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Managing Teams Notifications and Chat Etiquette

Managing Teams Notifications and Chat Etiquette

Microsoft Teams makes it easy to stay in touch — but it can quickly become noisy if you don’t manage notifications or understand chat behavior. Here’s how to take control.

Taming Notifications

By default, Teams notifies you about:

  • Direct messages (chats)

  • Mentions (@yourname)

  • Replies in conversations you’ve started or followed

  • Team-wide announcements

To Customize Notifications:

  1. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner of Teams.

  2. Choose Settings > Notifications.

  3. Adjust settings for:

    • Chat messages

    • Mentions

    • Team activity

    • Meeting reminders

You can turn some things off, set them to banner/pop-up, or just show in the activity feed.

💡 Pro Tip: Turn off unnecessary channel notifications. You don’t need alerts from every conversation in every Team you’re in.

How to Mute or Leave a Chat

Too many messages in a group chat or one-on-one thread? You have options:

  • Mute a chat:

    1. Right-click the chat in the left sidebar

    2. Select Mute

  • Hide a chat:
    This removes it from view (it'll return if someone replies).

    1. Right-click > Hide

  • Leave a group chat:

    1. Open the chat

    2. Click the ... (three dots) > Leave

🛑 You can’t leave a one-on-one chat. You can mute or hide it, though.

Using @Mentions the Right Way

  • @name notifies a specific person — use it when you need someone's attention.

  • @Team or @Channel notifies everyone — use with caution.

Only mention a full Team or Channel when it’s relevant to the entire group.

💬 Chat Etiquette 101

  • Keep chats clear and concise

  • Use threads in Channels (instead of new posts) to keep things organized

  • Add context when dropping a file or link

  • Mute yourself on video calls unless you’re speaking

Optional but nice: Use emojis and reactions to acknowledge messages without cluttering the chat.

Still Getting Too Many Notifications?

It’s okay to tune things down. Your job is to stay informed — not to jump at every ping. If something truly matters, you’ll likely get tagged directly.

Need Help?

We’re happy to assist with settings or chat organization. Submit a ticket at support.parkerbass.com