How to set quiet hours and your default chat level

What buzzes you, under User menu › Account settings, is where you shape what reaches your devices. The user menu opens from your avatar at the foot of the left menu. Two settings there do most of the work: Quiet hours, and Default for channels.

Both sit on top of the per-device switch covered in How to turn on notifications. How the layers fit together is in What are notifications?.

How do you set quiet hours?

Quiet hours start switched on for everyone, from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM. To change them, pick new times in the From and to lists under Quiet hours. The lists move in 30-minute steps, and each change saves as you make it.

The window can wrap past midnight, which is the normal case. To have no quiet hours at all, turn the Quiet hours switch off. The times come back when you turn it on again.

Which time zone are quiet hours in?

Yours. The line under Quiet hours names the time zone the times are read in, such as America/Chicago.

That zone is set at the top of What buzzes you, under Your time zone. It follows the device you are using unless you pick one yourself. See How to set your time zone.

What do quiet hours actually do?

They drop notifications rather than holding them. A push sent at 3:00 AM, such as a chat mention or a low-stock alert, never reaches your devices. It does not wait for the morning.

The record is still there when you look. A message stays in its channel, and an alert stays in Work › Inbox, covered in How to see what needs you.

Task reminders work differently. A reminder that falls due overnight waits, and arrives shortly after your quiet hours end.

Does anything get through quiet hours?

No. Quiet hours cover every kind of push, including approvals, suggested changes and a channel you set to Every message.

So pick a window that matches the hours you genuinely do not want to be reached, and keep it narrow if you are the person who signs off urgent orders.

What is the default for channels?

Default for channels decides how much any chat channel you have not set individually notifies you. There are three choices:

• Every message. Sensible only if you are in very few channels.
• Mentions & replies only. The starting setting, and the right one for almost everybody.
• Nothing. No chat pushes at all, and you catch up when you look.

We recommend staying on Mentions & replies only, then raising the level on the two or three channels that need your attention. That way round produces far fewer notifications than starting loud and muting.

A level set on an individual channel overrides this default, per How to mute or follow a channel.

Which alerts have their own switch?

Four, below the channel default: Task reminders, Low-stock alerts, Notable order alerts and Suggestions. Each turns that kind of push on or off for your devices.

Every other push, such as a task assignment, a comment, an approval or a workflow notification, follows only your quiet hours. Chat also follows your channel levels. What each switch covers is in How to control task, stock and order alerts.

Can an admin change these for me?

No. These settings are personal, and changing yours affects nobody else.

What an admin can do is stop a kind of alert for the whole workspace, by switching off the automation that sends it. See How to turn an automation on, off, or run it now.

Can you set these on the phone?

Yes. In the Tideswell iPhone app, open the menu (the ⇕ button), tap Settings, then Notifications. It changes the same settings as the web, so a change in either place shows in both.

The phone screen uses slightly different words:

• Quiet hours has Start and End times, which can be set to any minute. The line beneath names the time zone they are read in.
• Default for new channels offers All messages, Mentions & replies and Muted.
• Under Alerts, Order alerts is the same switch as Notable order alerts on the web.

Set your time zone and the Suggestions switch on the web, under User menu › Account settings. The phone follows what you choose there.