Short answer: To get email notifications on a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications, click Mail and turn on Allow Notifications with the Banners or Alerts style. Then, in Mail, choose Mail > Settings > General and pick which mail triggers an alert in the New message notifications menu: Inbox Only, VIPs, Contacts or All Mailboxes. For finer control, add a rule with the Send Notification action, or use a Focus filter to limit alerts to one account.
Steps are for macOS 27 and are the same on macOS Tahoe 26, Sequoia 15 and Sonoma 14. On macOS Monterey 12 and earlier, the same options sit under Mail > Preferences and System Preferences.
How to turn on Mail notifications on Mac
- Open System Settings and click Notifications in the sidebar.
- Under Application Notifications, click Mail.
- Turn on Allow Notifications.
- Choose Banners (they slide away on their own) or Alerts (they stay until you dismiss them). Mail's own notification setting only works with one of these two styles.
- Pick where alerts show, such as on the lock screen or in Notification Center, and whether they play a sound.
Banners let you reply, mark a message as read or delete it without opening Mail. If you'd rather see Archive than Delete there, set Move discarded messages into to Archive in Mail > Settings > Viewing.
Choose which emails trigger a notification
Mail decides which messages count as new in its own settings. Choose Mail > Settings, click General, and open the New message notifications menu:
| Option | You get alerts for |
|---|---|
| Inbox Only | New mail in your inboxes |
| VIPs | Only messages from people you've marked as VIPs |
| Contacts | Only senders who are in the Contacts app |
| All Mailboxes | New mail in any mailbox |
To make someone a VIP, point at their name in an open message and click the star that appears. You can have up to 100 VIPs. On the same General tab, New messages sound sets the alert sound (or None), and Unread count picks which mailboxes count toward the red badge on the Dock icon. The badge only shows if Badge application icon is on for Mail in System Settings > Notifications.
Get notified only for certain senders or subjects
Rules give you more control than the VIP list. You can alert yourself about a project subject line, a client's domain or one particular account.
- In Mail, choose Mail > Settings and click Rules.
- Click Add Rule and give it a name.
- Set the conditions, for example From contains a domain, Subject contains a project name, or Account is your work account.
- Under the actions, choose Send Notification. You can add Play Sound or Bounce Icon in Dock as extra actions for messages you really can't miss.
- Click OK. Mail asks whether to apply the rule to messages already in your mailboxes; new mail is always checked.
Rules run on your Mac, so Mail needs to be open, even if only in the background.
Notifications for one email account only
Mail on Mac has no per-account switch in Notifications settings. Two ways around it:
- Focus filters. In System Settings > Focus, pick a Focus (such as Work), add a Mail filter and choose the accounts to show. While that Focus is on, you only see those accounts and get their notifications and badge counts. To get any Mail alerts during a Focus, Mail must also be allowed in that Focus.
- A rule. Create a rule with the condition Account is the account you care about and the action Send Notification, as above.
On iPhone it's simpler: go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Notifications, where you can customize notifications by account.
Silence a thread or snooze an email
To stop alerts from one busy thread, select it and choose Message > Mute; replies still land in your inbox, just silently. To be nudged later instead, Control-click a message and choose Remind Me, and Mail sends a notification at the time you pick. A Focus such as Do Not Disturb holds all notifications, Mail's included, until it ends.
How to turn off Mail notifications on Mac
- All of them: System Settings > Notifications > Mail, then turn off Allow Notifications.
- Just the sound: Mail > Settings > General, set New messages sound to None.
- Most of them: set New message notifications to VIPs, so only the people you chose can interrupt you.
Mail notifications not showing?
- Check that Mail is set to Banners or Alerts, not None, in System Settings > Notifications > Mail.
- Check New message notifications in Mail > Settings > General. If it's set to VIPs and you have no VIPs, you'll never get an alert.
- Turn off any Focus, or allow Mail in it.
- Keep Mail open, and check that Check for new messages (also in General) isn't set to Manually.
- If new mail isn't arriving at all, the problem isn't notifications; see Mac Mail not receiving emails.
Want fewer, smarter alerts?
Disclosure: we make Canary Mail. Mail's notification menu is all or nothing per mailbox, so you end up building VIP lists and rules by hand. Canary's AI inbox sorting does the first pass for you, so important mail is easier to spot. Canary Mail is an email app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android that works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, Exchange and other IMAP accounts. The free plan covers unlimited accounts on 2 devices with AI inbox sorting. The Growth plan ($36 a year) adds AI writing and summaries, read receipts, send later and a calendar on up to 5 devices. There's a 7-day trial, and paid plans are yearly or lifetime. More than 2 million people use it, and Apple has featured it on the App Store and the Mac App Store.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get email notifications on my MacBook?
Turn on Allow Notifications for Mail in System Settings > Notifications and choose Banners or Alerts. Then set New message notifications to Inbox Only or All Mailboxes in Mail > Settings > General.
Why am I not getting Mail notifications on my Mac?
The usual causes are a Focus that silences Mail, Mail set to None in Notifications settings, New message notifications set to VIPs with no VIPs, or Mail not running.
Can I get notifications for only one email account on a Mac?
Not with a single switch. Use a Focus filter that shows only that account, or a rule with Account as the condition and Send Notification as the action.
How do I get notifications only from certain people?
Make them VIPs and set New message notifications to VIPs, or set it to Contacts to hear only from people in your contacts.
Does Mail need to be open to send notifications?
Yes. Mail checks for messages and runs rules on your Mac, so leave it open in the background.
More Mac Mail how-tos
- Smart Mailboxes in Mac Mail
- How to snooze emails in Apple Mail
- How to customize the Mac Mail sidebar and Favorites
- Apple Mail keyboard shortcuts and how to change them
- How to customize the Apple Mail toolbar
- Apple Mail templates on Mac
Other Mac Mail fixes
- Mac Mail not opening or freezing
- Mac Mail keeps crashing
- Mac Mail not sending emails
- Messages stuck in the Outbox
- Mac Mail not receiving emails
- Mac Mail inbox not updating
- Mac Mail can't connect to the server
- "Unable to verify account name or password"
- Mac Mail not showing attachments
- Mac Mail not showing images
- Mac Mail search not working
Sources
- Apple Mail User Guide (macOS 27): Manage notifications
- Apple Mail User Guide (macOS 27): Change General settings
- Apple Mail User Guide (macOS 27): Change Rules settings
- Apple Mail User Guide (macOS 27): Mark emails to revisit later (VIPs)
- Apple Mail User Guide (macOS 27): Change Viewing settings
- Apple iPhone User Guide: Change your Mail settings on iPhone