Change Notifications preferences on Mac
On your Mac, use Notifications System Preferences to specify when you don’t want to be disturbed by notifications, and to control how notifications are shown in Notification Center.
To change these preferences, choose Apple menu 
, then click Notifications. Select an app or website on the left, then view or change settings on the right. The options vary by app.
Open Notifications & Focus preferences for me
Option | Description |
|---|---|
List of apps and websites | Customize notifications for an app or website. To learn how to remove a website from the list, see Customize website notifications in Safari. |
Allow Notifications | Turn notifications on or off. When you turn notifications off, the alert style and other notification options are dimmed. |
Alert style | Select a notification style:
|
Allow critical alerts | Let apps send critical notifications. For example, when you select this option for the Home app, notifications for accessories such as smoke sensors or door locks are always shown, even when a Focus is on. |
Allow time sensitive alerts | Let apps send time-sensitive notifications. For example, when you select this option for the Calendar app, notifications for events that require your immediate attention are shown. To show these notifications when a Focus is on, you must also set the option for the Focus in Focus preferences. See Choose which notifications to allow. |
Show notifications on lock screen | When you wake your Mac from sleep, show notifications you received while it was in sleep in the login window. See Put your Mac to sleep or wake it. |
Show in Notification Center | List recent notifications in Notification Center. Notifications older than 7 days aren’t shown. |
Badge app icon | Let the app show the number of notifications on its icon in the Dock. For example, Calendar shows a badge on its icon when you receive invitations. |
Play sound for notifications | Let the app play notification sounds. |
Show previews | Show a preview in notifications for the app or website. For example, if you receive an email, a preview of the email is shown in the Mail notification.
Note: If you choose a setting from the “Show previews” pop-up menu at the bottom of the preference pane, it’s applied to all apps. |
Notification grouping | Choose whether and how notifications for the app or website are grouped in Notification Center:
|
Allow notifications | Pause or allow notifications when the display is in sleep, the screen is locked, or when you mirror or share the display (for example, when playing a presentation). |