Turn Chat notifications on or off in Gmail

You can get notified in Gmail when someone sends you a message in Google Chat. If you create, respond to, or are @mentioned in a message or room, you will get a badge and a notification, if notifications are turned on.

You can also customize notifications by device, conversation or room, or threads, if available. If you have multiple Google accounts, you can customize your notification settings for each account. You can choose separate settings in Gmail and Chat. You can customize whether to get an email reminder if you haven't read a message in 12 hours.

For all chat messages in Gmail

Turn chat notification sounds on or off

For a specific individual direct message

1. Open Gmail.
2. On the left menu, click on the name of the person to open the conversation.
3. In the window that appears, click Menu   click Turn off notifications or Turn on notifications.

For a specific Room or group direct message

1. Open Gmail.
2. On the left menu, click the name of the Room or the group direct message to open the conversation.
3. At the top, next to the name of the Room or the group direct message, click the Down arrow .
4. Click Notifications and select an option: 
   1. Notify always - you'll get push notifications and a notification dot for all new messages. 
   2. Notify less - you'll get push notifications and a notification dot when you're @mentioned, a followed thread gets a new message, or if someone uses @all. 
      1. For Rooms with threads: To receive a notification when someone starts a new thread, check the Also notify for the first message of new threads box. 
   3. Notifications off - you won't get any push notifications, but @mentions and @all will continue to get a notification dot. 

Tip: Even if you turn off notifications, you'll still get a red notification dot for @mentions and direct messages. 

Understand how badges appear for direct messages 

Red dot icon	Status text	Status meaning
Yes	Bold	You have unread individual or group direct messages.
No	Normal	These conversations have no updates or new messages.

 

Understand how badges appear for Rooms 

Red dot icon	Status text	Status meaning
Yes	Bold	There are unread messages that meet any of these criteria:  The message directly mentions you. You turned on notifications for the room. You followed a thread. Tip:  When you reply to a thread it automatically subscribes you to updates. Someone emailed the entire room with @all.
No	Bold	You have unread individual or group direct messages.
No	Normal	These conversations have no updates or new messages.

 

For a specific thread in a Room

Important: You need to select "Notify less" to have this option.

When you follow a thread, the number of new messages appears next to the person or Room. You automatically follow threads you start, reply to, or are @mentioned in.

1. Open Gmail.
2. Select the Room.
3. Point to the thread, and at the top right, click Follow.
4. Optional: To stop getting notifications about the thread, next to the thread, click Following.