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How to Quickly Mute Annoying Notifications on Mac

Dec 1, 2020

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Sometimes you need to take a breather from an app’s notifications. Instead of turning off app notifications only to forget about them later, here’s how you can quickly mute or unmute annoying notifications on Mac using the Deliver Quietly feature.

Mac users who are running macOS Big Sur and higher have access to Notification Center features like grouped notifications and notification management options. One of which is the Deliver Quietly feature. The namesake feature from iPhone and iPad works in the same way on your Mac.

When enabled, new notifications from the app will go quietly to the Notification Center, ready for you when you are. You won’t see banners and the notification won’t make a sound.

How to Quickly Mute App Notifications on Mac

You can use the Deliver Quietly feature directly from the Notification Center. When you receive a notification from an app that you want to temporarily (or permanently) mute, right-click the notification and choose the “Deliver Quietly” option.

Now, the app won’t bother you with new notifications.

You can also enable this feature for any app that has notifications in the Notification Center. Click the date and time from the menu bar to open Notification Center.

Find an app you want to mute, right-click the notification, and choose the “Deliver Quietly” feature.

Now, the app’s notifications will directly go to Notification Center and won’t bother you when you’re working on your Mac.

How to Quickly Unmute App Notifications on Mac

Unlike the Do Not Disturb feature, you can’t mute specific app notifications for a couple of hours. But as long as the notification is still in the Notification Center, it’s possible to quickly unmute the app’s notifications using the Deliver Prominently feature.

To do this, open “Notification Center” by clicking the date and time from the menu bar.

Then, find the app where you want to unmute notifications, right-click, and choose the “Deliver Prominently” option.

Now, the notifications will go back to the default setting, with new notifications coming in as banners in the top-right corner of the screen.

How to Unmute App Notifications from System Preferences

You can only unmute app notifications from the Notification Center. But what if you have cleared all notifications? No need to worry, you can unmute app notifications from System Preferences.

Click the “Apple” icon from the menu bar and choose the “System Preferences” option.

Here, go to the “Notifications” section.

Now, from the sidebar, choose the app you want to unmute. You’ll now see notification settings like the screenshot below.

Sadly, there’s no one-click option to unmute the app’s notifications. Instead, you’ll have to do this manually. First, choose the “Banners” option from the “Alert Style” section.

Then, click the checkmark next to the “Show Notifications on Lock Screen” and “Play Sound for Notifications” option to go back to the default behavior.

Now that you have muted annoying app notifications, use these seven Mac tweaks to increase your productivity even further.

RELATED: 7 macOS Tweaks to Boost Your Productivity