Slack Notifications Not Working on Mac? 9 Quick Fixes (2026)

When Slack notifications stop working on a Mac, a setting is usually to blame rather than a bug. Check four places in this order: whether Slack has paused your notifications, whether macOS allows Slack under System Settings → Notifications, whether a Focus or Do Not Disturb is on, and whether Slack's own preferences still have Desktop notifications checked.

A silent Slack is worse than a noisy one, because you don't know what you're missing until someone asks why you never answered. This guide runs from the ten-second checks down to clearing the app's cache, covers banners that show up without a sound, and ends with a short setup that keeps important messages reaching you.

1. Check whether Slack has paused your notifications

Slack can pause notifications on its own schedule, separate from anything on your Mac. When notifications are paused, a snooze icon appears next to your name, and other people see it too, per Slack's guide to pausing notifications.

1. In the Slack desktop app, click your profile picture in the sidebar.
2. Hover over Notifications.
3. If you see Resume notifications, click it.

Then check the schedule, since it's easy to set and forget. Slack has a Working hours setting that only allows notifications during the days and times you pick, per Slack's guide to pausing notifications. Open profile picture → Preferences → Notifications and look under Working hours at the Allow notifications drop-down (Every day, Weekdays or Custom). Your own schedule overrides any default an admin set for the workspace.

I set mine to end at 6 p.m., then forgot about it during a launch week when the team was working late, and spent an evening wondering why the channel had gone so quiet. If your hours change around big deadlines, widen the schedule for that week rather than relying on memory.

2. Allow Slack in macOS System Settings

Since macOS Monterey, Slack's desktop notifications are delivered and controlled by macOS, so a block there silences Slack no matter what Slack's preferences say. Slack's troubleshooting guide lists it among the first things to check.

1. Choose Apple menu → System Settings, then click Notifications in the sidebar (you may need to scroll).
2. Under Application Notifications, click Slack.
3. Turn on Allow notifications.
4. Under Alert Style, make sure Slack is allowed to appear on the Desktop. Choose Persistent if you want each notification to stay on screen until you dismiss it.
5. Turn on Play sound for notification and Badge application icon if you want the sound and the red count on the Dock icon.

Those labels come from Apple's notification settings guide for the current macOS. On older versions the same choice is called Banners or Alerts, which is the wording Slack's guide uses; pick either, never None.

Notifications stop when you share your screen

Above the app list on that Notifications page, macOS has options for showing notifications when the display is sleeping, when the screen is locked, and when mirroring or sharing the display. If that last one isn't set to Allow Notifications, Slack goes silent for the whole time you're presenting. That's what you want during a client demo, but if you share your screen all day, set it to Allow Notifications.

This one bit me after a long video call where I'd shared my screen for most of it. Nothing came through, and afterward I had a pile of DMs that had arrived without a single banner. Now I check that setting before I blame Slack.

3. Turn off Focus and Do Not Disturb, or let Slack through

A Focus on your Mac silences notifications from every app it isn't set to allow, and Slack is often not on the list. Open Control Center (the two-toggles icon near the clock) and check whether Focus or Do Not Disturb is on; click it to turn it off.

To stay in a Focus and still hear from Slack, add Slack to it. Per Apple's Focus guide:

1. Open System Settings and click Focus in the sidebar.
2. Click the Focus you use, such as Work or Do Not Disturb.
3. Under Allowed Apps, if the Notifications pop-up says Allow Some Apps, click Add and choose Slack. If it says Silence Some Apps, make sure Slack isn't on that list.
4. Check Set a Schedule too. A Focus that turns on automatically at a set time can look like Slack breaking at the same hour every day.

Focus can also stay in sync across your Apple devices, so a Focus you switched on from your iPhone may be the one quieting your Mac. Glance at Control Center for an active Focus before you change anything in Slack.

4. Check Slack's own notification preferences

Inside Slack, desktop notifications can be switched off entirely or limited to mentions, and each workspace keeps its own settings. Slack's notification guide lists the options:

1. Click your profile picture in the sidebar and choose Preferences, then Notifications.
2. Under How to notify you, make sure Desktop notifications is checked.
3. Under What to notify you about, choose Everything or Mentions and direct messages.
4. Scroll to Channel keywords and add any words you want to be alerted about, such as a project name or your team's name. Keywords aren't case-sensitive.
5. Under Also notify you about, check Someone replies to a thread you're following if thread replies are what you're missing.

If you're in more than one workspace, repeat this in each one. A teammate once told me a decision had been made in a thread I never saw. The workspace was a client's, and I'd never touched its preferences, so it was still on a setting I hadn't chosen.

5. Unmute the channel that's gone quiet

When only some channels are silent, they're probably muted or set to a narrower level than the rest. A muted channel usually disappears from your sidebar, according to Slack's channel notification guide, which is why it's easy to forget you muted it.

1. Open the channel. If it's hidden, search for it by name.
2. Click the notifications icon in the channel header.
3. Change the setting back from mute, or pick the level you want for that channel.

Mentions in a muted channel still show a numbered badge next to it, so you aren't completely cut off. I keep busy social channels muted and only the ones where people ask me for things on full notifications. It's a better trade than muting Slack as a whole.

6. Fix Slack notifications with no sound on Mac

If banners appear but you hear nothing, the sound is being muted somewhere between Slack and your speakers. Go down this list, taken from Slack's troubleshooting guide:

1. In Slack, open profile picture → Preferences → Notifications, scroll to Sounds & appearance, and make sure Mute all sounds from Slack is unchecked. Pick a sound for New messages while you're there.
2. In System Settings → Notifications → Slack, turn on Play sound for notification.
3. In System Settings → Sound, check that Play sound effects through points to the speakers or headphones you're actually using, raise the Alert volume, and turn on Play user interface sound effects.
4. Test it from Slack: under Preferences → Sounds & appearance, click Show an example.

Slack also notes that external monitors can cause sound problems, so if you work with a display plugged in, disconnect it briefly to test. Bluetooth headphones left connected in another room cause the same silence, and the Sound settings are where you'll spot them.

7. Clear Slack's cache and update the app

When every setting looks right and Slack still won't notify you, stale local data is the next suspect. Slack's Mac app has a built-in way to clear it. Per Slack's connection troubleshooting guide:

1. Open the Slack desktop app.
2. Click Help in the Mac's menu bar (not inside the Slack window).
3. Choose Troubleshooting, then Clear Cache and Restart.

Then make sure you're on the latest version. Slack's update guide gives two paths, depending on where you got the app:

• Downloaded from Slack's site: open the Slack menu next to the Apple menu, pick Check for Updates, then Restart to Apply Update.
• From the Mac App Store: open the App Store, click Updates in the sidebar, and click Update next to Slack if it's listed.

A full reinstall is the last resort, and it's rarely needed if the cache clear and the update didn't change anything; the cause is more likely one of the settings above.

8. Using Slack in Safari or Chrome? Allow the website's notifications

Slack in a browser tab notifies you through the browser, not the Slack app, so it needs its own permission. For Safari, open Safari → Settings, click Websites, then Notifications, and make sure Slack's site is set to allow. Apple's Safari guide notes that websites also appear in System Settings → Notifications, where they need Allow notifications on just like an app. In Chrome, check the site's permissions from the icon next to the address.

Running Slack in a browser tab and the desktop app at the same time can split where your notifications go. Pick one. For a full workday, the desktop app is the more reliable of the two, because it doesn't depend on a tab staying open.

9. Still nothing? Test the connection and send Slack your logs

If notifications arrive late or not at all on a work network, the network itself may be blocking Slack. Visit slack.com/help/test to run Slack's connection test; if it reports errors, Slack's guide says to take them to your network administrator. Power-saving or optimization apps can also block notifications, so pause any you run or add Slack to their allowed list.

When you've tried everything, send Slack the evidence. In the Mac app, go to Help → Troubleshooting → Report Issue, add a short summary and send it; Slack's troubleshooting guide says logs attach automatically.

How to stop missing the Slack messages that matter

Fixing notifications once is the easy bit. Keeping the right ones coming through, without drowning in the rest, takes a little setup:

• Add VIPs. People on your VIP list still get through while your notifications are paused, per Slack's pause guide. Put your manager and your most important clients there.
• Let Slack into your Work Focus so a Focus quiets everything else but not your team.
• Use keywords for the things people never tag you on, like a launch name or a client's company.
• Turn on Allow Notifications for screen sharing if you present every day, or check Slack straight after each call if you don't.
• Check working hours before a late week, not after you've missed the messages.

If you're the one sending, remember the other side. A message I post at 11 p.m. buzzes the phone of anyone whose notifications are still on, so I schedule the Slack message for the start of their day instead. And if your team is deciding between chat apps altogether, the Microsoft Teams vs Slack comparison covers how the two handle plans and features.