How to disable Chrome notifications

Google Chrome notifications aren’t always the easiest thing to master. Some websites like Facebook will ask if you want to turn on notifications in Chrome, but it’s an easy window to miss or ignore if you aren’t sure what it is.

But there are other times when you turn on notifications for a site like Facebook only to regret the decision either because they're too much or you're already getting notifications in another way (via your computer's OS, your phone, your smartwatch, etc.). Here's how to take control of your Chrome notifications whether you're using a PC, Mac or mobile:

Find your notification settings

The first thing you need to know is how to get to your notification settings in the browser, which are a bit hidden. Click on the "hamburger" menu in the top right of your Chrome window and click Settings.

Find your Chrome settings in the browser's drop down menu.

Scroll down the settings screen and click the link at the very bottom that says Show advanced settings… and then click the Content settings… button directly under the Privacy heading. Scroll down to the Notifications section to see your basic notification settings, which look like this:

Turning notifications off or on

If you don’t want to see any notifications while browsing Chrome, the easiest thing to do is select the option Do not allow any site to show notifications. But if you want to be more selective, you can turn individual website notifications off when you click on the Manage exceptions…button.

The "Manage exceptions..." button brings up a menu with every website that has asked your permission to send notifications.

This section will show you which websites have asked for your permission to show notifications and whether or not you allowed it. With the exception of Google sites and apps like Mail, Docs and Drive, you can turn any website notifications on and off from here.

In the bottom box, you can also block notifications from entire domains or specific IP addresses. To block entire domains, put [*.] before the web address and select block. For example, to block all Google domains from sending notifications, type [*.]google.com into the area to cover all Google sites.

With this knowledge at your fingertips, you now have complete control over your Chrome notifications. Go forth and browse.