How to Manage Notifications in Windows 11

Notifications are a great way to stay on top of things as they happen, but you’ll need to use them selectively.

It’s important to know when a colleague has sent a message or someone wants to start a video call, but the latest celebrity news or an antivirus software deal will do more harm than good to your productivity.

All notifications are destructive, but it’s especially annoying when you receive something completely irrelevant. This happens all too often whether you’re using a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop PC.

But on devices running Windows 11, there are plenty of ways to control the flow of notifications that reach you. Here are five main ways to do it.

Decide which apps can send notifications

This is the most obvious, but also the most important. Installing any app means you technically consent to being sent notifications, so you’ll have to turn them off manually.

1. Go to Settings > System > Notifications and scroll down to Notifications from apps and other senders.

2. Go through the list and turn off the switch next to what you don’t need. Any changes made here will be saved immediately.

3. For more precise control, click the right arrow next to any application. Here you can choose how notifications should be displayed, how much they are prioritized, and whether to play a sound

Eniron Copeman / Foundry

Check browser notifications

When you visit some sites, you may be asked if you want to receive notifications. If you click “Allow”, they can be sent to your desktop at any time.

You can disable notifications for a selected web browser in the settings, but this is an all-or-nothing approach. To control which websites can send notifications, you will need to access your web browser settings.

In Google Chrome:

1. Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select “Settings”.

2. Go to Privacy & Security > Site Settings > Notifications.

3. In the Custom Behavior section, see which sites are allowed to send notifications.

4. For those you want to stop, click the three dots and choose Delete (to disable them) or Block (so they never ask again).

Eniron Copeman / Foundry

In Microsoft Edge:

1. Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select “Settings”.

2. Navigate to “Cookies and Site Permissions”, then scroll down and select “Notifications”.

3. As with Chrome, click on the three dots next to any item in the Allow list that you want to remove and choose Remove or Block.

Eniron Copeman / Foundry

If you are using a different web browser, the process is similar.

Set a schedule for Do Not Disturb mode

In Windows 11, the Do Not Disturb feature blocks all incoming notifications except those you set as “priority”.

To turn it on, go to Settings > System > Notifications and click the switch next to Do Not Disturb.

From here, you can also set a schedule for when Do Not Disturb is active. The default is from 23:00 to 07:00, but this can be customized to your liking.

There are also four other cases where Do Not Disturb is activated automatically. Uncheck the box next to any of them to disable them:

• When duplicating your display (priority notification banners are also hidden)
• Playing the game
• When using the app in full screen mode (priority notification banners are also hidden)
• Within the first hour after a Windows feature update

Eniron Copeman / Foundry

Set Priority Notifications

In the same settings section, you will also see an option to specify which notifications are prioritized. Incoming calls and reminders are selected by default, but you can uncheck the box to turn them off.

You will also see a list of priority applications. Click on the three dots next to any of them and choose Remove to deprioritize them, or Add Apps to add new ones to the list.

Eniron Koopman / Foundry

Use focus sessions regularly

If you need to do something specific, you certainly don’t want to be interrupted by notifications. The Focus tool in Windows 11 can be configured to turn on Do Not Disturb at specific times, as well as turn off icons and blink apps on the taskbar.

Go to Settings > System > Focus to set any of these or the countdown timer that will appear in the Clock app.

Eniron Copeman / Foundry

You can start a session right from the settings, but it’s easier to do it through the Clock app. Focus Sessions is the screen you will see as soon as you open it.

Eniron Koopman / Foundry

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