How to Customize and Schedule Do Not Disturb Mode in Mac?

Nowadays, starting and finishing a task within a specified time is one of the most challenging tasks for a computer user. Let’s say, you want to write a document and open Pages app. Suddenly, you may get an email notification that will take you to Mail app and you will click a social link from that which will take you to the browser. Finally, when you finish the social stuffs and return to your document, few hours might have been gone. If this is your routine, you should start using do not disturb mode to avoid distractions. In this article, we will explain how to schedule do not disturb mode in Mac and effectively automate the setup based on conditions.

Do Not Disturb Mode in Mac

The primary purpose of do not disturb mode in Mac is to restrict or disable notifications and calls. The missed notifications/calls will be sent to notification center, and you can view them later by clicking on the clock showing on top right corner of the Mac. This is part of “Focus” mode which allows you to do important tasks without distractions. The interface is somewhat different from macOS version 13 (Ventura) compared to the earlier versions (like Monterey). Therefore, we will show the settings in both cases and explain how to use.

1. Setup Do Not Disturb Mode in macOS Ventura or Later

• Click the Apple logo and select “System Settings” menu.
• Select “Focus” from the sidebar and you will see “Do Not Disturb” and “Sleep” options on the right pane. “Share across devices” option allows you to share your DND status across devices logged with the same Apple ID. And, enabling “Focus status” option allows to show the permitted apps like Messages to show your status to contacts that you are not seeing the notifications.
• If you want to set DND mode for a specific reason like “Reading, click on “Add Focus…” button.

• You will see a pop-up and select “Reading” or any other reason from the list. If you want to create a custom focus, then click on “Custom” and add a custom name to include in the list.

• Now, you will see the included focus item appears on the “Focus” settings as shown below and click on it. Actually, you will be directly taken to the “Reading” focus settings after creating it.

• You can anytime delete the custom create focus item (Reading) from its settings page and start using the default DND option.

Once you add a focus, Mac will silence all notifications and calls from all the contacts by default. You need to only schedule the DND mode to activate it. However, it is also possible to customize from whom you want to receive message or calls, and which apps are to be allowed as exceptions.

1.1. Allowing or Silencing People and Contacts

Click on the “Allowed People” and add the contacts for allowing or silencing the notifications. Similarly, you can select the options for allowing or silencing calls and repeated calls from contacts.

On the “Reading” focus settings page, click on “Allowed Apps” and select the apps from which you want to allow or silence the notifications. You can also enable time sensitive notifications from the silenced apps.

1.2. Scheduling Do Not Disturb Mode in Mac

As mentioned, this is the only action you need if you want to block all notifications and calls. You can either schedule do not disturb mode from the focus settings page or you can do this from the Control Center.

• When you are in “Reading” focus settings page, click on “Add Schedule” button.
• You can schedule DND mode based on time, location and app. For example, you can click “App” and select “Safari” from the list. This will enable DND mode automatically whenever you open Safari browser. To use location option, you must have enabled “Location Services” option in “Privacy & Security” section.

• For a time based schedule, click on “Time” and select the time and repeat days.

After creating a schedule, it will appear in the list and you can anytime modify or delete the item.

1.3. Focus Filters

This is an additional option to add exclusions or filters to your do not disturb mode setting. Click “Add Filters” button and select the app from the list. For example, you can select Safari from the list and select a tab group in Safari (you must have already created tab group in Safari) to allow when do not disturb mode is on.

1.4. Quickly Enabling or Disabling from Control Center and Top Bar

If you want to enable or disable DND mode, click on the Control Center icon from top menu bar. You will see the focus item appears if the schedule is enabled (Reading in our case). Otherwise, you will “Do Not Disturb” option in the list.

Click on the option and disable or enable as per your schedule settings. You can also select from additional options like 1 hour or until tomorrow morning options from the list.

If DND mode is automatically enabled from the schedule, you will see the icon in top bar. Click on it and disable or change the schedule if required.

2. Using Dot Not Disturb Mode in macOS Monterey or Earlier

Follow the below instructions if you are using macOS Monterey or earlier versions.

• Click the Apple menu and select “System Preferences…” option.
• Go to “Notifications & Focus” settings and then to “Focus” tab.
• Enable “Do Not Disturb” mode switch and customize the exception/allowed list of people, schedule and sharing options.