About notification settings

On your Activity page’s Notification Settings panel, you can choose which notifications you receive about activity in your courses. 

  • Stream: Choose which activities appear on your stream. 
  • Email: If you want to receive email notifications, add an email address to your profile page. Then, choose how often and which activities you want to receive notifications for. 
  • Push notifications: If you want to receive push notifications, choose how often and which activities you want to receive notifications for. Messages pop up on your mobile device if you have the mobile app installed.

Choose how and when you get notifications

You can choose the types of notifications you receive and how they're delivered to you. 

On your Activity page, select the Settings icon to open the Notification Settings panel. You can also access these settings from your profile page.

The Settings icon on the top right of the activity page, highlighted in blue

Stream notifications

You control what activity appears in your stream. Select the Stream Notification Settings tab.

Notification Settings panel, with the Stream notifications selected

Notifications for due dates and items ready to grade always appear in your stream. 

Choose which notifications you receive about activity in all your courses: 

  • New content 
    • Assessment added 
    • Content added 
  • New gradable items 
  • Grades need reconciliation 
  • Student alerts 
    • If activity data is available, identify those who are participating or may need help 
    • If grade data is available, compare grades with activity levels 
  • New discussion 
  • Discussion activity 
    • Activity on my responses 
    • Activity on responses I have replied to 
    • Responses from instructors 
    • Responses for followed discussions 
    • Replies for followed discussions 
  • New calendar event 
  • New course or organization 
  • Blog activity 
    • Blog entry posted 
    • Blog entry edited 
    • Blog comment posted 
  • Journal activity 
    • Journal entry posted 
    • Journal entry edited 
    • Journal comment posted 
  • Wiki activity
    • Wiki page created 
    • Wiki page edited 
    • Wiki comment posted 

You can choose to receive all notifications or only notifications of a certain type. Clear all the boxes if you don't want to receive emails about the activities in the list.

Email notifications

Select the Email Notification Settings tab.

Notification Settings panel, with Email notifications selected

If you haven't added an email address to your Profile page, you won't see any options in the Email Notification Settings tab.

Organization activities won’t trigger email notifications.

Choose how often you want to receive emails for activities in all your courses:

  • Email me right away: Receive individual notifications for each activity you choose from the list.
  • Email me once a day: All notifications are collected and sent once a day at a time set by your institution.

In the list for the Email me right away options, choose which notifications you want to receive: 

  • Discussion activity 
    • Activity on my responses 
    • Activity on responses I have replied to 
    • Responses from instructors 
    • Responses for followed discussions 
    • Replies for followed discussions 
  • New gradable items 
  • New messages 
  • New content added 
  • New and upcoming due dates 
  • Past due items 
  • New courses available

In the list for the Email me once a day options, choose which notifications you want to receive: 

  • New gradable items 
  • New messages 
  • New discussion messages 
  • New content added 
  • New and upcoming due dates 
  • Past due items 
  • New courses available 

Clear all the boxes if you don't want to receive emails about the activities in the list.

Restored courses

When one of your course packages is restored, you'll receive an email that details the number of new items. Select the link to go to your course.

SMS notifications

SMS notifications are available if your institution used Connect SMS Service before August 3, 2023. If this is the case, SMS notifications continue to be offered and existing SMS notification settings remain in place.

Learn more about SMS notifications

Push notifications

Push notifications are sent to a mobile device where you have the Blackboard mobile app installed. You can manage which push notifications are sent to your mobile device in these ways:

  • Blackboard on the web: Log in to Blackboard on a web browser and navigate to your Activity page. Select the Settings icon. From the Notification Settings panel, select the Push Notification Settings tab.
  • Blackboard mobile app: In the app's main menu, select Settings. Manage your push notifications settings based on your device.

Choose which push notifications you want to receive for activity in your courses:

  • New content and discussions 
  • New discussion responses 
    • From instructor only 
    • From everyone 

Clear all the boxes if you don't want to receive push notifications about the activities in the list.