How to Enable or Disable Sound Notifications in Microsoft Teams on Windows 11

Microsoft Teams handles chatting, video calls, and collaboration. Constant incoming calls and meeting alerts get distracting quickly. Controlling these notification sounds restores focus and keeps your workflow uninterrupted.

Why bother customizing your notification sounds? Constant pings break concentration. If you turn the sound off, you can work without interruption. If you turn it on, you won’t miss a call or a meeting that is about to start. Choose the one that fits how you work.

What happens when done? Teams either plays an audio alert or stays silent for incoming calls, requests to join, and meeting start notifications, depending on the setting you pick. You don’t need to restart Teams or Windows. You can switch the setting back at any time.

Beyond audio alerts, the app lets you customize other settings like Google calendar connection, turning the camera and mic on or off on the lock screen, turning read receipts on or off, auto starting Teams, disabling Teams chat, syncing contacts with Teams, connecting to Google Calendar, linking your mobile device, turning message preview on or off, turning spell check on or off, turning on or off your phone number in search results 🔍, managing notifications, turning suggested replies in chat on or off, enabling or disabling sound notifications, and read receipts, startup behavior, and message previews.

How to change your notification sounds

The sound setting lives inside Teams itself, not in Windows. You change it from the app’s Settings page, and the change takes effect immediately. Here is the full process, which takes about a minute.

Menu labels can differ slightly between the classic Teams app and the newer Teams app for Windows 11. The steps below use the names from the original tutorial. If your screen looks a little different, look for the same wording.

1. Launch the application through the Taskbar or Taskbar overflow. Wait for Teams to finish loading. You should see your chats, teams, or calendar on screen.

2. If Teams opened in a small window, click the expansion button on the top menu bar. The window should grow to show the full interface, including the top right corner where your profile picture sits. If Teams is already full size, skip this step.

3. Click the Settings and more button, the three dots beside your profile picture in the top right corner.
4. Select Settings from the menu. The Settings page or window should open.

5. Choose Notifications and activity from the left sidebar. The notification options should appear on the right.
6. Find the General section on the right side. It contains a checkbox labeled Play sound with incoming calls, requests to join, and meeting start notifications.
7. Set the checkbox the way you want it:

• Check the box to turn sounds on.
• Uncheck the box to turn sounds off.

This one checkbox covers incoming calls, requests to join, and meeting start alerts together. You can't mute one of those and keep the others from this setting alone.

Teams saves the change automatically. There is no Save or Apply button, and you can close Settings when you are done. To undo the change, come back to the same page and flip the checkbox again.

If you still hear alerts after turning the sound off, check your Teams status. Windows can also play its own notification sounds, and those are controlled separately in Windows Settings, not in Teams. The same applies in reverse. If you hear nothing with the box checked, check that your PC volume is up and that the right speakers or headset are selected.

Summary

Managing audio behavior in Microsoft Teams makes for a better workspace. The notification sound setting decides whether you hear an alert for calls and meetings or work in quiet. Turn it off for focused work, or on when you can't afford to miss a call, and change it whenever your day changes.