How to enable and disable notifications in the Chrome browser

What are these Chrome notifications? You’ll know if you get them because they will pop up in the corner of your computer screen, often accompanied by an alert noise. That can grow annoying fast, which is why many users want a way to get rid of them or at least control what issues the notifications, which can be random.

Here’s how the birth of a notification currently happens. You open something new — a webpage, an extension, or a fun-looking website button that you decide to click on. If what you open is compatible with Chrome notifications, it can push various updates to a corner of your screen at any time. It will typically ask permission before turning part of your computer into its personal social media page. Still, you may not notice this little permission window, or you may say OK without even realizing it.

Use the following steps to turn off or on all website notifications on Chrome.

Step 1: Notification controls vary based on what system you’re using. If you have a Windows-based machine or a Mac, then start by opening Chrome and selecting the Chrome Menu icon, which is located in the upper-right corner and looks like three vertical dots.

Step 2: Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings, then navigate down to and select Notifications.

Step 3: From there, you can choose from three main options:

• Sites can ask to send notifications
• Use quieter messaging
• Don’t allow sites to send notifications

To turn off all notifications, select the Don’t allow sites to send notifications option.

Step 4: If you are on a Chromebook, you don’t need to worry about opening the browser. Instead, go to the status area in ChromeOS, where your account icon is.

Step 5: Select the Notification next to the clock — it can look like an app or extension resembling a bell in the bottom-right corner next to the clock. Any notifications you have waiting will pop up, and if not, you will see a message reading “No Notifications.”

Step 6: Select the Settings icon resembling a gear from the pop-up window, locate an app or notification in the list and deselect the box next to it. If updates are required for an extension or app, the entry will remain, but the box will be unchecked. User permission is required for the first time the new version of the program loads.

Any notifications already allowed can also be managed. Changing the settings is easy, and every website with notifications will be listed.

Step 1: Open Chrome and go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications, as we did in the previous section.

On the Notifications screen, select the Three dots icon in a listed website’s entry to change the options for any listed site. The options are different depending on which section the listed website is in: Not allowed to send notifications or Allowed to send notifications.

If the website is listed under Not allowed to send notifications, your options will be: Allow, Edit, or Remove.

If the website is listed under Allowed to send notifications, your options will be: Block, Edit, or Remove.

Step 2: If you want to add a new website to either of those sections, select the respective Add button on the right side of the page, and use the text box that appears to enter the web address.

When you allow or block permissions for specific sites, these settings will be applied instead of the default settings — you can also remove data for a site if you want a fresh start.

Step 1: When you open Chrome and go to a website, select the icon you see to the left of the web address bar — either Lock, Info, or Dangerous.

Step 2: Select Site settings to edit a website’s permission settings, and any changes on the Settings screen for that website will be automatically saved.

You’ll need to reload the webpage to apply the new settings though.

Not all notifications are bad. There’s a good chance that you may want a few for your favorite websites and services. You will note that there was an option to decide whether Sites can ask to send notifications among the choices we listed earlier in this guide. When this is activated, a site must always ask permission, and you can say “no” to the sites you don’t want to hear from.