# Notifications Primer
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439
**Category:** General
**Created:** [May 30, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439 "2022-05-30T13:28:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hellekin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hellekin)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439/1 "2022-05-30T13:28:19Z")
Here is an overview of how notifications work in 2022?
_This is a wiki: you’re welcome to contribute to it!_
# Overview
_This section should clarify what notifications are, and why we receive them._
## What are notifications?
The [Discourse New User Tips and Tricks](https://blog.discourse.org/2016/12/discourse-new-user-tips-and-tricks/) from 2016 introduced **Notifications** as:
> When someone is **talking directly to you** – by replying to you, quoting your post, mentioning your `@username`, or even linking to your post, a number will immediately appear over your profile picture at the top right. Select it to access your **notifications**.
>
> 
>
> Don’t worry about missing a reply – you’ll be emailed any notifications that arrive when you are away.
In 2022, it remains mostly true, except that notification preferences evolved a bit, and this succinct introduction may be missing some context that appeared in the mean time.
## When do notifications happen?
Notifications happen in various circumstances:
- you are mentioned by `@name`
- you are following a topic and a new reply comes in
- one of your groups is mentioned by `@group_name` and its notification settings are `tracking` or `watching`
- (maybe other cases?)
## Email or Web?
By default, you will receive notifications by email if you are _not present on the Web interface_, which means you have not had an active tab in the last 5 minutes. (To be confirmed…)
# Notification Settings
You may choose, from your preferences, a number of notification options:
_Please detail what they all mean!_
# Frequently Answered Questions
## What gets into email?
Depending on the site settings (_which?_), you may receive whole or part notifications (_probably needs better wording and details regarding privacy settings on the one hand, and summary emails on the other_).
## Where to get “unread” with Muted categories by default (to ensure possible discovery of unseen categories)?
_This is an **original question** that the OP would like answered!_
# Notification Tips
This section should answer advanced topics to make good use of notifications. Possibly linking to other topics. For example:
- How to mix and match default category notifications and default group notifications? _This is an **original question** that the OP would like answered!_
- What strategies to provide a small, welcoming forum, and enable participants to engage on their own terms given their availability vs. get all and mute as you go. _This is an **original question** that the OP would like answered!_
Some of these points overlap but I could not find a summary of the state of the art since the default change to `default_categories_muted`, and people start complaining they’re missing content too much…
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### Author:  [@JimPas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JimPas)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439/2 "2022-06-01T05:24:53Z")
> [@hellekin](#):
>
> Would it be possible to turn this post into an overview of how notifications work in 2022?
What about turning this post into a Wiki. You can then add/change content for each of your questions you’ve listed.
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### Author:  [@hellekin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hellekin)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2022, 6:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439/3 "2022-06-01T06:15:57Z")
I wish I could turn the post into a wiki 🙂
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### Author:  [@JimPas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JimPas)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2022, 6:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439/4 "2022-06-01T06:22:56Z")
When you click on the `...` at the bottom of your first post, does the option to make the post a wiki show? If not, it may be a TL thing.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2022, 6:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439/5 "2022-06-01T06:26:40Z")
We’re on the default ‘TL3 Regular can make wiki posts’ here on Meta, though I have flipped the OP into a wiki now so people can dive in and build a Notification Primer. 👍🙂
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### Author:  [@hellekin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hellekin)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notifications-primer/228439/6 "2022-06-06T17:39:55Z")
I bootstrapped the wiki a bit so more knowledgeable others can chime in and eventually turn it into a nice documentation page 🙂