Notifications & Preferences#
Notifications help you stay informed about activity in your courses. You can view notifications on the platform or receive them by email, depending on your preferences.
Where Notifications Appear#
Notification Tray#
The bell icon in the top-right corner opens the notifications tray. A count next to the bell icon shows the number of unseen notifications.#
The notification tray keeps you updated while you are browsing the site.
Select the bell icon in the top-right corner to open the notifications tray with tabs such as Discussions, Updates, and Grading.
Each notification shows the associated course, the time since it was created, and a red dot that indicates that it has not been clicked.
A gear icon in the tray takes you directly to your notification preferences on the Account Settings page.
If you have more notifications than can fit in the tray, a Load more button appears at the bottom. Select it to load more notifications.
Email Notifications#
Screenshot of an email containing a daily summary of notifications from the past 24 hours.#
Notification emails keep you informed when you are away from the platform. Depending on your preferences, you can receive email notifications immediately or as a daily or weekly summary.
Immediately: Receive the email notification as soon as the activity happens.
Daily: Receive a summary of notifications from the past 24 hours.
Weekly: Receive a summary of notifications from the past 7 days.
Email summaries contain up to 5 notifications for each platform area (Discussions, Updates, Grading). Select View more to see the rest in the notification tray on the platform.
Emails include a one-click unsubscribe option to turn off email notifications for all activity types.
Activity Types#
The following table lists activities that can generate notifications, depending on your preferences.
# |
Area |
Activity |
Preference name |
Tray default |
Email default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Discussions |
All activity on posts and responses that you have authored or follow |
Activity notifications |
ON |
Daily |
2 |
Discussions |
Someone reported a post, response or comment |
Reported content |
ON |
Daily |
3 |
Discussions |
Any new discussion post |
New discussion posts |
OFF |
OFF |
4 |
Discussions |
Any new question post |
New question posts |
OFF |
OFF |
5 |
Discussions |
Your instructor created a post and chose to notify everyone |
New posts from instructors |
ON |
Daily |
6 |
Updates |
Instructor created a course update |
Course updates |
ON |
Daily |
7 |
Grading |
You received a grade on your essay (ORA) submission |
Essay assignment grade received |
ON |
Daily |
8 |
Grading |
A submission made for an essay (ORA) that requires staff grading |
New ORA submission for staff grading |
ON |
Daily |
9 |
Grading |
You have a peer or self review step to complete for an essay assignment |
Essay assignment reminders |
ON |
Daily |
Managing Preferences#
You can manage notification preferences on the Account Settings page.#
Notification preferences allow you to control which notifications you receive, how often you receive them, and which channels they use. You can open the preferences page from:
The Notifications section on the Account Settings page.
The gear icon in the top-right corner of the notification tray.
The Notification Settings link at the bottom of notifications in email.
For each preference, you can:
Turn tray notifications on or off.
Turn email notifications on or off.
Choose an email cadence: Immediately, Daily, or Weekly.
Notifications Expiry#
Your site administrator may set a time limit for how long notifications remain available. Once they reach that age, they are automatically removed from your notification tray.
See also
Maintenance chart
Review Date |
Working Group Reviewer |
Release |
Test situation |
Jul 09, 2026 |
Aamir Ayub |
Verawood |
Pass |
Dec 15, 2025 |
Aamir Ayub |
Ulmo |