How to Get New Mail Desktop Notifications for Gmail

See message alerts even when Gmail is closed

Blue email icon; arrow cursor on it
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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated June 20, 2019

It's possible to set up desktop notifications in Gmail so that you get alerts when you receive new emails. You'll even see notifications when you aren't actively using Gmail.

Instructions in this article apply to the web version of Gmail. Desktop notifications for Gmail work in most browsers including Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.

How to Turn on Desktop Alerts for New Gmail Messages

Enabling Gmail alerts requires a small tweak to your Gmail settings and then telling your browser to accept push alerts.

  1. Select the gear in the upper-right corner of Gmail, then select Settings from the drop-down menu.

    Select the gear in the upper-right corner of Gmail, then select Settings from the drop-down menu.

  2. Under the General tab, scroll down to the Desktop Notifications section and select one of the options:

    • New mail notifications on: Gmail will send you notifications for all new messages arriving in your inbox folder. You won't receive notifications for messages that are filtered to trash, automatically marked as read, or identified as junk.
    • Important mail notifications on: Gmail will only send desktop notifications for emails that are identified as important by Gmail.
    • ​Mail notifications off: Gmail will not send email desktop alerts.

    If prompted to confirm that the browser should accept Gmail notifications, select Allow or Yes.

    Under the General tab, scroll down to the Desktop Notifications section and select one of the options

  3. Scroll to the bottom and select Save Changes.

    Scroll to the bottom and select Save Changes.

  4. If you are using Windows 10, you must enable notifications from Chrome in the Windows Action Center. Type Notifications & action settings into the Windows search bar and select that option from the pop-up menu.

    Mac and Linux users can skip to step 6.

    If you are using Windows 10, you must enable notifications from Chrome in the Windows Action Center. Type Notifications & action settings into the Windows search bar and select that option from the pop-up menu.

  5. Make sure notifications for your browser are set to On.

    Make notifications for your browser are set to On.

  6. Refresh your browser. It may take a little while for the change to take effect.

New message alerts will appear in your computer's notifications tab.

It's also possible to set custom sounds for new mail alerts in Gmail.

New message alerts will appear in your computer's notifications tab.

Gmail Desktop Notifications Not Working?

If Gmail desktop notifications aren't working in Chrome:

  1. Select the padlock to the left of the Gmail address bar, and then select Site settings from the drop-down menu.

    Select the padlock to the left of the Gmail address bar, and then select Site settings from the drop-down menu.

  2. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

    Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

You can also adjust notification settings in Opera and Edge by selecting the padlock beside the address bar.