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Changing Notification Settings for all users on a Team

Brass Contributor

Is there a way to change the notification settings for everyone that is part of a Team Channel? In other words... we have a channel in our Teams chat that we want everyone to receive notifications for whenever there is a reply in that channel. 
I don't mind using PowerShell or whatever I need to use in order to achieve this. We just want everyone on the team to receive notifications for all replies in a channel. 

 

Background:
We attempted to migrate a client group to Teams in order to enable functionality with our Office 365 setup. We have an app for them to use, and we have a Site that we share files on, etc. This group of people are newer to technology, so having everything be user-friendly is a must. 
The problem came up that nobody was receiving notifications for replies in the Team channels. They are only used to SMS text messaging and group texting, so they want to use the channels similarly to group texts. 
The group ended up switching back to texting because its easier for them to use. We need them to switch to Teams, so we want to fix this issue for them and make things as easy as possible. 


34 Replies
best response confirmed by Reylin4 (Brass Contributor)
Solution

No, only the users themselves can modify their notification settings, you cannot control this on their behalf. 

@Vasil Michev 

 

No way at all? I'm sad to hear that. It would be okay if the default was that everyone receives notifications for all replies in a channel, but this is not the case... which is a problem for us. 
I will let my team know. 

 

Thank you for telling me~ 

@Reylin4 I agree with you and noticed the same thing.  We just switched to Office 365 from G Suite and I'm planning training for my team and thought it was odd that notifications are OFF by default as most users aren't going to go through 20 channels just to turn them all on.  Came across this post by searching how to force them on with no luck.  Weird that there's no way to do this or at least have them ON by default.  I thought sure it would be the other way around, TOO many notifications that you want to turn off vs trying to turn ones on!

@Reylin4 How about just putting an @Mention of the Channel Name in each message.  Everyone would get that, right?

I haven't tested that but definitely could. I mean I'm not overly concerned though, my thought is that certain channels will be almost mandatory, like process ones, so employees will be informed they need to either turn on notifications, or make a point of checking it frequently. If a process change is posted and they have notifications left off, and didn't go in and check, then that's on them I guess. But if @ mentioning the channel name does notify everyone, even with notifications off then that would be a good idea for really important messages!

@psychobunny83  I have just tested @ team name, and all members in the team received notification, including those with notifications turned off.  Good work around, however would be better if we can get the default setup to be notifications on, with user having option to turn off.

@Vasil Michev , I would like to add my vote for Microsoft to allow team owners to set channel notification settings that apply to all team/channel members. There could be some flexibility, such as owners being able to indicate whether or not team members can override channel notification settings put in place by the team owner. It is unreasonable to expect each team member to go in individually and turn on channel notifications for an important channel, especially for large teams.

When a team channel is created and users are added the default for notifications should be set to ON. We are an organization with a significant population of technologically challenged users so when I add users to a channel they never see any activity because they don't know how to turn on the notifications.  The default should be ON please.

@Reylin4 

I suggest you all sign-in to UserVoice to vote for this enhancement request. Link: https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/. If you search for "channel notifications default", you will see the same or similar request multiple times. I found and voted for five requests that I found. Here is the comment I left on each page besides voting for each enhancement request: 

"I agree COMPLETELY. This same request has been requested in other UserVoice threads. Is there any reason not to allow administrators to make sure users get notified? (1) Notifications should be ON by default. (2) Administrators should be able to turn on notifications for all users for each channel."

@PatrickDuganHolmes In addition, I would add that if notifications are turned on by Default, perhaps there should also be a switch that would allow only group owners to send messages to the group.  I can imagine the reason for not including this option is to prevent everyone in the company from spamming everyone else on the team with Chat messages.

@Marty Smith this sounds great if all members are notified.

I totally agree with you!
I am trying to convince my students to join all the Teams Channels I created to interact with them on different projects. Not having them be notified automatically when I send a message is becoming a major hurtle.
Has there been any change to this in the past year?

Seems incredibly foolish to now allow administrators to control this for an organization?

@Jim Rice, I have that option for each channel. Use the "hamburger" for the channel and choose "manage channel" and you can change the permissions for who can post. I would like to see another layer that only admin can post and users can reply rather than only all or none.

I completely disagree with the suggestion, and like the notifications the way they are. I don't want all the members of a team to be notified with every conversation and every reply. That's too much communication and diminishes the usefulness of the tool. If the poster intends everyone to be notified, They simply @mention the channel or the entire team. That's easy and efficient. Otherwise, conversations without specific mentions to users, channels or the team can be considered just a conversation within a room, without directing it at anyone in particular. Those conversations are available to the members to view and respond, but their attention is not required. It's a great concept for projects where lots of people interact. Keep the conversation in the appropriate channel, and only @mention the people who MUST see it.

I don't really care if they are default on or off, though I see good reason for both. What makes no sense to me is :

  1. Team owners can't override a user's settings, or at least set them at creation. It seems vital for owners to configure the team for the team's specific use case. (Especially in education)
  2. Team owners can't see an individual's notification settings per channel. Sending messages currently is like throwing a dart in the dark. I have no idea who is or isn't seeing what has been posted.
Teams is a collaboration platform and introducing it to your organisation
requires, planning/testing and user education the decisions on notification settings is a great example and should not be up to individuals, but defined by management, furthermore which Teams or channels to subscribe to needs to be defined and how often you should act (ROE)
A Wiki for individual Teams to support correct use is also with considering.

I vote for central management of all settings etc.

Regards
I think trying to force a single way of working down from above is what makes users hate IT.
Sure, some users can find the amount of notifications they receive annoying, but its up to them to decide what they want to react to.

If something is critically important, you can always use the Urgent message flag (assuming you have the appropriate licence to use that)

But my experience as a Teams consultant here is that any implementation of Teams needs change management, not just "training" and not just for the users. But a strategy that looks at how Teams can do things better rather than just trying to replicate old tools.

Forcing ways of working down peoples throats is not going to drive adoption, if you make something painful to use, that's when shadow IT pops up.
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Reylin4 (Brass Contributor)
Solution

No, only the users themselves can modify their notification settings, you cannot control this on their behalf. 

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