Where Teams notifications live and how to reach them

Microsoft Teams sends notifications through three separate channels: your computer's system notifications (the pop-ups that appear on your screen), your notification center (where Teams stores a record of messages you missed), and your phone if you have the Teams app installed. To stop notifications, you need to know which one is bothering you, because turning off one does not turn off the others.

The fastest way to find your notification settings is to open Teams, click your profile picture in the top right corner, and select Settings. From there, click Notifications in the left sidebar. This is where you control most of what Teams sends you. But if you want to silence notifications right now without digging into settings, Teams also has a quick toggle: look for the bell icon near your profile picture, click it, and you can mute notifications for 20 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, or until you turn them back on.

Key Takeaways

  • Teams notifications come through three channels — screen pop-ups, your notification center, and your phone — and you control each one separately.
  • The notification settings page lets you turn off alerts for specific types of messages: chat, mentions, calls, and meeting reminders.
  • You can mute individual conversations or entire channels so they never send you notifications, even if you stay in them.
  • If you want Teams to stop interrupting you during work hours, set a focus time or do-not-disturb status so notifications still arrive but do not pop up on your screen.
  • Turning off notifications on your computer does not turn them off on your phone, so check both devices if you keep getting alerts.

Turn off notifications for specific message types

Inside the Notifications settings page, you will see a section called Notifications with toggles for different kinds of alerts. The main ones are Chat notifications, @mentions, Missed activity, Call notifications, and Meeting reminders. Each toggle controls whether Teams sends you an alert when that type of event happens. If you turn off Chat notifications, for example, you will not get a pop-up when someone sends you a message, but the message will still arrive in Teams and you will see it when you open the app.

Below each toggle, you will see options for Banner and sound, Banner only, or Off. Banner means a pop-up appears on your screen. Sound means Teams plays a noise. If you choose Banner and sound, you get both. If you choose Banner only, you see the pop-up but hear nothing. If you choose Off, nothing happens — no pop-up, no sound. Most people who want fewer interruptions choose Banner only for important messages like @mentions and calls, and Off for everything else.

Mute specific conversations and channels

You do not have to turn off all notifications to silence one person or one channel. Right-click on any conversation in your chat list or any channel name, and you will see a Mute option. Click it, and Teams will ask how long you want to mute it: 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, or until you turn it back on. While a conversation or channel is muted, messages will still arrive and you will still see them if you open Teams, but you will not get any notifications.

This is useful when a channel is busy but not urgent, or when a coworker sends you a lot of messages you do not need to see when ready. You can mute as many conversations as you want, and each one remembers its own mute setting. To unmute, right-click the conversation or channel again and select Unmute.

Stop notifications from appearing during work hours

If you want to keep notifications but prevent them from interrupting you, set a Focus time or change your status to Do not disturb. Click your profile picture, select Set a status, and choose Do not disturb. This tells Teams not to send you any notifications, but they will still pile up in your notification center so you can read them later. When you turn off do-not-disturb, you will see all the notifications you missed.

Focus time works differently: it is a calendar block that tells Teams you are busy, but notifications still come through quietly. To set focus time, click your calendar in Teams, find a time block, and mark it as Focus time. During that block, notifications will not pop up on your screen, but you will still hear sounds and see them in your notification center. This is better if you want to stay aware of urgent messages but not be interrupted by every chat.

Turn off notifications on your phone

If you have Teams installed on your phone, notifications there are controlled separately from your computer. Open the Teams app on your phone, tap your profile picture at the bottom right, tap Settings, then tap Notifications. You will see toggles for Chat notifications, Call notifications, Meeting reminders, and others. Turn off any toggle to stop that type of notification on your phone.

You can also control notification sounds and badges (the red number that appears on the Teams icon). If you want notifications to arrive but silently, turn off Sound and Vibration but leave the main toggle on. This is useful if you check your phone often but do not want Teams buzzing constantly. Remember that your phone settings are independent from your computer settings, so you may need to adjust both if you want the same behavior on each device.

Stop notifications from Teams meetings and calendar events

Meeting reminders are their own category. In your Notifications settings, find Meeting reminders and choose how much warning you want: 15 minutes before, 5 minutes before, or turn it off entirely. If you turn off meeting reminders, Teams will not alert you when a meeting is about to start, but the meeting will still show in your calendar and you can join whenever you are ready.

If you use Teams calendar integration, you can also control reminders through your calendar settings. Some people turn off Teams meeting reminders but keep their calendar reminders on, so they get one alert instead of two. This depends on whether you use Outlook calendar or another calendar app, so check your calendar settings if you are getting duplicate reminders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will people know I turned off notifications?

No. Turning off notifications only affects what you see and hear on your device. Other people cannot tell whether you have notifications on or off, and messages will still reach you normally — you just will not be alerted when they arrive. You will see them when you open Teams.

What is the difference between muting a conversation and turning off chat notifications?

Muting a specific conversation stops notifications only from that one person or channel. Turning off chat notifications stops all chat notifications across Teams. Mute a conversation when you want to silence one noisy channel but keep alerts from everyone else. Turn off chat notifications when you do not want any chat alerts at all.

If I turn off notifications on my computer, will they still come to my phone?

Yes. Computer and phone settings are completely separate. You can turn off all notifications on your computer and still get them on your phone, or vice versa. If you want to stop notifications everywhere, you need to turn them off on each device individually.

Can I turn off notifications for @mentions but keep them for direct messages?

Yes. In Notifications settings, you can control @mentions and chat notifications separately. Turn off @mentions and leave chat notifications on, and you will get alerts for direct messages but not for mentions in channels or group chats.

What happens to notifications I missed while do-not-disturb was on?

They stay in your notification center. When you turn off do-not-disturb, you will see all the notifications that arrived while it was on, organized by time and type. You can read through them or dismiss them all at once.