On modern Macs, swiping left with two fingers from the right edge of your trackpad—or pressing the dedicated hardware key (F8) on newer Magic Keyboards—instantly slides out the Notification Center from the right side of your screen. This panel displays your unread alerts and various interactive widgets.
However, if you type quickly or use complex keyboard shortcuts in professional software like Photoshop or Final Cut Pro, you might occasionally bump the F8 key by accident. This causes the large Notification Center to abruptly slide over your workspace, interrupting your flow and stealing keyboard focus. If you prefer to open the Notification Center manually by clicking the date/time in the menu bar, you can disable the hardware shortcut.
How to Disable the Notification Center Shortcut on a Mac
You can turn off the F8 shortcut directly from the macOS Keyboard settings.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of your Mac’s screen.
- Select System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions).
- Scroll down the left-hand navigation sidebar and click on Keyboard.
- In the main window on the right, click the button labelled Keyboard Shortcuts…
- In the left-hand pane of the pop-up window, click on Mission Control.
- Look for the item in the right-hand list labelled Show Notification Center (it should have F8 listed next to it).
- Uncheck the box next to this item to completely unbind the key.
- Click Done.
The hardware shortcut is now disabled. Pressing the F8 key will no longer trigger the Notification Center panel to slide out, ensuring your workspace remains completely uninterrupted while typing.