Notifications are the heart and soul of the Action Center in Windows 10, but receiving a barrage of notifications isn’t always welcome, especially if you have multiple apps pushing out notifications every time anything happens. You can turn notifications on and off in Windows 10 Settings: Here’s a quick rundown on how disable notifications for any installed app, as well as how to control the types of notifications you see.
Before we begin, note that you’ll only be able to toggle notifications for an app once you’ve received a notification from it. If you download the official Facebook app, for example, you won’t be able to adjust the notification settings until you receive your first message, comment, etc. following installation. That said, here are the steps to control the number of notifications you receive.
Turn off notifications
Step 1: To add, disable, or enable notifications, begin by clicking the Action Center icon located on the right-hand side of the Windows taskbar.
Step 2: Then, click the All Settings button with the gear icon
Step 3: Select System in the top-left corner of the window.
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Step 4: In “System,” click “Notifications & Actions.” This will take you to a screen providing access to all of the settings related to notifications and the Action Center.
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Step 5: Look for the Notifications subhead, where you will see a number of toggles for various types of notifications. The following is a list of the settings you can toggle on this screen:
- Get notifications from apps and other senders
- Show notifications on the lock screen
- Show alarms, reminders, and incoming VoIP calls on the lock screen
- Hide notifications when duplicating my screen
- Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows
Turn them off as you need! For full peace of mind, just make sure they are all toggled off. Again, you’ll need to install the particular app you want to view notifications for if it’s not already built into your system, and receive a notification first before an app will show up in the list.
Bonus tip: How to dismiss notifications
Notifications are a phenomenal tool for keeping up with the hustle and bustle of our digital lives. However, an excess of notifications — especially ones you’ve previously seen — can clutter the Action Center and prevent you from seeing important notifications as they arrive.
To dismiss individual notifications, click the Action Center icon located on the right-hand side of the Windows taskbar and mouse over the notification that you’d like to dismiss. Then, click the “X” button directly to the right of the notification. You can also swipe a notification to the right to dismiss it quickly with either touch or by clicking and dragging with the mouse.
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You can dismiss all of the notifications for a given app by clicking on the “X” button to the right of the app group listing. You can also click “Clear all” to close every notification for all apps.
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Note: Microsoft continues to integrate Windows 10 across all devices connected to the same Microsoft account. In the spirit of being better connected, Windows 10 notifications will dismiss on other Windows devices when you dismiss them in the Action Center on your desktop.
In-depth: How to customize notifications for each app
In Windows 10, you can choose to view or hear a combination banner notifications — which consist of a pop-up in the lower-right corner of your display — and sounds. You can also configure various apps to only show notifications within the Action Center, with no other indication on arrival. As you can see in the image below, a number of notification options are available for each app that supports notifications.
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To access these settings, open the Notifications section of Settings, as before. Scroll down and click the name of the particular app you want to adjust the notifications for, to access a more advanced notification menu. Then, simply toggle on and off whichever preferences you choose, whether you want to receive banner notifications, sounds, or neither. Here are the settings you can configure for most app’s notifications:
- Turn notification on or off
- Turn notification banners, the boxes that show up for each notification and then disappear, on or off
- Determine whether to keep notifications private on the lock screen
- Turn notifications on or off in the Action Center
- Determine whether a sound plays for that app’s notifications
- Indicate how many notifications are visible in the Action Center before the drop-down “show more” menu appears, either one, three, five, 10, or 20 notifications
- Determine the priority of notifications, allowing an app’s notifications to show up on top of other less important app notifications
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