How to Use Do Not Disturb on a Mac

We are all aware of the potential loss of information. They can distract from important work or cause embarrassment during phone calls. Sometimes we just want to switch off and focus on one thing. Fortunately, macOS has a simple solution to unwanted notifications.

Read: How to Factory Reset Your MacBook or iMac

In this guide, we will show you how to use Do Not Disturb Mode to temporarily turn off notifications on your Mac.

What Do Not Disturb Does

While you can control notifications to an extent in macOS, Do Not Disturb is the nuclear option. This is the best option when you want to turn off all notifications completely.

When Do Not Disturb is activated, notifications do not appear on the screen. You won’t even hear notification sound alerts. Apps will still send notifications and you can still see them in Notification Center, but banner notifications won’t appear and alert notifications will only appear if you turn Do Not Disturb off again.

There are three ways to use Do Not Disturb:

•     as on/off switch
•     for the immediate period
•     on the calendar

How to Turn Do Not Disturb On and Off

The release of macOS Big Sur introduced several ways to interact with Do Not Disturb via the menu bar. Which option you use depends on your preferences and how you have configured your configuration.

Using Control Center

• Open Control Center by clicking its icon in the menu bar.
• Click the Do Not Disturb icon to turn it on and off. You only have to click on the moon-shaped icon, nowhere else in the panel.

Using the Do Not Disturb Menu Bar Icon

• Click on the Do Not Disturb icon in the menu bar.
• Click Always On.
• If your Mac displays a Do Not Disturb icon, it will appear bright white when you turn on Do Not Disturb and gray otherwise.

 The menu bar does not display the Do Not Disturb icon if you configure it as follows:

• Access the Dock and Menu Bar in System Preferences.
• Click on the Do Not Disturb section in the sidebar.
• Select the Show in Menu Bar check box.

Using the Clock

• Hold down Option and click the date or time in your menu bar.
• This will turn Do Not Disturb on and off.

Use Do Not Disturb for a Short Period of Time

Click the Do Not Disturb menu bar icon or Control Center’s Do Not Disturb panel, but not the icon. Above Always On, you will see for 1 hour, till tonight and also till tomorrow.

Selecting one of them will activate Do Not Disturb immediately. It will then automatically shut down at the appropriate time.

How to Schedule Do Not Disturb

• Open System Preferences.
• Click Notifications.
• With Do Not Disturb selected in the sidebar, choose a duration. For example, from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am. During this, macOS will turn on Do Not Disturb.

In addition, you can configure other situations in which Do Not Disturb should be activated automatically. These include when your screen is sleeping, locked, or mirrored.

You can choose to continue receiving call notifications even when Do Not Disturb is on.

Stop macOS Notifications That Keep You From Concentrating

Do Not Disturb is a small feature, but it’s important if you’re using notifications. It helps to get into the habit of turning it on whenever you start a conference call or need to focus on your work.

Note that turning on Do Not Disturb on your Mac does not affect notifications on the iPhone. If you have one, it will continue to show notifications. You can also use the related Do Not Disturb feature in iOS to turn them off.