While notifications are useful in some cases, sometimes you just want your computer to keep quiet. This is why Windows 10 includes the Focus assist feature, allowing you to block all or some notifications when you need to concentrate or share your screen with others.

Let's look at how Focus assist works and how to customize it so you can properly utilize this feature.

What Is Focus Assist?

Focus assist is the name for the Do Not Disturb mode in Windows 10. In older versions of Windows 10, Focus assist was called "quiet hours."

It allows you to hide all incoming notifications so they don't grab your attention with a visual banner or sound effect. Instead of alerting you, they'll go to the action center so you can review them on your own time.

Related: Attention Management and 5 Ways to Improve It

You can enable focus assist manually or using certain rules, as we'll see below.

How to Enable Focus Assist in Windows 10

The easiest way to toggle Focus assist in Windows 10 is using the shortcut in the action center. You can do this by right-clicking on the action center icon, which looks like a dialog bubble, at the bottom-right of your screen. From there, highlight Focus assist and pick Priority only or Alarms only.

Alarms only is the strictest mode and silences all notifications except alarms from the Clock app. Priority only hides all notifications except ones you deem as important. We'll discuss how to tweak priority notifications in a moment.

Windows 10 Toggle Focus Assist

For an alternative method of toggling Focus assist, open the action center by clicking its icon or hitting Win + A. Find the Focus assist tile in the bottom panel of shortcuts and click it to toggle across the three modes.

If you don't see this panel, click Expand to show more icons. In case it's still not there, right-click an empty area, choose Edit, click Add, and add the tile for Focus assist.

Windows 10 Action Center Focus Assist

How to Customize Focus Assist in Windows 10

To get the most out of Focus assist, you should set it up to work for your needs. To do this, open the Settings app by clicking the gear icon on the Start menu, or with the Win + I shortcut. Go to System > Focus assist to find the relevant options.

Here, you'll find toggles to activate Focus assist's three modes, as explained above. This isn't as convenient as using the action center, so you don't need to visit this menu to switch modes. However, you should click Customize your priority list under Priority only to configure it.

Windows 10 Focus Assist Settings

Customizing Priority Only Mode

In the Priority list options, you can check the boxes to Show incoming calls and Show reminders if desired. These make sure you don't miss alerts for calls on services like Skype, as well as reminders from apps like Microsoft To Do.

Next is the People section. Here, you can designate certain contacts as priority, so their communication always gets through. However, this only works with a handful of Windows 10 apps, such as Mail and Skype. Microsoft mentions "a few others," but this won't work with every app on your system, so it's pretty limited.

Windows 10 Priority List

If you check Show notifications from pinned contacts on taskbar, anyone you've added to the People tab in the taskbar is treated as priority. You can also select Add contacts to set additional priority people here.

Finally, under Apps, click Add an app and pick all the apps on your system that you want to still send notifications in this mode. To get rid of an existing app, select it and choose Remove.

Speaking of this, you should also know how to manage app notifications in Windows 10 outside of Focus assist. This will help you shut off notifications you don't care about and tweak how they arrive.

Setting Up Automatic Rules

While you can go into Focus assist on your own anytime, the settings page also allows you to enable it automatically under certain conditions. Use the slider to toggle each of the conditions on or off; click the name of the rule to change its options.

Windows 10 Focus Assist Rules

In each one, you'll see two common settings. Focus level lets you choose whether the automatic rule will use Priority only or Alarms only mode. And if you check Show a notification in action center when focus assist is turned on automatically, Windows will alert you that the mode has switched on. This can be handy as a reminder, but might become annoying if it happens often.

During these times lets you schedule Focus assist during certain hours of the day. You can set the Start time and End time down to the minute, and choose if it should be active every day, only on weekdays, or just on weekends.

Windows 10 Focus Assist Time Rules

When I'm duplicating my display turns Focus assist on whenever you're mirroring your screen, such as when giving a presentation. This won't turn on when you're using multiple monitors and extending them across your screens. Use Win + P to toggle which projection mode Windows is using.

When I'm playing a game is a handy way to hide notifications while gaming. Because Windows doesn't provide any information on how it determines what a "game" is, this might not work with all titles. It also only works when playing games in full screen.

Finally, When I'm using an app in full screen mode is like the above, but extends to all software. It's useful if you often go full screen when working on a project and don't want to be bothered.

Below these toggles, you can also enable Show me a summary of what I missed while focus assist was on. With this, you'll see a notification explaining what alerts were hidden while the automatic rule was in place.

Focus Assist Silences Distractions

Now you know how to take full advantage of Focus assist in Windows 10. Too many notifications can harm your productivity, so it's important to suppress them at the right times. Aside from these benefits, Focus assist can also help you from the embarrassment of personal alerts popping up during a presentation or screen-sharing session.

It's just one of the many tricks lurking in Windows 10 that will boost your focus.