Applies to Windows 8, Windows RT

In this topic

How to manage notifications for Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging

There are many ways to see when you have new email, messages, calendar events, status updates, and Tweets. You have notifications in the upper-right corner, quick status and detailed status updates on the lock screen, and tiles on the Start screen. Here’s how you can customize how you're notified.

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Notifications (upper-right corner)

Notifications appear in the upper-right corner, and look like this:

Notification for a Calendar event

To change which notifications appear here

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Settings.)

  2. Tap or click Change PC settings.

  3. In Notifications, under Show notifications from these apps, set the app you want to On or Off.

To hide all notifications in this area

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Settings.)

  2. Tap or click Notifications.

  3. Tap or click the option for how long you want notifications hidden.

  4. If you want to turn them back on before the time period is over, tap or click Notifications again.

To change notifications for a specific account

Mail lets you manage notifications for each account. Here's how.

  1. On Start, tap or click Mail.

  2. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Settings.)

  3. Tap or click Accounts.

  4. Select the account you want to change notifications for.

  5. Set Show email notifications for this account to On or Off.

Quick updates and detailed status on the lock screen

Quick updates and detail status updates appear when you lock your PC, and look like this:

Detailed status and quick status updates on a lock screen

To change how you see quick status updates on the lock screen for Mail, Calendar, and Messaging

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Settings.)

  2. In Personalize, go to Lock screen apps, and do one the following:

    • To show the quick status, tap or click the plus sign plus icon, and then tap or click the app icon. This also allows the apps to run in the background, which makes sure they sync as often as you want them to.

    • To remove an app from the lock screen, tap or click the app icon, and then tap or click Don’t show quick status here or choose another app.

To change Calendar's event details on the lock screen

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Settings.)

  2. Tap or click Change PC settings.

  3. In Personalize, go to Lock screen apps, and under Choose an app to display detailed status, do one of the following:

    • To show the detailed status, tap or click the plus sign plus icon, and then tap or click the Calendar icon Calendar icon.

    • To remove an app from the lock screen, tap or click the app icon, and then tap or click Don’t show quick status here or choose another app.

Tiles on Start

Some apps can highlight content and show it to you on Start. Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging are all able to do this, and many other apps can, as well. Here's an example of a Start screen with several apps and pinned contacts showing updates:

Start screen with several tiles with updates

To change how an app updates on Start

  1. Swipe down on the tile or person's picture. If you’re using a mouse, right-click it.

  2. You can make the following changes:

    • Turn the live tile on or off.

    • Set the tile to be larger (more details) or smaller (fewer details).

To pin things to Start

When you pin things to Start, you can specific updates about that item. For example, you can select any person from People or any folder in Mail, and then watch new updates and messages come in.

  1. Open the app.

  2. Tap or click what you want to pin to Start.

  3. Swipe up from the bottom edge.
    (If you're using a mouse, right-click within the app.)

  4. Tap or click Pin to Start, change the name if you want, and then tap or click Pin to Start.