We’re all aware of the potential downsides to notifications. They can distract from important work or they can cause embarrassment during phone calls. On occasion, we just want to tune out and focus on one thing. Thankfully, macOS has an easy solution to nuisance notifications.

In this guide we'll show you how to use Do Not Disturb mode to temporarily mute notifications on your Mac.

What Do Not Disturb Does

Although you can control notifications in macOS to a fine degree, Do Not Disturb is the nuclear option. It’s the best choice when you just want to silence all notifications completely.

When Do Not Disturb is active, notifications will not appear on the screen. You will also not hear any notification sound alerts. Apps will still send notifications, and you can still view them in Notification Center, but Banner notifications will not appear and Alert notifications will only display when you turn Do Not Disturb off again.

There are three ways to use Do Not Disturb:

  1. As an on/off switch
  2. For an immediate period of time
  3. On a schedule

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 preference and how you’ve configured your setup.

Using Control Center

  1. Open Control Center by clicking its icon in the menu bar.
  2. Click on the Do Not Disturb icon to turn it on and off. You must click on the moon-shaped icon itself, not anywhere else in the panel.
A screenshot of macOS showing Control Centre open

Using the Do Not Disturb Menu Bar Icon

  1. Click on the Do Not Disturb icon in the menu bar.
  2. Click Always On.
  3. If your Mac is displaying the Do Not Disturb icon, it will appear bright white when you enable Do Not Disturb and gray otherwise.
A screenshot of macOS showing the Do Not Disturb menu

The menu bar only displays the Do Not Disturb icon if you configure it to so:

  1. Go to Dock & Menu Bar in System Preferences.
  2. Click the Do Not Disturb section in the sidebar.
  3. Tick the Show in Menu Bar checkbox.
A screenshot of macOS showing the Do Not Disturb dock and menu bar preferences

Using the Clock

  1. Hold Option and click the Date or Time in your menu bar.
  2. This will toggle Do Not Disturb on and off.

Use Do Not Disturb for a Short Period of Time

Click on either the Do Not Disturb menu bar icon or the Do Not Disturb Control Center panel—but not the icon. Above Always On, you will also see For 1 Hour, Until This Evening, and Until Tomorrow.

Selecting one of these will immediately enable Do Not Disturb. It will then automatically switch off at the appropriate time.

How to Schedule Do Not Disturb

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Click on Notifications.
  3. With Do Not Disturb selected in sidebar select a time period. For example, from 22:00 to 07:00. During this time, macOS will turn Do Not Disturb on.

In addition, you can configure other situations in which Do Not Disturb should automatically turn itself on. These include when your display is sleeping, locked, or mirrored.

You can also choose to still receive call notifications, even when Do Not Disturb is on.

Stop macOS Notifications Breaking Your Focus

Do Not Disturb is a small feature, but a vital one if you make any use of notifications. It helps to get into the habit of enabling it whenever you start a conference call or need to focus on work.

Note that activating Do Not Disturb on your Mac does not affect notifications on an iPhone. If you have one, it will continue to display notifications. You can use the corresponding Do Not Disturb function in iOS to mute them as well.