4 Proven Ways to Quickly Mute Notifications on Mac

Notifications come in one after another while you are working. Sounds really annoying, right? If you are trying to focus on some work but get interrupted by notification sounds, it's necessary to turn off the notifications on your Mac for better work efficiency. This post will introduce four effective ways to quickly mute notifications on Mac, including the new feature, Focus mode, that came with macOS Monterey. 

How to mute notifications on Mac using Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb is the easiest way to silence calls, notifications, and alerts from your Mac models, iPhones, and iPads. Here's how you can set it up.

Step 1. Click on the Control Center on the Apple menu.

Step 2. Turn on Do Not Disturb by clicking the moon sign. For those who can't see the moon icon, go to System Preferences… > Dock & Menu Bar > Show in Menu Bar. Then the moon sign should appear.

By default, the Do Not Disturb function will be turned off 24 hours after the time you enable it. You can adjust the time to I hour.

How to mute notifications on Mac using the Focus mode

Focus is one remarkable feature that's introduced in the latest version of macOS Monterey. It's similar to the original 'Do Not Disturb' tool, but it moves one step ahead in terms of flexibility. With this tool, you can easily silence annoying notifications on your Mac. Keep on reading to know how.

Step 1. Go to the Apple icon to open the System Preferences… panel. Click on the Notifications & Focus option.

Step 2. You should see two columns, Notifications, and Focus. Choose Focus.

Step 3. Multiple options can be customized in this panel. Let's start with the left column under Do Not Disturb. Click on the plus button to add your status, let's say, gaming, working, reading, and so on. Therefore, you can set up notifications for specific scenarios.

Step 4. Now you can decide whom you want to get notifications from. Under Allowed Notifications From, you can add or remove contacts on your Mac to unmute or mute notifications from them. The same applies to specific apps. You can allow notifications from certain apps or mute them.

Step 5. Click on Options… to further tailor-made your notification settings. For example, you can allow or disallow notifications on special occasions, such as time-sensitive notifications and repeated calls.

Step 6. Under Turn On Automatically, you can decide to automatically turn on/off the Focus mode based on time, location, and app by clicking on the add or remove button.  

To make it even more user-friendly, Apple offers you the chance to share focus status with people who try to reach you while you are in Focus mode. Meanwhile, thanks to the Apple ecosystem, you can apply the same Focus settings to your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch by checking the Share across devices option.

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How to mute notifications on Mac using the Notification center

If one app is continuously bothering you, you can silence notifications from the app in the Mac Notification Center with quick steps.

Step 1. Click on the Notification center in the top-right corner of your screen.

Step 2. A list of notifications from various apps should appear. Right-click on the application that you want to silence.

Step 3. You can choose Mute for 1 hour, Mute for today, or Turn off completely.

How to mute notifications on Mac using System Preferences

If you want to mute notifications from a particular application, you can completely disable alerts for a program in System Preferences.

Step 1. Go to the Apple icon to open the System Preferences… panel. Click on the Notifications & Focus option.

Step 2. You can see two columns, Notifications, and Focus. Choose Notifications this time.

Step 3. A list of apps will show up in the left column. Find out which application you want to mute and click on it. Toggle off Allow Notifications at the right column to finish.

Besides turning off the notifications as a whole, there are a lot more to be customized. For example, the alert style, the notification sound, and more.

Now you know how to mute notifications with four feasible ways, why not share them with more people?