How to use Focus assist in Windows 11? In today’s world, there are many factors to keep us busy and wasting time doing more important things, including social media and various announcements. With that in mind, Microsoft unveiled the Focus assist feature in Windows 10, which fortunately is also present in Windows 11.
As mentioned, the Focus assists feature was first added to Windows 10 in the 2018 update as an alternative to the Quiet Hours feature. Now the Redmondians have made working with Focus assist more attractive than ever in their new generation of operating systems, which will be officially released in a few days.
How to use Focus assist in Windows 11?
Enabling this feature will block various notifications that appear through pop-up windows at the bottom of the screen. This feature is activated automatically by setting the screen in Presentation mode, using an app in Full-screen mode, or while the game is running.
In the following, we will explain how to change these automatic settings, but first, we need to know how to work with Focus assist manually.
Start a session
In Windows 11, the Focus assist feature has become part of the Clock app. To start each session manually, you need to log in to the clock app, which you can access by searching for the word “Clock” in the taskbar search box.
The purpose of the meeting is the period of time when you want to do your work in the Windows environment in complete peace and away from the usual announcements and distractions.
After entering the clock app, you will be redirected to a page that helps you specify the desired duration of your meeting. You can also use this page to set daily goals for yourself.
In addition, there are tiles that you can use to sync your Spotify account with sessions or add tasks specified in the Microsoft To-Do app to your session.
If you click on the settings icon in the left corner of the app, you can specify the duration of each session and the necessary breaks for rest, the alert for interruptions or the end of the session, and the settings related to Spotify tiles and the To-Do app.
The Windows 11 Clock App Settings page lets you select a theme for this app and change your notification settings (including notifications that should not be blocked during the session).
To further customize this feature and change the automatic settings, you should refer to the Focus assist settings section.
Focus assist settings
There are several ways to enter the Focus assist settings section. One way is to enter the Windows 11 settings menu, select the System option, and then select Focus assist.
Another way is to search for the name Focus assist from the search box in Taskbar. The third method is to click on the clock indicator in the right corner of the taskbar and then select Focus assist settings.
After entering the settings section, you will be faced with the following two sections.
Focus assist
The first part allows you to enable or disable Focus assist and, when this feature is enabled, specify the following parameters for it.
Priority only
Priority only is an option that limits your notifications to those in the priority list. You can specify your list of priority notifications by clicking on the Customize priority list link below. After this, you will always be notified of incoming calls, reminders or notifications of specific apps.
Windows 11 has also added the ability to prioritize notifications received from contacts pinned to the taskbar, and to add them to your to-do list, just click Add contacts.
Alarms only
This option allows you to hide all notifications, except for the warnings you have already specified.
Show a summary of what I missed when focus assist was on
If you are concerned about missing notifications during Focus assist sessions, you can access them by activating the “Show a summary of what I missed when focus assist was on” option. Blocked notifications will be displayed automatically when Focus assist is disabled.
Automatic rules
The second section, which deals with automated rules, allows you to specify the number of pre-set rules for your meetings.
Using the available On and Off modes, you can enable or disable any of the options in this section, but if you want to change the settings, you must click on the name of that feature.
During these hours
This feature helps you specify the day and time of Focus assist activation. To edit this section, click on the name of this feature and then set the status to On.
After activating it, you can set the start and end time of each session and its days (every day, working days, weekends). You can also set your session to priority only or alarms only.
When I’m duplicating my display
This option works when you are using two monitors. By activating it, you can specify which Focus assist status is priority only or alarm only.
When I’m playing a game
This option is useful when playing, and after activating it, you can specify which Focus assist mode is in priority only or alarm only.
When I’m using an app in full-screen mode only
This option is intended for when you are using an app in full-screen mode. After activating it, you can specify which Focus assist status is in priority only or alarm only.
Finally, you should know that when the Focus assist feature is enabled, a small icon will appear at the bottom right of your Windows 11 taskbar, which you can click to view the missing notifications.
Source: The Verge
