How to Get New Mail Notifications on the Desktop for Gmail

Retrieving new mail and viewing chats is a snap in Gmail. Unless you constantly have Gmail.com front and center in your browser, though, it's just about as easy to miss key messages. Fortunately, you can set up your browser to let you know when new emails arrive via push notifications.

To get these notifications in Google Chrome:

1. Click the Settings gear icon in Gmail.
2. Follow the Settings link in the menu that appears.
3. Go to the General tab.
4. Click Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail next to Desktop Notifications.
5. Select Allow for mail.google.com wants to: Show desktop notifications.
6. Pick your level of notifications. (See below.)

If you see Notifications have been disabled in this browser and desktop notifications are not working for Gmail in Google Chrome:

1. Click the Google Chrome menu button (the three dots in the upper right corner).
2. Select Settings from the menu that appears.
3. Click Show advanced settings if available at the bottom of the settings page.
4. Click Content settings under Privacy.
5. Make sure Allow all sites to show notifications or Ask when a site wants to show notifications is selected under Notifications.
6. Choose Manage exceptions, also under Notifications.
7. Make sure Allow is selected for https://mail.google.com, if that entry exists. Click Block to get a menu for manual entries.
8. Select Done.
9. Choose Done again.

To enable desktop notifications for new emails in Gmail using Mozilla Firefox:

1. Click the Settings gear in your Gmail toolbar.
2. Select Settings from the menu.
3. Choose the General tab.
4. Select Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail under Desktop Notifications.
5. Click Always Receive Notifications for mail.google.com under Would you like to receive notifications from this site?
6. Select your level of notifications. (See below.)

To allow Gmail to send you Notification Center desktop alerts of new emails through Safari:

1. Click the Settings gear icon in Gmail.
2. Select Settings in the menu that appears.
3. Select the General settings tab.
4. Click on Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail under Desktop Notifications.
   1. ​If you see Note: Notifications have been disabled in this browser instead, see below.
5. Click Allow under The website "mail.google.com" would like to show alerts in Notification Center.
6. Pick your level of notifications. (See below.)

If you see Notifications have been disabled in this browser and desktop Gmail notifications are not working in Safari:

1. Select Safari > Preferences from the menu.
2. Go to the Notifications tab.
3. Check Allow websites to set permissions to send push notifications.
4. Make sure Allow is selected for mail.google.com, if an entry for it exists.

To have Opera show desktop notifications for new Gmail emails:

1. Click the Settings gear icon in Gmail.
2. Select Settings.
3. Go to the General settings tab.
4. Select Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail under Desktop Notifications. ​If you see Note: Notifications have been disabled in this browser under Desktop Notifications, see below.
5. Select Allow for The website "https://mail.google.com" is asking to display desktop notifications.
6. Choose your desired level of notifications. (See below.)

If you see Notifications have been disabled in this browser and Gmail desktop notifications are not working in Opera:

1. Click Menu.
2. Select Settings from the menu that appears.
3. Open the Websites category.
4. Now click Content settings under Privacy.
5. Select Allow all sites to show notifications or Ask when a site wants to show notifications (whichever shows) under Notifications.
6. Now click Manage exceptions, also under Notifications.
7. Make sure Allow is selected for https://mail.google.com, if that entry exists. Click Block to get a menu for manual entries, if necessary.
8. Click Done.

To get notifications only for new emails in Gmail with your web browser:

1. Make sure desktop notifications are enabled in your browser. (See above.)
2. Click the Settings gear icon in Gmail.
3. Now follow the Settings link in the menu.
4. Go to the General settings tab.
5. Choose for what kind of new email you want Gmail to send notifications to your desktop under Desktop Notifications.
   1. ​​New mail notifications on: Gmail will send you notifications for all new messages arriving in your Gmail inbox as new — not necessarily all that are sent to your email account. You will not receive notifications for messages that are filtered to Trash; filtered to be archived automatically; filtered to be marked as read; identified by the Gmail spam filter as junk; or categorized to anything but the Primary inbox tab (with inbox categories enabled; if you want notifications for all emails, turn inbox tabs off).
   2. Important mail notifications on: Gmail will send notifications to your desktop only for emails that arrive unread in your inbox and are identified as important by Gmail.
   3. ​Mail notifications off: You will not get notified about any new email through desktop alerts. Typically, getting notifications only for important messages identified either by Priority Inbox or by inbox categories is more useful than being alerted to all incoming mail.