Comment 83 for bug 436755

@martincasc: A lot of what you are describing is expected behavior. I think there may be some confusion about what the indicator applet does so I'll do my best to clarify.

1. The evolution indicator only works when evolution is running and as of right now evolution has to have an open window to be running. The window can be minimized or put on a desktop you don't use often, but it has to be there. (see Bug 460483)

2. The evolution indicator does _not_ count/indicate unread messages. It only responds to messages which have arrive while evolution is not the active window. Here is a usage situation:

Suppose you have evolution running and minimized and lets say you receive 2 new emails. You should get a little notification, the indicator applet should turn green, and if you click on the applet the number listed next to your mailbox should be (2). Now suppose you click on the inbox and it presents evolution and you navigate to the email component. The moment your inbox is presented to you the indicator applet should turn grey and the number listed next to your inbox should be (0). This will happen regardless of whether you have read either of your new mails.

Whats going on is that the indicator is (by design) resetting itself the moment you look at your email, even if you don't decide to open your unread messages. It assumes that since you opened evolution you know the email is there and will get to it when you get to it. As a further illustration here are two usage scenarios which will _not_ activate the indicator.

1. Marking an existing message as unread. The indicator doesn't count unread messages and this will not trigger any notifications.

2. Receiving new mail while evolution is open and active. If you receive new mail while you are currently viewing your inbox it will _not_ trigger the applet. This is a big one since I imagine many users are trying to test the applet by leaving evolution open so that they can see when they get new mail (so they can tell if the applet is working or not). But as long as evolution is your active window, the applet won't respond.