You cannot receive emails or any notifications when Thunderbird is not running. You may look for any third party applications doing this though.

ok, thanks. The problem is, I have just got a new laptop and changed programme from outlook express to Thunderbird which I am very happy with. But I think I used to get mail notification on desktop under outlook. Is this just not possible with Thunderbird and there is another programme I should use in this case ? Thanks, Lizzie

What's wrong with just keep Thunderbird running?

I doubt that Outlook is any different in that regard.

Well, what I mean is, while I am doing something else on the screen like skyping or searching the web etc, I dont have Thunderbird up on the screen as well, not all the time anyway. The icon is down in the Taskleiste/bar, or up on the desktop, but not opened so to speak. I dont want to sit there waiting to see if I get an e.mail, but if one came in it would be helpful if I could be notified to go into my mailbag. Just thouoght this must be possible, but perhaps not. Thanks anyway, Lizzie

Thunderbird alerts you about new mail with a system tray icon and new mail sound. Are you saying you don't get this? Take a look at this article.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-customize-new-mail-sound

Your OP did imply you want to be notified when Thunderbird is closed. That's different to Thunderbird being minimized to the task bar.

OK, so if I minimize Thunderbird to the task bar, it is out of the way but I still get notifications ? I have checked the settings for this and they are ok so presumably should work now as long as Thunderbird minimized. Sorry but I am not much of an expert on pc. Thank you for your help and patience. Lizzie

sorry, but I couldnt get thru' using "Mark as solved" so had to use "doesn't solve my problem". Anyway, appears to work now when I just minimise Thunderbird to taskbar I do get an info tray when new mail comes. So thanks for help, I am happy with result. Lizzie

I have a related question. The link posted by christ1 above is about the new mail sound and the temporary notification banner that pops up. What I'm wondering about, and what I think Misslizzie was asking about, is a more permanent indicator that you have new mail. The Outlook taskbar icon, for example, shows a little envelope when there's new mail. It remains there until you go to Outlook and look in the Inbox. I (we?) are wondering, can Thunderbird can do something similar?