Teams notifications not working: how to fix it on Windows 11

Applies to: the new Microsoft Teams app on Windows 11 (work or school and personal accounts), with most Windows steps also valid on Windows 10. Classic Teams has been retired, so its old menus aren’t covered; our page on Teams classic and the switch to new Teams explains the change.

A Teams alert has to pass two gates before you see it. Teams decides whether an event deserves a banner, a feed entry or nothing at all, and Windows then decides whether to show that banner, play a sound or hold it back. The fixes below check both gates in the order that usually finds the problem fastest. If Teams can’t connect at all, messages won’t arrive in the first place, and our guide to Teams not connecting is the better starting point.

Match your symptom

What you see	Likely cause	Go to
No banners at all, even for the test notification	Teams is off in Windows notifications, or Do not disturb is on	Fix 3, Fix 4
Test notification works, but chats or mentions stay silent	A notification type in Teams is set to Off or feed only	Fix 1
Only one channel never alerts you	Channel notifications set to Activity only, or off	Fix 2
Alerts stop while you present or share a screen	Windows rule for duplicated displays, or a Teams status change	Fix 4, Fix 5
Alerts stop during calls and meetings	Teams setting for notifications during calls	Fix 1
Banners show up but make no sound	Teams or Windows sound setting for notifications	Fix 1, Fix 3
Alerts stop on a laptop running on battery	Battery saver or power settings	Fix 6
Settings are missing or can’t be changed	Policies on a managed work PC	Work or school PCs

Start with a test notification

Microsoft’s page Manage notifications in Microsoft Teams lists a Test notification button in the general notification settings. It’s the quickest way to tell which gate is closed.

1. In Teams, select Settings and more (the three dots next to your profile picture), then Settings.
2. Open Notifications and activity.
3. Select Test notification and watch the corner of the screen.

If the test banner appears, Windows is letting Teams through, and the problem is how Teams treats particular chats, channels or meetings: go to Fix 1 and Fix 2. If nothing appears, start with Fix 3 and Fix 4, because Windows is most likely holding banners back. The test can’t tell you about channels you haven’t set to alert you, so a successful test doesn’t rule out Fix 2.

Fix 1: Check Teams notification settings

All of these options are under Settings > Notifications and activity in Teams. Microsoft’s notification page names the following sections; work through them from the top.

• General: make sure Mute all notifications (except for calls and meetings) is off. Microsoft notes this option is for Windows. In the same section, Play sounds with notifications controls sound, and Show notifications during calls and meetings decides whether banners appear while you’re in a call. If alerts vanish only during meetings, this is the setting to check.
• Chats and channels: each notification type has its own drop-down list. Any type set to Off won’t alert you at all. Choose an option that includes a banner for the types you care about, such as mentions and chat messages.
• Meetings and Calendar: meeting start notifications and the meeting join bar live here, along with meeting chat alerts. Calendar alerts also have their own drop-down lists, any of which can be set to Off.
• Sound: you can pick a sound per notification type. Microsoft says custom sounds work only in Teams for Windows and on the web.
• Display: sets where banners appear on the screen and whether previews are Comfy or Compact. This doesn’t turn alerts off, but a banner in an unexpected corner is easy to miss on a large or second monitor.
• Missed activity emails: Teams can email you about activity you missed. Choosing a frequency here is a useful backup while you troubleshoot, though it isn’t a fix in itself.

You can also reach these settings from the feed: in Activity, select More options and then Notification settings. App notifications, from bots and connected apps, only show up in settings after you’ve received the first one, so a missing entry for an app isn’t a fault.

Fix 2: Turn on notifications for the channel

Channels don’t alert you about every post by default, which is a likely reason one busy channel seems to stay silent. Microsoft documents a per-channel setting for this:

1. In Teams, hover over the channel in your list.
2. Select More options (the three dots) and then Channel notifications.
3. Choose Activity and banner to get pop-up alerts. Activity alone only adds entries to your feed, with no banner.
4. If your channels use the Threads layout, Microsoft lists Include thread replies and Follow all new threads options here as well.

For a single conversation you want to keep an eye on, follow the thread rather than the whole channel: use Follow on the post, or More options > Follow thread. Followed threads appear under Followed threads at the top of your chat and channel list, according to Microsoft’s page.

Fix 3: Allow Teams in Windows notification settings

If even the test notification doesn’t appear, Windows may be blocking Teams. Microsoft’s page Notifications and Do Not Disturb in Windows describes the controls.

1. Open Start > Settings > System > Notifications.
2. Make sure the main Notifications switch at the top is on.
3. Under Notifications from apps and other senders, find Microsoft Teams and turn it on.
4. Select Teams to open its options. Turn on Show notification banners and Play a sound. Show notifications in notification center keeps alerts you missed so you can read them later.
5. If you want Teams alerts to stand out, set Priority of notifications to High or Top. Microsoft notes only one app can be Top.

The notification center, opened with Windows key + N or from the clock on the taskbar, lets you turn off every alert from one app through that app’s more button. If someone once silenced Teams there by accident, it shows up as switched off on the Settings page above, so turning it back on there undoes it.

If Teams doesn’t appear in the list of apps, it hasn’t registered for notifications yet. Use the test notification in Teams once and check the list again; this is our suggestion rather than a step from Microsoft’s page.

Fix 4: Do not disturb and Focus in Windows

Windows Do not disturb holds back banners from every app, Teams included, so they go straight to the notification center without popping up. Microsoft’s page says it can be turned on by hand, automatically by rules, or through Focus.

• Turn it off by hand: open the notification center with Windows key + N and select the bell icon marked zZ.
• Check the automatic rules: in Settings > System > Notifications, open Turn on do not disturb automatically. Microsoft lists rules for set times of day, when you duplicate your display, when you’re playing a game, when an app is in full-screen mode, and for the first hour after a Windows feature update. The display rule matters for Teams users: if you present on a projector or second screen in duplicate mode, Windows may silence alerts until you stop.
• Focus sessions: starting a Focus session can turn on Do not disturb, according to Microsoft. If alerts only go missing while a Focus timer runs, end the session or change its settings.
• Let Teams through anyway: Microsoft’s page describes priority exceptions in the Do not disturb settings, with an Apps section and an Add apps button. Adding Microsoft Teams there lets its alerts through while Do not disturb is on, which is a good middle ground if you rely on the automatic rules.

Fix 5: Your Teams status

Your Teams status, also called presence, is separate from Windows Do not disturb, and it can quietly cut off alerts. When you set yourself to Do not disturb in Teams, Teams is designed to hold back most notifications. Teams can also change your status on its own, for example while you present, so it’s worth checking if alerts stop at the same times each day.

1. Select your profile picture at the top of Teams and look at your current status.
2. If it says Do not disturb, choose Available.
3. Check whether a status duration is set. A status set until a certain time stays in place until then, even after a meeting ends.

Microsoft’s notification page also lists a Presence section under Settings > Notifications and activity with a Manage notifications option. The page doesn’t describe what each choice there does, so open it and check whether anything is set to hold alerts back while your status is busy or Do not disturb.

On a phone: the Teams mobile app has its own notification settings, separate from the desktop app, and Microsoft’s notification page links to a separate guide for mobile notifications. If alerts reach your phone but not your PC, or the other way around, the device that stays silent is the one to check; phone-only options such as quiet hours don’t affect the Windows app.

Fix 6: Battery saver

On a laptop, Windows battery saver reduces background activity to save power. Microsoft’s pages that we checked don’t name it as a cause of missing Teams alerts, so treat this as a test rather than a confirmed fix: plug the laptop in, or turn battery saver off in the power and battery page under Settings > System, and see whether banners return. If they do, you can leave battery saver on with a higher threshold, or keep it off during working hours. Our guide to laptop battery draining fast in Windows 11 covers battery saver and power modes in more detail.

Fix 7: Update Teams, and reset it only if needed

An out-of-date app can miss fixes for notification problems. In Teams, select Settings and more and check for updates, then restart Teams. Signing out and back in also gives Teams a fresh start on your account, and it’s a smaller step than a reset.

About clearing the cache: many guides recommend it for missing alerts, but Microsoft’s Learn article Clear the Teams client cache says otherwise. It advises against clearing the cache when notifications or unread counts are wrong, because doing so doesn’t fix those issues and deletes the diagnostic logs needed to find the cause. If the steps above don’t help, report the problem to Microsoft from Teams or to your IT team first, while those logs still exist.

Clearing the cache does make sense when Teams itself misbehaves: it won’t load, freezes or shows other faults beyond notifications. Microsoft’s article gives two methods for new Teams on Windows:

• Reset the app: open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and search for Microsoft Teams. Select the More options button (…) next to the new Teams app, choose Advanced options, and select Reset in the Reset section. Microsoft warns this deletes the app data, including personalization settings you configured, so expect to set your notification choices again.
• Delete the cache files: quit Teams from its taskbar icon, press Windows key + R, enter %userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams and select OK. Delete everything in that folder, then restart Teams.

Microsoft notes the first start after clearing the cache may take longer than usual while the files are rebuilt. Your chats, files and teams are stored online, so they come back once you sign in. Our Teams camera guide uses the same reset steps, if you’d like them with more context.

Known issues: as of November 2026, we haven’t found a current Teams notification problem confirmed on an official Microsoft page. If alerts stopped for everyone in your organization at once, it’s more likely a service problem, and your IT team can check the Microsoft 365 service health page.

Work or school PCs and policies

On a PC managed by an employer or school, some of the settings above may be locked. Windows may show a note that some settings are managed by your organization, and Teams options can be limited by policies your administrator sets. Policies can also control which apps are allowed in Teams, which affects app and bot notifications.

• If a switch is unavailable or changes back on its own, don’t try to work around it with registry edits; ask your IT team, since the setting is probably applied on purpose.
• Ask whether alerts are expected to come through while you present or share your screen, because some organizations set Windows rules for this.
• If only notifications from one app or bot are missing, the app may not be allowed in your organization, or it may still be waiting for its first notification, as Microsoft’s page explains.

For more ways to keep Teams manageable once alerts work again, such as following threads instead of whole channels, see our Microsoft Teams tips and tricks.

Related guides

• Microsoft Teams not connecting: how to fix it
• Teams classic: why it’s gone and how to switch to new Teams
• Laptop battery draining fast in Windows 11: how to fix it
• Teams camera not working: how to fix it on Windows 11
• Microsoft Teams tips and tricks: 10 ways to work faster

Official sources

• Microsoft: Manage notifications in Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft: Notifications and Do Not Disturb in Windows
• Microsoft Learn: Clear the Teams client cache