Can Thunderbird sound an alert?

I have checked the box to sound an alert on receipt of a new message but can't seem to get it to work - can someone possibly post a (step by step guide if possible) to activate the sound alert? I get the visual alert with a message preview on the screen OK.
Also I read a post where someone was trying to get TBird to display the number of unread messages on the desktop but I couldn't find any post where it was solved. Is this (still) not possible, or could you point me to a link that shows how to do it (again in a way that a Linux-newbie can understand)?

Thanks

 

My guess is that the system is not set to beep when it has notifications for you.

A potential workaround would be to point the Thunderbird client towards a sound file you define.

Edit > Preferences > General

In the section at the bottom where it says "when a new message arrives", make sure that "Play a sound" and "use the following sound file" are checked. Then click the "browse" button to navigate to a sound file that you want to use as an alert.

 

That was my first thought as the Acermail used to make a sound. However I did a browse but couldn't find and .wav files (I'm not very good at finding where Linux puts things yet) and I hoped there was a built-in Thunderbird sound scheme within the programme somewhere.

 

Yeah - I realised that I didn't know where Linpus puts the sounds after I posted... :/

You could always grab a .wav file you like from Freesound, set Firefox to ask you where to download it, then tell Thunderbird to look where you downloaded it to.

You could create a directory called "system_sounds" in your home folder, for example, and download the files there, then use those in Thunderbird.

Freesound has some beautiful sounds, btw. Well worth a browse.