How to Turn Off Teams Notifications and Set Quiet Hours

To turn off Teams notifications, open Settings → Notifications and activity in Teams on your computer and switch off the alerts you don't need, then mute the busiest chats and channels. Use Do not disturb for focus time, and set quiet hours in the Teams app on your phone so nothing buzzes in the evening. Messages still arrive; Teams just stops interrupting.

Why turn down Teams notifications

Teams is built for quick replies, so every message tries to get your attention right away. A pop-up, a sound and a red badge for each message add up over the day.

Most chat messages don't need an answer in the same minute. Fewer notifications let you check Teams in rounds, the same way you check email.

Turn off Teams notifications on your computer

In Teams, select Settings and more (…) next to your profile picture, then Settings.
Choose Notifications and activity.
Turn off the notification types you don't need, such as reactions and likes.
Turn off the notification sound if it's on.
Keep notifications on for direct mentions (@your name) if your role needs quick answers.

Teams on Windows also uses the system notifications. To stop the banners completely, go to Windows Settings → System → Notifications and turn off Microsoft Teams. On a Mac: System Settings → Notifications → Microsoft Teams.

Mute busy chats and channels

Group chats and busy channels cause most of the noise. Muting them is quicker than changing every setting.

Mute a chat: hover over the chat in the list, select More options (…), then Mute. The chat stays visible, but it stops sending notifications.
Channel notifications: hover over the channel, select More options (…) → Channel notifications, then choose Off or set only the alerts you want, such as replies to your own posts.
Hide a channel: if you never read it, hide it from the list. You can show it again any time.

Use Do not disturb for focus time

Do not disturb silences notifications until you change your status back.

Select your profile picture at the top of Teams.
Select your current status, then Do not disturb.
To set an end time, choose the option for how long the status should last, if it's offered.

If a few people must always be able to reach you, such as your manager, look for Priority access in the Teams privacy settings and add them there.

Set quiet hours on your phone

The Teams app on your phone has its own settings, separate from the desktop app.

Open the Teams app and select your profile picture.
Go to Settings → Notifications.
Choose Quiet time (also called Quiet hours in some versions).
Turn on daily quiet hours and set your evening times.
Turn on quiet days for the weekend, if you don't work then.

Your phone's own Focus or Do Not Disturb mode can also silence Teams outside work hours.

Tell your team what to expect

Quieter notifications work best when colleagues know how to reach you for something urgent. A short message helps:

Write a short, friendly message to [team] explaining that Teams is checked at [times, e.g. 10:00, 1:00 and 4:00]. For anything urgent, the best way to reach out is [a call / an @mention / another channel]. Keep it under 70 words.

Use the AI tool your employer has approved. In public tools, remove names, numbers and anything confidential. Read every draft before you send it.

Common mistakes

Turning off everything, including mentions. If your role needs quick answers, keep @mentions on and mute the rest.
Forgetting the phone. Desktop changes don't affect the Teams app on your phone. Set quiet hours there too.
Staying on Do not disturb all day. Colleagues may think you're unreachable. Use it for focus blocks, then switch back.

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The Calmer Inbox applies the same idea to email: a 15-minute morning routine, three settings that stop interruptions and 7 copy-paste AI prompts.

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