Top 7 Fixes for Outlook Notifications Not Working on Windows 10

How many times have you missed an important email when Outlook did not send you a notification on Windows 10? You would only have understood this when you open the Outlook app and see the email in the inbox. Many users complain that Outlook app notifications not working on their Windows 10 computer. If this happens to you often, our solutions will help you to fix Outlook app notification issues on Windows 10.

Our solutions range from enabling various notifications to disabling conflicting Windows 10 features. You should try each fix one by one and see which one works for you. Some users are having issues with Outlook notifications on Android and iPhone. Check out our troubleshooting guide for that.

Let’s start right away.

1. Restart the PC

If the problem arises suddenly, don’t worry. Just restart your computer. If this is a temporary issue due to an intermittent network issue, restarting should resolve it.

2. Activate notifications in the Outlook application

The Outlook for Windows 10 app comes with its own notification setting. You need to check and turn on new message alerts in Outlook app.

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Outlook application on your computer.

2nd step: Click File> Options.

Step 3: A pop-up window will open. Click Mail in the left sidebar. You will find the Arrival section of messages. Make sure the Play sound and Show alert on desktop options are enabled. Click Ok to save the changes.

3. Activate Outlook notifications in Windows 10 settings

Then you need to check the notification settings of Windows 10. You can control the notifications by app in Windows 10. Check whether notifications are enabled for Outlook app or not.

To do this, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Settings on your Windows 10 computer. Use Windows key + I keyboard shortcut to open Settings.

2nd step: Go to System> Notifications & Actions. Activate “Receive notifications from apps and other senders”.

Step 3: Scroll down and under “Receive notifications from these senders,” click Outlook. Then, in Outlook notification settings, enable all required options like Notifications, Show notification banners, Show notifications in action center and Play sound.

4. Check the notification rules in the Outlook app

If everything is enabled for both methods above, check if you have configured any rules in Outlook app.

To do this, go to the File menu of the Outlook application. Click Manage Rules and Alerts.

Check if a rule or alert may be interfering with the normal arrival of messages in your inbox.

Point: Find out how to automatically archive emails in Outlook.

5. Deactivate the focus assist

Focus Assist is a built-in feature of Windows 10. When enabled, you will not see any new incoming notifications on your PC. This feature can be responsible for the Outlook app not sending notifications to Windows 10 computer.

To turn it off, open the action center from the taskbar. If focus assist is turned off, you will see the Focus assist option. However, if it is enabled, you will see either Alarms only or Priority only. Click on it once or twice until you see the Focus Assist option. It means it has been disabled.

You can also access your computer’s settings. Go to System> Debug Aid. Click the Off option to turn it off if Priority only or Alarms only is selected.

You should also take a look at the autofocus assist rules available on the same screen as above. See if any option seems to conflict and turn it off.

6. Disable battery saver

Like Focus Assist, another built-in feature of Windows 10, that is, the battery saver can interfere with notifications. Basically, when battery saver is on, it limits notifications and background activity. So you need to check and disable battery saving mode on your computer.

To do this, go to Settings> System> Battery. Disable the switch under Battery Saver.

Also take a look at the percentage shown under “Automatically turn on battery saver at”. If it is too high, lower it.

Point: Discover 17 helpful tips to extend your laptop battery life.

7. Update Office applications

Usually, Microsoft Office applications are automatically updated. However, you need to force an update to see if the notification issue is with the current version of Outlook. To do this, open Outlook or any other desktop application on your PC. Click File> Account Options / Office Account. Then click Office Updates.

Access Outlook on the web

The above solutions should fix Outlook notifications when they are not working on Windows 10 PC. However, if the problem persists, you can still use the web version of Outlook. Check out our guide on how to turn on desktop notifications for outlook.com.