If you use Windows 10, you will receive quite a lot of notifications from the operating system, they can easily get in the way. Luckily, you can set whether and how many notifications you want to receive from Windows, your programs, and your apps.
How to reduce your notifications at Windows 10
First, you can use the settings of Windows 10 to determine which programs and apps you want to receive notifications from. To do this, open the “Settings” window with WINDOWS+I and click on the “System” button in this window. In the left column, you will find the menu item “Notifications and Actions”. Here, you can either switch off all notifications or use the different sliders next to each program to choose which ones you want to receive messages from and which ones you don’t.
If you want to control which apps can or can’t show you notifications, you need to turn on the option “Get notifications from apps and other senders” at the top.
You also have the choice between the following options:
- Show notifications on the lock screen: Now your notifications will also appear on your lock screen before you log in. You should only select this option if you agree that others can also see your messages. For example, in Outlook, you can set whether you also want to see notifications about new emails on the lock screen.
- Reminders and incoming VoIP calls: This option allows you to display your calls via a Voice-over-IP provider (e.g. Skype) on the lock screen.
- Windows Welcome Experience: This option can show you notifications when Windows 10 has received new features through an update.
- Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows: You can also decide whether you want to receive tips and tricks for using Windows 10.
The notifications of individual apps from Windows 10 to adjust
If you want to customize the type or number of notifications from a specific app, that’s also possible. To do this, click on an app that is allowed to show you notifications in the “Notifications and actions” window of the PC settings. Here, you can decide whether the app can only show you “Alerts” or only “Priority” notifications, and at what time or under what other criteria an app is not allowed to show you notifications, for example, while you are watching a video or playing a game in full-screen mode.
If you choose not to view notifications, you can still access them. To do this, open the notification center at the bottom right of the taskbar. The icon looks like a speech bubble. Here, Windows 10 presents all notifications to you.
Quick Start Guide: How to Control Notifications from Windows 10
- Open the Windows settings with WINDOWS+I.
- You can switch off all notifications using the “Get notifications from apps and other senders” toggle. If you leave this feature enabled, you can customize which programs are allowed to show you notifications.
For an app that is allowed to show you notifications, you can double-click to customize what those notifications look like and when they are allowed to appear.
