Notifications

When a colleague mentions you, assigns you a task, comments on one you are watching, or a reminder comes due, it reaches you in three places: the bell in the top bar for a quick look, the Inbox window for working through them, and your email for the ones that matter most. This article covers all three, and the preferences under My Profile that shape them.

What you are notified about

Today notifications come from Tasks. The people on a task hear about what happens to it: its creator, its assignee, anyone who commented on it or was mentioned in it, and anyone who chose to watch it. See Watching in The Task Window for who is on a task and how to stop following one.

The Bell

The bell in the top bar is a peek at what is unread, newest first. Its red badge counts only the notifications that need you (mentions, assignments, reminders and tasks that are no longer blocked), so a comment on a task you are merely watching is in the list without lighting it.

Each row says who did what (the colleague's avatar with the kind of notification in its corner, or an alarm for a reminder), the task's number and name, the first line of the comment, when the task is due, and how long ago it happened.

Read a Notification

Clicking a row takes you to the task and marks the notification read.

Steps:

1. Click the bell to open it.
2. Click a row. The task opens in its window. A notification about a comment lands the thread on that comment.

Result: Every notification about that task is marked read at once: one task, one line of the queue. Mark all read clears the lot, and Load older fetches earlier ones. Open inbox opens the window described next, and the cog opens your notification preferences.

The Inbox

The Inbox is where notifications are worked through rather than glanced at: a window you can bring to empty. Open it from the bell's Open inbox or the Inbox button on the Tasks page. It has three tabs: Unread and Snoozed, each with its count, and All, the last 90 days including what you have read. Under them is a row of type filters that combine. Click Mentions and Reminders to see only those.

Notifications about the same task are grouped into one row that says and N more. An action on the row applies to all of them. Notifications are kept for 90 days after they arrive or wake. The task's own Activity thread is the permanent record.

Kinds of Notification

What each label means, which light the bell's badge, and which are also emailed.

Act on a Notification

Each row carries the same five actions. Hover one for its name.

Snooze a Notification

Make a notification disappear until you can deal with it.

Steps:

1. Click the alarm on a row.
2. Pick +1 hour, Tomorrow, +3 work days, Friday or Monday (the same choices as a task's due date, resolved against your working hours), or enter a date and time and click Snooze. A snooze can be up to 30 days.

Result: The row leaves the bell and the Unread tab and waits on the Snoozed tab, soonest first, where Wake now brings it back early. When its time comes it returns to the top of your queue marked Snoozed until now, and lights the badge again if it did the first time.

Deal with Several at Once

Tick rows to act on them together.

Steps:

1. Tick the box on each row. A bar appears above the list saying how many are selected.
2. Click Mark read or Snooze to apply to all of them, or Clear to drop the selection. Nothing is ever deleted.

Keyboard Shortcuts

With the Inbox window in front, the keyboard works through the list.

Notification Preferences

Under My Profile › Notifications, the Tasks section holds four settings, saved with the profile's Save button. The cog on the bell and in the Inbox is a shortcut to it. Times here are in your profile's time zone; set that on the General tab.

Set Your Preferences

What each setting controls.

Related Topics

• Tasks
• The Task Window
• Tasks from a Conversation
• My Profile