Notifications can be a bother and a distraction to your workflow. Here is how to disable notifications in Windows 11.
No matter who you are, one of the biggest things in this connected world is notifications, Windows is no different. Almost everything on your computer, from installed applications to websites to running applications, can display notifications whenever they want. Considering how every app wants your attention, whether the information is important or useless, you will get a notification for everything. For example, receiving a notification from your email client regarding an important email is helpful. However, a notification for discount sales? Not so much.
While the notifications are pretty helpful, especially when you need real-time information, they can also be a distraction and a big hindrance to your workflow. This is especially true if you just plain dislike any and all notifications.
Thankfully, on Windows 11, you can disable all notifications or notifications from specific apps using the Settings app. In this quick and easy guide, let me show you the steps to turn off all notifications or notifications from specific apps. Let’s get started.
Quick navigation links:
Disable All Notifications in Windows 11
You can turn off or disable all notifications in Windows 11 using the Settings app. All it takes is modifying a single option. Here’s how:
- Open the Start menu.
- Search and open Windows 11 “Settings“.
- Select “System” on the sidebar.
- Click “Notifications” on the main panel.
- Turn OFF the “Notifications” option.
- Close the Settings app.
- With that, you’ve successfully disabled all notifications in Windows 11.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
As I said earlier, you can turn off Windows 11 notifications from the Settings app. So, the first thing to do is open it. To open it, search for it in the Start menu or press the “Start key + I” shortcut on your keyboard. Alternatively, click the Volume or Network icon on the taskbar and then click the “Settings” icon in the Quick Settings panel.
After opening the Settings app, go to the “System” tab on the sidebar. As the section name suggests, most system-specific settings are available in this category. Once you’re here, click the “Notifications” option on the right panel.
On the right page, turn OFF the “Notifications” toggle. This action will turn off notifications from all applications in Windows 11. You can now close the Settings app.
That is it. From now on, you will not see notifications from apps that respect the Notification settings.
Important note: Even after being disabled, apps might still show notifications via their own custom functionality. For example, my Bitdefender antivirus shows occasional notifications and reminders in a custom dialog. In those cases, you might need to disable the notifications in the application’s Settings page.
Disable Notifications from Specific Apps in Windows 11
If you don’t want to turn off all notifications, but only for a specific app, you can do that in Windows 11. For example, you might still like to receive email, Slack, or Teams notifications, but not want to be bothered with notifications about games or weather. Here is how to do it in Windows 11.
- Open Windows 11 Settings.
- Click “System” on the sidebar.
- Select “Notifications” on the right panel.
- Find the app under the “Notifications from apps and other senders” section.
- Turn OFF the toggle next to the app name.
- With that, you have disabled notifications from that specific app.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
As always, the first step is to open the Settings app. You can either press the “Windows key + I” or right-click the Start button on the taskbar and select the “Settings” option. Once it opens, go to the “System” tab on the left sidebar and select “Notifications” on the right panel.
Now, scroll down and find the app you want to block from sending notifications under the “Notifications from apps and other senders” section. By default, the apps are ordered by “Most recent.” If needed, you can change the sorting to “By name” to make it easy to find the app.
Next, turn OFF the toggle next to the app name. For example, I don’t want to see notifications from the Microsoft Store. So, I turned it off.
If you have more apps you don’t want to receive notifications from, repeat the last steps for each app.
Once done, you can now close the Settings app. From now on, Windows will automatically block all notifications from those specific apps. All other notifications will appear normally.
Note: If you cannot find an app in this list, it is not registered with Windows 11 for sending notifications. It might be using custom methods or functionality to display notifications. In that case, you have to use the app’s settings page to disable notifications from that app.
That is all. It is that simple to block or turn off notifications from a specific app in Windows 11.
Enable Notifications in Windows 11
Just as you can turn off notifications, you can turn them on entirely or per app. Here is how to do it.
- Press “Windows key + I” to open the Settings app.
- Go to the “System” > “Notifications” page.
- Turn ON the “Notifications” toggle to turn on all notifications.
- To turn on a specific app, find the app under the “Notifications from apps and other senders” section and enable it.
- With that, you have enabled notifications in Windows 11.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
Launch the Windows 11 Settings app by pressing the “Windows key + I” keyboard shortcut.
Next, go to “System” on the sidebar and click the “Notifications” option on the right panel.
Here, turn ON the “Notifications” toggle to enable all notifications. To turn on notifications for a specific app, find the app in the “Notifications from apps and other senders” section and enable it.
After that, close the settings app. From now on, Windows 11 will show notifications from all allowed apps. As I said earlier, if you cannot find an app under the “Notifications from apps” list, it might be using a custom functionality to show notifications. In that case, you don’t have to do anything to see notifications from that application.
That is all. It is that simple to disable app notifications in Windows 11. If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
