# Unread dot indicator

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/unread-dot-indicator/384457
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 1, 2025, 11:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/unread-dot-indicator/384457 "2025-10-01T11:17:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2025, 11:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/unread-dot-indicator/384457/3 "2025-10-01T11:40:21Z")

</div>

Hey @Dalok, welcome to Meta 👋

Please use [try.discourse.org](http://try.discourse.org) for testing next time.

Is there a specific unread indicator you are interested in? On topic lists like `/latest` there is the small dot for new topics and the dot with the number of new posts on topics you have already looked at. And there is also a dot in the sidebar next to the category and “Topics”.

By default, new topics are those created in the past 2 days. You can change that in your [preferences](https://meta.discourse.org/my/preferences/tracking) with the “consider topics new when” setting.

You will see a count with the number of unread posts on topics you are tracking or watching. At the same place where you can configure how long topics are new, you can also choose when you will track topics based on your reading and posting behavior. You can also watch/track topics in specific categories or with specific tags by default and manually change the notification levels of each topic.

Some time ago there was also a short explanation on the `/new` and `/unread` pages. Maybe that’s also helpful for you.

> [@Where do new users learn about how new and unread work now?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-do-new-users-learn-about-how-new-and-unread-work-now/372625/1):
>
> ![Screenshot_20250620_232942_Firefox](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/1/d/3/1d3c0d29041c0d3123e447bb8c967a6987183421.jpeg)  
> ![Screenshot_20250620_232957_Firefox](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/6/5/a/65a3797d9d20a4befa3361e1cfe84468b2aef277.jpeg)

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/unread-dot-indicator/384457)._