Display Gmail Unread Message Count On Your Desktop With Gmail Conky - Ubuntu/Linux Mint

In this tutorial, we will help you install a nice Gmail conky script that will show on your desktop unread message count of your Gmail account. Here is a screenshot of it under Ubuntu:

1. Gmail-Conky Installation

Open the terminal and run these commands:

sudo apt-get install conky-all 

cd /tmp 

wget http://goo.gl/Mk9Ln -O gmail_conky.zip 

unzip -q gmail_conky.zip 

cd GmailConky 

mkdir -p ~/.conky ~/.Gmail_Conky 

cp gmail.py  mail.png ~/.conky 

cp conkyrcGmail ~/.Gmail_Conky

2. Adding Your Gmail Account

Edit the gmail.py file with this command:

gedit ~/.conky/gmail.py

For Linux Mint:

pluma ~/.conky/gmail.py

Add now your Gmail username and password, then save the file and exit:

3. Starting Gmail-Conky

You can now run the script with this command:

conky -c ~/.Gmail_Conky/conkyrcGmail

If you want to start it automatically, create a new file and add the following lines:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 15
conky -c ~/.Gmail_Conky/conkyrcGmail

Save your files and give it execution permission with this command:

chmod +x gmail-file-name

Finally, add it to "Startup Applications" to make it load after you login.