Does anyone use notifications?

[Rohan Pal]

yeah.why not to use?

 

[Sin Lee Ng]

I think as of now, to get a good use out of notifications on Windows 10, it requires a better implementation from Microsoft and also a certain level of customization from the user on what notifications should come into Action Center and how they should be.

Microsoft can definitely do a better job at making Action Center more noticeable that we have notifications. That should definitely be the first step as I notice some friends and family do not even know what that icon that is Action Center does, let alone know when it shows that there are notifications.

Notifications are disruptions even on mobile. Device users should definitely customize notifications to make it work for them, cause less disruptions, and app developers can add in quick actions to make it actionable from the notifications, such as deleting an email by Mail app or responding to an event by Calendar app.

I personally use notifications toasts for Mail, Calendar, Cortana, Alarms and in Action Center.

Communication apps (Skype, Slack, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger) all appear on Action Center but do not pop up as notifications toasts from the bottom right. I mostly react to these notifications from inside the apps or Start Menu. They are in Action Center for in case I miss the counters on the app's tile on Start Menu (I pinned only WhatsApp to taskbar).

All news and social media notifications are turned off on my tablet, desktop and Band 2, but left on on my mobile (I am using 950 XL so customizability is as on my other devices).

It's a lot of time spent on finding out what do I want to receive as notification toasts + Action Center, and what are Action Center-only, and what should not appear at all, and multiply by the 4 devices I use (Surface, a desktop, Band 2, 950 XL) but I think it has made me more of a power user with regards to notifications than it slowing me down with disruptions.

I just wish for Action Center to be more obvious that I have unread notifications, more developers to work on actionable notifications.

I hope my comments have helped someone on figuring out how can notifications on PC work for them.

 

[anon(10440410)]

Yeah I use the new email notifications, but the "Continue from another device" notifications from Cortana are really annoying. I am hoping that with Timeline that these go away, and that I can click on Timeline button in Action center in the super blue moon instances I want to actually continue a web browsing session from another device.

 

[sweatshopking]

Nope.

 

[etphoto]

I use calendar notifications. I like the reminders popping up that I have a pending calendar item that needs to be addressed.

 

[kanaaka]

ah, notifications. i used it so much. because when i am using my laptop, i rarely looking at my phone because i think i don't want to be distracted by operating more than one devices at one (especially if i'm doing a serious work), and notification center helped so much. it's true that most notification is already on my phone, chat, email, and so on.

hey, i even installed pushbullet on my phone and laptop so when i use my laptop, i don't need to look at my phone. so the notifications center helped me so much

 

[froi francisco]

I use it a lot specially when I was still using windows phone and replying to text messages through my pc

 

[Mark Linton]

Notifications are just something I too end up clearing without looking at them.


I've switched (possibly temporarily) to Edge since the Fall Creators Update hit the slow ring. Wanted to give the latest version a true run to see if it's a viable alternative to Chrome for me. One of it's worst features is that it pumps all browser notifications into the windows notifications. Sites like YouTube and LinusTechTips end up just spamming the notification drawer. In chrome they appeared as overlays in the browser that were easily acknowledged and dismissed.

 

[sporosarcina]

Considering I still use a L950 they are great for incoming texts and/or calls, which are perfectly synced. I also use them for select apps, such as Mail/Calendar, and a few other select apps.

 

[anon(601415)]

I have configured notifications to work only for specific apps, and it works great. I only see what I want to see.

 

[judithen]

I use notifications both in the Action Center only and also as Banners. I keep my sound down so a low chime isn't distracting. If the Action Center gets full or unwanted banners show up, I check my app settings. Notifications work for me.

 

[Vincent Ryan]

I find them very useful especially for WC, MSPowerUser, Twitter, calendar and mobile sync. Great feature!

 

[Barcham]

I use them all the time on both my phone and my PC. In fact I even find it useful to get my phone notification on my desktop. If there are apps that I do not want to notify me, I simply go into the settings and turn it off for that app. No big deal. I would be lost without them now.

 

[mrmobileperformance]

I feel your pain, man. I, too, find myself clearing notification without really reading them. However, I do wish to be notified, but the notification engine needs more smarts:

For instance I get the same Facebook notification twice: Once from the Facebook app that's installed on my laptop and once from the app installed on my smartphone. The notification center should intelligently handle this kind of duplication.

Similarly calendar events and reminders should disappear once the event has taken place. There should be an expiry date you can set so you're not bothered by stuff that' s, say more than a week old.

There may be other ideas which don't occur to right now that could drop useless notifications. Maybe Cortana could study your behavior.

In summary then, I do like reminders on my laptop, but right now it's too much work to distinguish the few I want from the many I don't.

 

[Cbarnhorst]

I use the notifications and like them.

 

[alanSJ]

Yes, love them. They just need to sync a little better, i.e. in a timely fashion.

 

[fdruid]

I've been wondering if anyone uses notifications in Windows 10. I find myself just clearing the list all the time without looking at it really cause I'm anyways looking at the apps I work with that usually the notifications listed are old anyway. I've put it in Do Not Disturb me or whatever is called now too because every second or minute something comes in and is annoying.

I guess most of my feeling isn't so much Windows related. It's just we are so inundated with notifications from everything, they've become another thing to manage.

How do you notifications, or use them to help you in Windows? In interested in ways you use it so I can perhaps do the same. Thanks

Of course I use notifications! Why wouldn't I?

 

[WinCoder]

I use them all the time. Way too many apps try to send notifications and run in the background, wasting my resources and killing my battery on my Surface, but, just like with my phone, I cull the list of the apps to only include those important to me.

Once I had that done, Windows Notifications became super useful.

The generic fluff of all default, is just noise, but then again, it is on an iOS and Android too.

 

[Mike Galos]

Of course I use notifications. I guess those who say they don't never actually use their computer and spend all their time on their phones.

 

[WinCoder]

BTW, get your app working properly... I tried three times to send this in the app, which failed every time, then the app crashed... Then I couldn't even get it to open the article on the web... As an app developer myself, I know that none of that is hard, i have both features in several of my apps. Please fix...