# How quickly are notifications sent?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 5, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384 "2022-04-05T17:44:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ganncamp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ganncamp/32/106199_2.png) [@ganncamp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ganncamp)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/1 "2022-04-05T17:44:37Z")

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Hi,

How quickly after posting are notifications sent? I just posted publicly something that was meant to be a whisper (no clue how I managed that) & then immediately deleted the post. Did the user get an email with my not-for-public-consumption reply?

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### Author: ![itsbhanusharma](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/itsbhanusharma/32/180717_2.png) [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/2 "2022-04-05T17:52:13Z")

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There generally is a (configurable) delay between a mention being made ane the notification being sent to prevent this kind of situation. Whether a notification was sent or not will depend upon the configured delay and the fact that the user was online or not.

Edit: the setting is called `email time window mins `

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### Author: ![Decorbuz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/decorbuz/32/235124_2.png) [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 5:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/3 "2022-04-05T17:55:20Z")

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On average, it seems to be a delay of about 15 minutes or less. I assume that’s the default setting?

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### Author: ![maiki](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/maiki/32/233950_2.png) [@maiki](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maiki)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/4 "2022-04-05T18:05:24Z")

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Oh snap, **email time**!

📧 ⏲

Ahem… I meant to say, “email time”, as in `/admin/site_settings/category/all_results?filter=email time`, will show you a couple of settings, the one @itsbhanusharma mentioned and another one for personal messages.

- `email time window mins`
- `personal email time window seconds`

Note: they are named “mins” and “seconds”. 🙂

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### Author: ![JammyDodger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jammydodger/32/254611_2.png) [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/5 "2022-04-05T18:08:52Z")

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I believe the default for `email time window mins` is 10 minutes:

> [@Notification levels - understanding and communicating category notification levels](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-levels-understanding-and-communicating-category-notification-levels/204073/5):
>
> (Emails are only sent if none of your web browsers have touched the website in the last 10 minutes.)

And, just to be thorough, the default for `personal email time window seconds` is 20 seconds. 🙂

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### Author: ![ganncamp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ganncamp/32/106199_2.png) [@ganncamp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ganncamp)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/6 "2022-04-05T18:09:30Z")

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Thanks y’all! Fortunately, our settings are still at the defaults:

 ![Selection_088](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/e/8/e82a8fb4768b0f8f0961f49371e78923142546c8.png)

whew!

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### Author: ![Decorbuz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/decorbuz/32/235124_2.png) [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/7 "2022-04-05T18:14:59Z")

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> [@JammyDodger](#):
>
> I believe the default for `email time window mins` is 10 minutes:

Ah, so I was _mostly_ correct… 😁

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### Author: ![itsbhanusharma](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/itsbhanusharma/32/180717_2.png) [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/8 "2022-04-06T02:22:57Z")

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You were off by 5 minutes (50%) which is due to the fact that email processing and delivery takes anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes these days. In some exceptional cases it could be hours before an email arrives.

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### Author: ![Decorbuz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/decorbuz/32/235124_2.png) [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/9 "2022-04-06T14:16:24Z")

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> [@itsbhanusharma](#):
>
> You were off by 5 minutes (50%)

In my defense, I did say “15 minutes _or less_” in my reply… 😉

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### Author: ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/system/32/443519_2.png) [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-quickly-are-notifications-sent/223384/10 "2022-05-06T14:16:38Z")

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