For many Mac users, notifications are useful and welcome. They make sure you don't miss anything important or not, but there are times when you want notifications to leave you alone. Luckily, disabling them is quite simple. Here are your step-by-step instructions to turn off notifications on Mac. There's more than one way to do it, and we show you all of them. Don't forget to turn them back on when your alone time is over.
How to Manually Enable Do Not Disturb
Using Do Not Disturb is the easiest way to turn off Mac notifications. This will prevent you from seeing or hearing notifications (although you can see them by opening Notification Center). There are several ways to enable this feature.
Step 1. The easiest way to turn on Do Not Disturb is to hold down the Option key (labeled Alt on some Macs) and click the Notification Center icon. It's the far-right icon in the menu bar that looks like three lines stacked on top of each other.
Step 2. The notification center icon will change from black to gray. This means that Do Not Disturb has been activated. It will stay on until midnight or until you turn it off.
Step 3. Alternatively, there is another way to enable Do Not Disturb. Swipe left from the right edge of the trackpad – this will bring up the notification center.
Step 4. Swipe down and two options will be revealed at the top of notification center: Night Shift and Do Not Disturb.
Step 5. Click the dial next to Do Not Disturb to turn it on. As with the previous method, this will turn it on until midnight or until you decide to turn it off.
Step 6. Finally, if neither of the above two methods work for you, you can create a custom hotkey. Open System Preferences and click on Keyboard , then click on the Shortcuts tab. In the left column, click on Mission Control , then check the box next to Show Notification Center and enter your preferred shortcut. Close System Preferences when you're done.
How to Automatically Schedule Do Not Disturb
If you tend to be busy at the same time most days and don't want to be disturbed by notifications, you can schedule Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically.
Step 1. Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your screen, then click on System Preferences . You can also click the System Preferences icon in the Dock; it looks like a set of gray cogs.
Step 2. From there, click on Notifications .
Step 3. In the Notifications section , click Do Not Disturb at the top of the left sidebar.
Step 4. There are several options here. You can turn on Do Not Disturb at set times (for example, during work hours if you use your Mac for work) or when the screen is asleep and/or locked. You can also turn it on when your Mac display is mirrored to TVs and projectors, so you won't be interrupted during a movie or presentation.
Step 5. If you want to allow people to call you when Do Not Disturb is on, check the box next to Allow calls from everyone . You can also choose to only allow repeat calls, just in case someone tries to contact you with something urgent.
How to turn off notifications for a certain app
While Do Not Disturb is useful, it disables notifications from all apps on your Mac. You'll want to use another method if you just want to keep certain apps from bothering you.
Step 1. As before, click on System Preferences and select Notifications .
Step 2. On the left side of the window, find the app whose notifications you want to stop.
Step 3. You should see a toggle option saying Allow notifications from [App Name]. Click on it; The toggle should flip over and turn gray. It's as simple as that: you have now blocked alerts from this application.
Step 4. If you don't want to block notifications entirely, but need to prevent pop-ups from appearing on your screen, you can limit alerts to Notification Center. In your settings, under [App name] Alert style , select None. After that, you can uncheck the Show notification preview, Badge App Icon and Play Sound for Notifications boxes .
You can now search for alerts specifically in Notification Center when it suits you, instead of having them flash up on your screen while you work.
In this guide, you have learned how to turn off notifications on Mac. If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know in the comments.Also, if you are looking for the best APPLE , you can check the guide on our website.
