How to Enable Focus Assist on Windows 10

Last Updated: December 8, 2021 Tested

Focus Assist is a feature built into Windows 10 that allows you to limit what notifications you get. It can be useful when you don't want to be bothered or are playing a game. It can also be helpful if you are giving a presentation. Focus Assist can be enabled manually, or it can be configured to come on automatically based on certain events. This wikiHow will teach you how to enable and configure Focus Assist.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:
Manually Enable Focus Assist

1
Open the Action Center. It looks like a speech icon in the bottom right of the screen.
2
Click on "Focus assist". You may have to click on "Expand" to see this option.^{[1]
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- Clicking on it once will enable priority mode. Twice will enable alarms only mode. Clicking once more will turn off Focus Assist.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 5:
Schedule Focus Assist

1
Open Settings. Open the Start Menu
and then click on the settings gear
.
2
Select "System".
3
Click on "Focus assist" in the left pane.
4
Click or tap "During these times" under the "Automatic rules" section.
5
Turn the switch to "On"
.
6
Specify a start and end time by using the menu boxes.
7
Select how the schedule should repeat. Selecting "Daily" will enable the schedule every day. Selecting "Weekends" or "Weekdays" will enable Focus Assist only on the Weekends or Weekdays respectively.
- Unfortunately, you can currently only specify one schedule for Focus Assist.
8
Select the "Focus level". You can choose either "Priority only", or "Alarms only". Selecting priority only will only allow notifications that you specify in the priority only settings. Selecting Alarms only will only allow alarms through.
- If you want to get a notification that Focus Assist has turned on, then you can check the "Show a notification in the action center when focus assist is turned on automatically" checkbox
  .
  - This notification will appear silently, which means that it won't pop out of the Action Center.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 5:
Enable Focus Assist When You are Playing a Game

1
Open Settings. Click the Start button
, and then click on the settings gear
.
2
Click on "System".
3
Click on the "Focus assist" option in the left pane.
4
Toggle the "When I'm playing a game" switch to on
. By default, this will only let alarms through focus assist, but you can change it to priority only by clicking on the controller, and then selecting priority only.
- You can also get a silent notification when Focus Assist is enabled for a game.
- Windows may not be able to detect all games.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 5:
Enable Focus Assist when You are Presenting

1
Open Settings. Click the Start button
, and then click on the settings gear
.
2
Click on "System".
3
Click on the "Focus assist" option in the left pane.
4
Toggle the "When I'm using an app in full screen" and "When I'm duplicating my display" switches to on
. By default, this will only let alarms through focus assist, but you can change it to priority only by clicking on the respective options, and then selecting priority only.
- You can also get a silent notification when Focus Assist it turns on for these reasons.
- This will prevent notifications from coming through when you are presenting, and it could prevent embarrassing situations.
- This might also help with games that Windows can't detect.
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Method 5

Method 5 of 5:
Configure Priority Mode

1
Open Settings. Click on the start button
, and then click on the settings button
.
2
Open the "System" settings. It's the button next to the computer image.
3
Select "Focus assist" in the left pane. It has a moon icon next to it.
4
Select "Configure your priority list.
5
Decide which items you want to allow through Focus Assist. You can select to allow certain notifications and contacts through and select apps that can still send notifications.

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