Raspberry Pi OS • Re: HOWTO: Email Client Geary and Launches in Background on Startup (Raspberry Pi OS GNOME)

First of all: my original guide/topic was written for Debian 12 GNOME.
At that time, Geary worked perfectly and unread messages were clearly visible.



However, since Debian 13 the problem has appeared.
Debian 13 uses GNOME 48, while Geary upstream states that Geary 46 is designed
for GNOME 46. So there may also be a mismatch between the version Debian ships
and the version Geary was designed for.
To test this clearly, I installed a completely clean Raspberry Pi OS Lite system
(without themes or modifications) and then installed GNOME and Geary with:After logging into GNOME, the problem is still there: in Geary 46 there is **no
visible way at all** to see which messages are read or unread. Unread messages
do NOT appear bold, and there are no icons or indicators. Read and unread
messages look completely identical. This makes Geary unusable in Debian 13 and
Raspberry Pi OS + GNOME.

To ensure this was not caused by a custom setup, I also reproduced the issue on:

• a clean Debian 13 GNOME installation on a PC
• a clean Raspberry Pi OS Lite + GNOME installation on a Raspberry Pi
• with no additional themes installed

The behaviour is always the same.

I am attaching a screenshot showing that read and unread messages look identical.

I have also reported this problem in multiple places:

1. Debian Bug Tracker (bug #1115727): https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... ug=1115727
2. GNOME subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments ... isibility/
3. Geary upstream issue: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/geary/-/issues/1681

Upstream suggests it may be a font configuration issue, but since it happens on
a 100% clean Raspberry Pi OS Lite + GNOME installation, I am hoping someone here
can:

• confirm the same behaviour on their Raspberry Pi, or
• provide a possible workaround.

At the moment, Geary 46 in Debian 13 (GNOME 48) gives no visible distinction
between read and unread emails.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Statistics: Posted by Wobbo — Mon Nov 17, 2025 4:45 pm

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