Email, Messaging, & Video Calls Email How to Add a New Mail Sound for Gmail Hear a sound notification when new Gmail messages arrive by Heinz Tschabitscher Writer A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. our editorial process Heinz Tschabitscher Updated on July 28, 2020 reviewed by Jon Fisher Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. our review board Article reviewed on Jul 08, 2020 Jon Fisher Email Gmail Yahoo! Mail Tweet Share Email When you are on Gmail.com, new messages don't trigger a sound notification. There are a couple of ways you can go about getting a Gmail notification sound, but the method you choose depends on how you access your mail. If you use Gmail through a downloadable email client like Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, or eM Client, you make the sound change from within those programs. The instructions in this article are for the desktop version of Gmail. You can, however, change your notification sounds on Android or change the new mail sound on iOS to achieve a similar effect in those mobile apps. Gmail Pop-Up Notification You can set Gmail to display a pop-up notification when new email messages arrive in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari when you are signed in to Gmail and have it open in the browser. Just turn on that setting in Gmail by selecting the Settings icon then choosing See all settings and going to General > Desktop Notifications. The notification is not accompanied by a sound. If you want to hear a new email sound when you use Gmail with your web browser, you can make that happen—just not in Gmail itself. Enable the New Mail Sound for Gmail Since Gmail doesn't natively support pushing sound notifications through your web browser, you must install a third-party program like Notifier for Gmail (a Chrome extension). If you're using the Notifier for Gmail Chrome extension: Right-click the extension icon next to Chrome's navigation bar, and choose Options. Scroll down to the Notifications section and make sure Play alert sound for new emails is selected. Change the sound using the drop-down menu. Exit the window when you're done. The changes are saved automatically. How to Change Gmail Notification Sounds in Other Email Clients For Outlook users, you can enable notification sounds for new email messages in the FILE > Options > Mail menu, with the Play a sound option from the Message arrival section. To change the sound, open Control Panel and search for "sound". Open the Sound Control Panel applet and modify the New Mail Notification option from the Sounds tab. Mozilla Thunderbird users can go through a similar process to change the new mail alert noise. For other email clients, look somewhere in a Settings or Options menu. Remember to use an audio file converter if your notification sound isn't in the correct audio format for the program.