HOW TO Manage notifications

1

THE FUNDAMENTALS Choose Apple > System Preferences. At the top right of the new window, click the Notifications icon. Scroll through the list of apps until you find the one whose notifications you want to change. Click on its name to select.

2

BANNER OR ALERT To the right, set how notifications from this app will behave. A banner disappears after a few seconds. An alert stays on screen until you dismiss it yourself. Pick None to stop the app using this method of notification.

3

TO PREVIEW OR NOT… Check the options above. If you choose to allow notifications to appear when your Mac is locked, consider whether you want to allow previews to be displayed. You can choose to allow them only when your Mac is unlocked.

4

SOUND NOTIFICATIONS In addition to, or instead of, popping up on screen, you can have notifications appear in Notification Centre, so you choose when to view them. You may also want to turn off audio alerts, especially if you work near other people.

5

NOTIFICATION CENTRE To see older notifications, click the list–like icon at the far right of the menu bar, then Notifications tab. They’re listed chronologically by default. You can select another sort order at the bottom of System Prefs’ Notifications pane.

6

LIMIT MAIL INTRUSIONS In Mail, you can limit notifications to be from just the people you designate as VIPs (see Genius Tip, top left). In Mail > Preferences > General, select VIPs from the pop–up menu labelled “New message notifications”.

7

SAFARI PREFERENCES Websites viewed in Safari can send you notifications about new content. To manage these, switch to the browser and pick Safari > Preferences. Click the Websites tab and then Notifications in the list on the left.

8

TAILOR SITE SETTINGS You’ll see a list of sites that have already asked for permission to display notifications. Set each one’s menu to Allow or Deny. To stop unlisted sites from asking in the first place, uncheck the bottom box.