Preventing interruptions in Teams


Microsoft Teams makes communicating and collaborating with colleagues easy, but sometimes you need to focus without interruptions. You can make sure you are not interrupted by Teams notifications or calls by setting your status to 'Do not disturb'. You can set exceptions to this, for people you want to be able to contact you at all times.

Silencing notifications during meetings

You can change your settings so that you turn off notifications during any meetings or calls.

  1. Go to 'Settings'. Depending on your version of Teams you can do this either by clicking on your profile picture (or initials) at the top of Team and choosing 'Manage account' or by clicking on the three dots next to your profile picture and choosing 'Settings'.
  2. Choose 'Notifications'
  3. Click 'Edit' next to 'Meetings and Calls'
  4. Select 'Mute notifications during meetings and calls'

Screenshot of Team meeting showing More Actions menu with Allow notifications option 9th item on the list

 

There is more information about managing notifications on the Microsoft site.

You can also turn of notifications for a particular meeting. When you are in the meeting click  on the three dots for 'More actions' and toggle 'Allow notifications'.

 

Set your status to 'Do not disturb'

Screen shot showing drop down list of status types below profile picture in Teams

If your status is set to 'Do not disturb' you will not receive any notifications from Teams (except from your priority contacts, see below). To set your status: 

  1. Click on your profile picture at the top of the screen in Teams. If you haven't set a profile picture, you will see your initials instead.
  2. Click the down arrow beside your current status (bottom right of your profile picture/initials) to show all status options - see screenshot.
  3. Select 'Do not disturb' from the list.

Find out more about the different types of status on the Microsoft site. Note: when you are in a Teams meeting your status is automatically set to 'Busy' (where you still receive notifications), unless you have manually changed it to 'Do not disturb'.

Set up your priority contacts

You will receive notifications from people you identify as priority contacts even if your status is set to 'Do not disturb'. To add someone to your priority list: 

  1. Go to 'Settings'. Depending on your version of Teams you can do this either by clicking on your profile picture (or initials) at the top of Team and choosing 'Manage account' or by clicking on the three dots next to your profile picture and choosing 'Settings'.
  2. Choose 'Privacy' from the list in the Settings window. 
  3. Here you will see the option for 'Do not disturb'. Click on the button 'Manage priority access'.
  4. In the search box, type in the name of the person you want to add and click on the contact or press enter. They have now been added to your priority access list. 

To remove a contact from your priority access list, follow steps 1-3 as above, then click the X next to the name of the person you want to remove.