No ability to quit on hitting Close (❌) button

[superuser-does]

Problem Description

Zulip Desktop permits the user to remove the tray icon.

If the user closes the window by pressing Close (❌), Zulip continues silently running in the background.

⬇️

The only way to fully quit is through the File menu (which can be disabled) or by pressing Ctrl+Q:

Proposed Solution

Permit users to configure Zulip Desktop so the 'Close' action does not silently close the window while continuing to run the application.

If implemented: it might be good to hide the 'Close' option from the File menu when the user has disabled the tray icon, as it is then unclear how 'Close' differs from 'Quit'.

[alya]

This is standard behavior for communication apps, where you may want to receive notifications while having the window out of the way. So I'm not sure there's something net beneficial to be done here.

"Close window" would probably be more clear than "Close".

[superuser-does]

It is certainly standard, but a lot of applications that can sit in the tray offer this.

The idea is that you can manage them in the taskbar like any other window, instead of having to close them separately in the system tray.

There is no expectation for notifications to be in the tray, because I will get a desktop notification. If I don't read it in the moment, I can hit Windows+A in Windows (Action Menu), or the bell icon in KDE (global notifications), to see the notification and bring Zulip to the front of the screen again.

[timabbott]

Can you give some examples of such applications?

Also, I'm not sure I understand the "because I will get a desktop notification" part -- if you quit the Zulip app, you're definitely not getting desktop notifications from Zulip -- you've stopped running the software that would receive them. Can you try to explain that more clearly?

[superuser-does]

Can you give some examples of such applications?

I had a look and I couldn't find it in any other communications programs that I use or have used (Microsoft Teams, Slack, Discord). Apparently Element supports it.

Also, I'm not sure I understand the "because I will get a desktop notification" part -- if you quit the Zulip app, you're definitely not getting desktop notifications from Zulip -- you've stopped running the software that would receive them. Can you try to explain that more clearly?

Certainly @timabbott - so instead of a tray icon, I would rather rely on the operating system's native notifications functionality (e.g. in the Action Centre in Windows 10 or equivalent in other operating systems).

There is one communications program of a very different kind that I do use, and lets you configure it in this way: qBittorrent.

You configure it like so:

After this, the only indicator it's running is that it has an open window, like most other programs on the system. This obviates the need for a persistent icon in the notification area.

This is in line with the OS's intended design. Microsoft has consistently termed the 'tray' the 'notification area' since at least Windows XP. In Windows 11, they combined this area and the Action Centre to give an experience more akin to Chrome OS and macOS - to make it yet more notification-centric.

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Either way, I was mistaken - you already support this functionality! It is just under a different section and it's called Quit when a window is closed.

I can also confirm that: Given Quit when the window is closed is enabled When I select_File > Close_ Then Zulip Desktop quits entirely.

Still, 'Close' is a redundant entry, so you would want to hide it in case when the user has that option on. This would be especially relevant if you want to rename the selection under the File menu (as suggested by @alya above: "Close window" would probably be more clear than "Close".)

It is also concerning that all three of us missed it in the settings menu, so there could be room to improve the UI that exposes these options - perhaps by grouping them together in some other way.