How to Configure Teams Notification and Feeds Policies Using PowerShell CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy

In enterprise organizations running Microsoft Teams, managing user notification volume is vital for maintaining productivity and reducing notification fatigue. Microsoft Teams allows tenant administrators to govern how users receive activity feed notifications, email digests for missed messages, and promotional feed recommendations. Using the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module, administrators can automate and enforce these notification behaviors through CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy.

This guide explains how to inspect existing notification and feed policies, create custom tenant policies, configure email digest frequencies and feed suggestions, and assign policies to specific user accounts or groups across Microsoft 365.

Understanding CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy Capabilities

The CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy cmdlets manage activity notifications across the desktop, web, and mobile Teams clients. Key configurable policy settings include:

• EmailDigestEnabled: Controls whether users receive periodic email digests summarizing missed team activities, channel posts, and mentions when offline or inactive in Teams.
• SuggestedFeedNotificationsEnabled: Determines whether Microsoft Teams algorithmically injects suggested or trending feed notifications into the user activity feed (such as suggestions from people the user frequently collaborates with).
• User Assignment: Allows applying customized notification models to specific departments (such as executives, frontline workers, or call center agents) while leaving global defaults for standard users.

Connecting to Microsoft Teams PowerShell

Ensure that the latest MicrosoftTeams module is installed on the administration workstation. Connect to the tenant environment using administrative credentials:

Connect-MicrosoftTeams

Once authenticated, check the installed module version to ensure support for modern policy cmdlets:

Get-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams | Select-Object Name, Version

Inspecting Existing Notification and Feed Policies

To inspect all configured notification and feeds policies within the Microsoft 365 tenant, execute:

Get-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy

To view the default Global policy applied to all tenant users who do not have an explicit custom policy assignment:

Get-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity Global | Format-List Identity, Description, EmailDigestEnabled, SuggestedFeedNotificationsEnabled

The cmdlet returns boolean flags indicating whether email digests and suggested notifications are permitted across the tenant.

Creating a Custom Focused Notification Policy

In environments where users report distraction from non-essential algorithmic notifications, administrators can create a dedicated policy that disables suggested activity feed items while preserving essential email digests:

New-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity "FocusedProductivityPolicy" -Description "Disables algorithmically suggested feed items to minimise distraction" -EmailDigestEnabled $true -SuggestedFeedNotificationsEnabled $false

To create an ultra-quiet policy for specialized roles (such as conference room accounts, production monitors, or restricted accounts) where email digests should also be suppressed:

New-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity "QuietKioskPolicy" -Description "Suppresses all email digests and suggested feed notifications" -EmailDigestEnabled $false -SuggestedFeedNotificationsEnabled $false

Modifying Existing Policy Settings

To adjust settings on an existing policy without recreating it, use the Set-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy cmdlet:

Set-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity "FocusedProductivityPolicy" -SuggestedFeedNotificationsEnabled $false

If organizational security or governance mandates that email digests should be disabled globally across the entire tenant:

Set-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity Global -EmailDigestEnabled $false

Assigning Notification Policies to Users and Groups

To assign a custom notification policy to an individual user, use the Grant-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy cmdlet:

Grant-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity "[email protected]" -PolicyName "FocusedProductivityPolicy"

To assign the policy across an entire departmental group (such as a Microsoft 365 security group or distribution group):

Grant-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Group "Finance-Team-ID" -PolicyName "FocusedProductivityPolicy" -Rank 1

To remove an explicit policy assignment from a user so they inherit the global tenant default policy, pass $null:

Grant-CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy -Identity "[email protected]" -PolicyName $null

Verifying User Policy Inheritance

To confirm that a user has adopted the correct notification settings, query the effective policy assignment on their account:

Get-CsUserPolicyAssignment -Identity "[email protected]" -PolicyType TeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy

By tailoring CsTeamsNotificationAndFeedsPolicy across departments, enterprise IT teams effectively balance communication awareness with distraction-free digital workplace standards.