Six things to know about notifications in Microsoft Teams

1. Notification settings are under your profile

Access notification settings by selecting your profile picture in the top right corner of Teams, then Settings > Notifications.

2. Notification sounds can be on or off

To choose if a sound plays with each new notification, select your profile picture at the top right corner of Teams, then Settings > Notifications > toggle off/on.

In this state, notification sounds are on.

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.

4. There are four 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.

Then there's Chat

This is where your group and one-on-one conversations happen. As you receive multiple messages, we’ll keep a count of them for you.

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.

Email

If you want to use email to stay on top of Teams conversations as they happen, use the missed activity email. You choose how often you get them. If you want a summary of the day’s activity, use the digest email. You'll get this email at the beginning of each day.

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, go to More in the top left corner of the mobile app > Notifications > 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 per channel, too

When you get added to a team, we’ll automatically show the three most active channels in that team. These channels will send you notifications when someone @mentions the channel. To also get notified for all new conversations and replies, select More options … > Channel notifications, or go to notification settings, and under Shown channels select Edit.