How to Get New Mail Notifications on the Desktop for Gmail

Gmail can send you desktop notifications of new messages (all or just the important ones) through your browser.

Getting emails is easy, even receiving important messages is not hard, and catching chats is a snap in Gmail; it is just about as easy to miss key messages, even with Gmail open all day.

You can equip your computer with a special Gmail new mail checker, of course. You can also tell Gmail to send desktop alerts through your browser, though, as long as Gmail is open somewhere (in a background tab or minimized; it does not matter).

To get notifications on your desktop for new Gmail emails using Google Chrome:

1. Click the Settings gear icon (⚙️) in Gmail.
2. Follow the Settings link in the menu that has shown.
3. Go to the General tab.
4. Click Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail. under Desktop Notifications:.
   • ​If you do not see Click here to enable… but see Note: Notifications have been disabled in this browser. instead, see below.
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 (⋮).
2. Select Settings from the menu that has appeared.
3. Click Show advanced settings… if available at the bottom of the settings page.
4. Now 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. 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.
8. Click Done.
9. Now click 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. Make sure the General tab is selected.
4. Now click Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail. under Desktop Notifications:.
5. Click Always Receive Notifications for mail.google.com 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 has appeared.
3. Select the General settings tab.
4. Click on Click here to enable desktop notifications for Gmail. (under Desktop Notifications:).
   • ​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.)

What to do when 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. Make sure Allow websites to set permissions to send push notifications is checked.
4. Now make sure Allow is selected for mail.google.com, if an entry for it exists.

To have Opera show desktop notifications new Gmail emails:

1. Click the Settings gear icon (⚙️) in Gmail.
2. Select Settings.
3. Go to the General settings tab.
4. Click 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 has appeared.
3. Open the Websites category.
4. Now 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. 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.
8. Click Done.

To get notifications 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::
   • ​​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 the 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, do turn inbox tabs off).
   • 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.
   • ​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.

(Tested with Gmail in Google Chrome 55, Mozilla Firefox 50, Safari 10 and Opera 42)