The digital world we live in can be distracting. Sometimes it is an annoyance. Many are bombarded with notifications from their phones and tablets. You shouldn’t have to be buried in them on your desktop or laptop as well. Here are some simple steps that you can take to bring your Windows 10 notifications under control.
What are Windows 10 Notifications and How Do They Work?
Windows 10 notifications appear in the lower right part of your screen. You will find it here:
It is here that you receive notifications about installed apps, Windows system, and Cortana. Though this can be useful it can also become quite the annoyance. You don’t necessarily want to be notified about everything your apps want to throw at you. I have mine turned off and don’t miss them. Just like with your smartphone’s notifications if you don’t keep Windows 10 notifications under control they can become distracting if not overwhelming.
How To Bring Windows 10 Notifications Under Control
To get to your notification settings:
- Click “Start”.
- Click the gear icon to open your settings.
- Choose “System”.
- Click “Notifications & actions”.
To adjust your notification settings:
This part of your settings has three sections.
- Quick actions
- Notifications
- Get notifications from these senders
Quick Actions
Your quick actions are the buttons you see when you check your notifications.
Quick actions are exactly what they sound like. They are actions that you take quickly by hitting a button. Adjust what you want to see there and click “Edit your quick actions”.
You will see the ones that are already pinned there. Click the pin picture of the ones that you no longer want there. Click “Add” to add quick actions that you want. Click “Done” when you are finished.
Notifications
Here you can turn notifications from apps and other senders completely off or on. I have mine turned off but you might find yours useful.
You can also change your focus assist settings to control when you do and don’t want to receive notifications.
This is pretty useful in bringing your notifications under control. Here is how to use it.
- From your notifications settings click “Focus assist settings”.
- Choose which notifications you want to get.
- Set any automatic rules you like.
- If you want to see a summary of notifications you missed while Assist was running make sure you put a check mark by this option:
Get Notifications from These Senders
This setting is back in your Notifications & Actions settings. From here pick and choose the apps that you want to receive notifications from. If you elected not to receive notifications from apps as I did then this option should be unavailable to change.
Hopefully tweaking these settings will help take some annoyance and interruption out of your digital life. Though Windows 10 notifications can be useful I ended up opting not to receive them from my apps and other senders. Here’s to a slightly less distracting Windows experience.
Do you get too many notifications in Windows 10? If you follow the steps in this basic guide let me know how it worked out for you.
Tech on and have the best day.