How to Enable or Disable Outlook Alerts When App is Closed

The new Outlook app for Windows 11 is a modern way to manage your emails and calendar. It includes many features like subscription management, email forwarding, setting default From address, backing up your mailbox, changing the reading pane, opening a new window for a message, language translations, turning text predictions on or off, switch primary account, sharing a calendar,  changing language, date and time format, public a calendar, show week numbers in Outlook calendar, deleting your search history, export your search history, add or remove events from emails to your Calendar, switch to dark mode, link preview, and sound alerts for notifications.

One helpful feature is the ability to receive alerts even when the Outlook app is closed. This guide shows you how to change this setting.

Why change this setting?

You might want to turn these alerts on so you never miss an important email or meeting while working in other programs. You might want to turn them off if you find the pop-ups distracting or if you want to save your computer’s resources.

What happens when you are done?

Once you finish these steps, your computer will either continue to alert you about new mail while Outlook is closed, or it will stop bothering you until you open the program again.

How to change your notification settings

1. Open the Outlook app from your Start menu.
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4. Click the Settings gear icon located at the top right of the window.
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7. In the menu that appears on the left, click General.
8. Select Notifications.
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11. Look for the Notifications in Outlook section. Make sure your general Windows Notification in Outlook is turned on, or these settings will not work.
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14. Click the dropdown arrow to see more options. Check the box labeled Send notifications when Outlook is closed to turn them on. Uncheck the box to turn them off.
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If you are still not seeing alerts, ensure that your Windows Notification settings and Windows Focus settings are configured correctly and that Battery Saver is turned off.

Note: These steps do not require admin privileges.

Summary

By adjusting these settings, you gain control over your focus. Turning the alerts on keeps you connected to your inbox at all times. Turning them off allows you to work without interruptions when you are not actively using Outlook.