Do Not Disturb on Mac: A complete guide on how it works

Do Not Disturb and Apple’s Focus Modes in general are an underrated feature that not enough people take full advantage of. They’re a great way to take back control of your personal time by limiting who and what can notify you, call you, message you, or simply disturb you while you’re focused on getting something done. This applies not just to work, but to sleep and leisure as well. Here’s your Mac user guide that sheds light on Do Not Disturb on Mac and how you can turn it on. So, let’s get started. 

What is Do Not Disturb?

DND is a Focus Mode on your Mac and other iOS devices that disables all active notifications and pop-ups except from trusted contacts and whitelisted apps. Incoming calls, messages, and notifications from those not on the whitelist will either go to Voicemail or be ignored, while notifications are silently added to the notification centre for later perusal.

If you’re using FaceTime or iMessage, users messaging or calling you via those platforms will be notified that you’re in Do Not Disturb mode and may not respond. Some users will see an option to notify you anyway, which is a good way of getting your attention in case of an emergency. Once DND is manually disabled or the DND timer that you set expires, the device will resume normal operation.

How to enable Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb can be enabled by clicking on the settings icon in the menu bar of your Mac. This opens the Focus Modes and you can select Do Not Disturb here. Clicking on the icon automatically enables and disables the mode, but you also have additional controls. For example, you can set Do Not Disturb to run for only an hour, or until the next morning, or to trigger automatically during events like scheduled meetings or calls.

Siri integration

Do Not Disturb can also be triggered by asking Siri to enable the feature. A more useful way of enabling DND is by letting Siri trigger DND automatically when a scheduled meeting notification pops up. Siri does this automatically the first time it happens, and all you have to do is allow Siri to continue doing this.

You can also create shortcuts via the Shortcuts app to trigger DND automatically when certain events occur. For example, you can set DND to trigger automatically when you’re watching a show on the TV app or via Netflix on the browser. Creating shortcuts can be a bit time-consuming though, so manual triggering will be easier for most people.

ALSO READ: How to connect your MacBook to a projector

Do Not Disturb is a powerful feature that you should use more often. We’d recommend setting DND to trigger automatically after your workday ends, and to end in the morning when work starts. This way you won’t be notified of any work email or message in your downtime, allowing you to be more comfortable outside of work hours.