How to Mute Notifications During Meetings and Calls in Microsoft Teams

When presenting your screen, leading a conference call, or participating in a high-stakes client discussion on Microsoft Teams, having incoming chat banners pop up on your desktop can be highly disruptive. In worst-case scenarios, incoming message notifications might expose confidential project details or private client communications to everyone viewing your shared screen.

Microsoft Teams provides built-in privacy and notification controls that automatically silence chat banners and audio alerts during active meetings and calls. Here is how to configure Teams to ensure an uninterrupted, distraction-free meeting experience.

Method 1: Enable “Mute Notifications During Meetings” in Settings

The most effective and permanent approach is configuring Teams to automatically suppress alerts whenever you enter a meeting or call:

1. Open Microsoft Teams on your Windows or Mac desktop.
2. Click the Settings and more button (the three horizontal dots ...) located in the top-right corner next to your profile picture.
3. Select Settings from the menu.
4. In the left navigation sidebar, click Notifications and activity.
5. Scroll down to the section titled Meetings and calls.
6. Locate the toggle labelled Mute notifications during meetings and calls.
7. Switch the toggle to ON.

Once enabled, Teams automatically silences all message preview toasts, activity banners, and notification chimes the moment you join any scheduled meeting, ad-hoc huddle, or direct voice call. As soon as you leave the call, normal notification behaviour resumes automatically.

Method 2: Mute Notifications for a Specific Meeting Chat

If you are in a large company-wide presentation where attendees are constantly typing in the meeting chat sidebar, the continuous stream of notifications can distract you from the speaker. You can silence a specific meeting chat thread directly:

1. In Teams, click the Chat tab on the left app bar.
2. Locate the active meeting chat thread in your chat list.
3. Hover over the meeting name, click the three horizontal dots (...), and select Mute.
4. Alternatively, if you already have the meeting window open, click the Chat icon in the top toolbar to reveal the chat pane, click the three dots at the top of the chat panel, and select Mute.

Muting a meeting chat stops all unread badges, pop-up previews, and sounds for that conversation, while still allowing you to open the chat pane and read comments whenever you choose.

Method 3: Leverage Windows 11 Focus / Do Not Disturb

If you want system-wide protection against all incoming notifications (including Outlook emails, web browser pings, and third-party apps) while presenting on Teams, integrate Teams with Windows 11 Focus sessions:

1. Open Windows 11 Settings (Windows + I).
2. Navigate to System > Focus.
3. Under “When sharing your screen”, ensure that Do not disturb is configured to activate automatically.
4. Alternatively, click the date and time in the bottom-right corner of your Windows taskbar and click the Focus button to trigger a distraction-free block immediately.

How to Allow Priority Contacts Through the Filter

If your team requires that urgent communications from specific managers or executives still reach you during meetings, configure your Priority Access list:

1. In Teams Settings, go to Privacy.
2. Under the “Do Not Disturb” header, click Manage priority access.
3. Type the names or email addresses of essential colleagues and select them.

Priority contacts will bypass Do Not Disturb filters, ensuring critical operational emergencies reach you while routine notifications remain muted.

Configuring notification suppression during active calls protects confidential client data during screen shares and preserves your professional focus in Microsoft Teams.