This is the who, what, where, and shh! of notification settings in Microsoft Teams. Visit Manage notifications in Teams for more details about how to adjust your notification settings.

1. Notification settings are under Settings and more

Access notification settings by selecting Settings and More Teams more options icon in the top right corner of Teams, then Settings Settings button > Notifications and activity Activity button.​​​​​​​

2. Notification sounds can be on or off

To choose if a sound plays with new notifications and calls, select Settings and more Teams more options icon, then Settings Settings button > Notifications and activity Activity button > Sound.

Check or uncheck the boxes next to the sound options, and choose your preferred notification sounds in the dropdown menus.

3. There are default settings

If you change nothing about your Teams notifications, you'll receive both desktop notifications and activity feed alerts for @mentions, direct messages (chat), and all new conversations and @mentions in the channels and teams that show in your teams list.

All of these defaults can be changed. Learn how to choose the right settings to fit your preferences.

4. There are three ways to get notified

The activity feed

You’ll find this in the top left corner of Teams. This is where we’ll let you know what’s happening across your teams and channels.

Check out the different kinds of activity you’ll get in Teams. 

Chat and channels

To view @mentions while in a chat or channel, select Mentions ​​​​​​​ or Tag mentions  The Categorize icon. above your list of chat or channel conversations.

Desktop—aka “Banner”—notifications

On Windows, these will show in the bottom right corner of your screen, then move to the Action Center. On Mac OS, these show up in the top right corner of your screen, then move to the Control Center.

You can also decide whether your desktop notifications show a preview of the message or not. Go to Settings and more Teams more options icon > Settings Settings buttonNotifications and activity Activity button​​​​​​​ > Display > and select Show message and content previews in notifications.

  • Some of the above features are part of the new chat and channels experience, which is available as part of the public preview program. It may undergo further changes before being released publicly. To get access to this and other upcoming features, switch to Teams public preview.

  • If using Teams on the web, some browsers will only show notifications in the browser tab where you’re running Teams. 

5. Things are slightly different on mobile

One of the first things you'll want to do is choose whether to send notifications to your phone Always, or only When I'm not active on desktop. (You're considered inactive after 3 minutes of inactivity.) 

The other thing you’ll want to make sure to set are your quiet hours. To do this, select your profile picture in the top left corner of the mobile app > Notifications > Block notifications > During quiet hours.

Then set a specific time of day when you want Teams to hold your notifications—or choose entire days.

6. You can set notifications for chats and channels, too

To manage your channel notifications, go to Settings and more Teams more options icon > Settings Settings buttonNotifications and activity Activity button > Chats and channels. Here you can choose where and how chat and channel notifications appear. ​​​​​​​

Learn more about hidden channels.

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