me. I just rarely use that account but remembered I do occasionally see notifications in the system tray. To verify I sent an email to my Outlook email acct and it showed up with an alert.
In the case of "new' Outlook however it is running in the background on system bootup.

When you do NOT get any alerts, is there an Outlook app icon shown in the system tray in the right lower corner?

BamaInArk · Jan 22, 2024

JohnnyGui said:
When you do NOT get any alerts, is there an Outlook app icon shown in the system tray in the right lower corner?

Odd! I was going to see all the alerts but in my second test I got no alerts to the new message, although it was sitting in inbox.
In my previous test I had a small dialog popup from the task bar. Also the little bell turned blue indicating a notification was present. I do remember getting a sound notification from earlier messages.

Wisewiz · Jan 22, 2024

I think we will all agree that if there is an icon in the tray, its associated app is running. If the mail app is running and it doesn't provide new message alerts, the alerts setting in the mail app is not set to ON. Apps can run perfectly well without throwing an icon to the taskbar or the tray, i.e., with no obvious visible evidence of the fact that they are running, but if there's an icon in the tray, it represents a running program.

JohnnyGui · Jan 22, 2024

BamaInArk said:
Odd! I was going to see all the alerts but in my second test I got no alerts to the new message, although it was sitting in inbox.
In my previous test I had a small dialog popup from the task bar. Also the little bell turned blue indicating a notification was present. I do remember getting a sound notification from earlier messages.

But during your tests, was there an Outlook icon in the right lower corner? Mind you I'm not talking about the alerts, simply an Outlook icon next to the clock in the system tray.

Wisewiz said:
I think we will all agree that if there is an icon in the tray, its associated app is running. If the mail app is running and it doesn't provide new message alerts, the alerts setting in the mail app is not set to ON. Apps can run perfectly well without throwing an icon to the taskbar or the tray, i.e., with no obvious visible evidence of the fact that they are running, but if there's an icon in the tray, it represents a running program.

So if an app can run in the background without showing a system tray icon, I should still be able to receive mail alerts which is not working in my case, while my alert settings are set to ON. This is the whole issue I'm talking about. I stated in my OP that it doesn't work when closing the apps, I didn't mention closing the whole client processes.