How to use the Windows 10 April 2018 Update s Focus assist feature to reduce distractions

3] Apps can be used for any full-screen experience which includes gaming or watching a movie on NetFlix or VLC – you can add those apps here.

How to enable & configure Focus Assist on Windows 11/10

Focus Assist is the revamped “Quiet Hours” feature which instead of just turning off notifications for a particular time of the day lets you choose notification based on pre-defined priority, alarms, levels, or completely turn off everything. In this post, I will help you understand how you can configure Focus Assist on Windows 11/10.

Focus Assist on Windows 11/10

After configuring Focus Assist, you can choose which notifications you would like to see, and hear so you can stay focused. The rest will go straight to the Action Center where you can see them anytime.

1. Off: This will turn off all notifications from your apps, and contacts.
2. Priority Only: See notifications from apps you choose.
3. Alarms only. Hide all notifications, except for alarms.

While the 1st and 3rd options are straightforward, Priority Only is what you need to configure. Click on the Customize your priority list link.

Under Priority list, you can manage notifications from three places – Phone, People, and Apps.

• VoIP calls, and calls from a linked phone.
• Text messages from a linked phone.
• Show reminders, regardless of the app used.

2] People will work with any Windows 10 App which is synced with your contact book and can show notifications. Here you can select a set of contacts for which you want to receive notifications during no matter how busy you are with your work. You can also choose to see notifications from contacts that you had pinned to Taskbar.

3] Apps can be used for any full-screen experience which includes gaming or watching a movie on NetFlix or VLC – you can add those apps here.

This post will help you if you cannot turn off Focus Assist in Windows.

Automatic Rules for Focus Assist

While you can always right-click on the Action Center on the Taskbar, and choose which type of Focus assist you would want to try, there are times when you want Focus Assist to get enabled automatically even if it is not the time you had set on your PC.

• During a set range of hours.
• When you duplicate your screen for presentations.
• When you are playing a game.

When setting a range for your Focus assist, you can choose it to get enabled daily or on weekends, and also the level of Focus assist.

Focus Assist offers a summary of what you might have missed during that period when it was active. It is interesting to note that Cortana is integrated with Focus Assist as well. When you click on the Action Center icon, you would see something like this:

Location awareness through Cortana is not found anywhere. Since Cortana already knows my home, and work location, if it can enable Focus Assist based when I am home or whatever I choose, that would be a great add-on to the capability.

This is how you can configure, and use Focus Assist on Windows 11/10. I had used it for over a day now, and I think this is much better than controlling every app notification. However, always choose wisely as you don’t want to miss something which is really important.

How to use the Windows 10 April 2018 Update’s Focus assist feature to reduce distractions

If you don’t want to be bothered with notifications during as specific time while using Windows 10, we’ll show you the steps to use Focus assist to minimize distractions.

On Windows 10, Focus assist is a handy feature that allows you to minimize or completely stop notifications when you need to stay focused to get work done, or you want to avoid interruptions during a presentation or while playing an exciting game.

Focus assist isn’t a new feature with the Windows 10 April 2018 update (version 1803), and it was previously known as Quiet hours. However, with a new name, you’re now getting new options to customize the experience, including the ability to automatically pick those times when you don’t want to be bothered with automatic rules.

In this Windows 10 guide, we walk you through the steps to configure and use Focus assist in the April 2018 Update to reduce distractions and stay focused.

• How to enable or disable Focus assist on Windows 10
• How to set up Focus assist priorities on Windows 10
• How to manage Focus assist automatic rules on Windows 10

How to enable or disable focus assist on Windows 10

The April 2018 Update allows you to enable or disable focus assist in at least two different ways.

Using Settings

To enable or disable focus assist on Windows 10, do the following:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Focus assist.
4. Under “Focus assist,” select one of the three options:
   • Off — Disables the feature, and you’ll see the notifications from apps and contacts.
   • Priority only — The feature will only allow notifications depending on the settings you’ve configured on your priority list.
   • Alarms only — Suppresses all notifications while focus assist is enabled, except for alarms.

Using Action Center

Alternatively, you can control focus assist using the Action Center context menu. Here’s how:

1. Right-click the Action Center button in the notification area.
2. Select Focus assist.
3. Choose from one of the available options:
   • Off.
   • Priority only.
   • Alarms only.

How to set up Focus assist priorities on Windows 10

Using Focus assist, you can also configure a priority list that lets you decide which notifications from apps, calls, texts, and people are allowed to bypass the feature to prevent missing out on an important event.

To configure your priority list in the April 2018 Update, do the following:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Focus assist.
4. Under “Focus assist,” click the Customize your priority list link.

1. In the “Calls, texts, and reminders” section, you can allow Cortana to show notifications for missed calls, texts, and messages from apps. Options available, include:
   • Show incoming VoIP calls and calls from a linked phone.
   • Show incoming text from a linked phone.
   • Show reminders, regardless of the app used.
2. In the “People” section, you can select the contacts that are allowed to show notifications while focus assist is enabled. To allow a particular contact to show notifications, simply click the Add contacts button, and select the person you want.Quick Tip: If you’re using the My People feature, and you’re pinning contacts to the taskbar, it’s also possible to allow or block the feature from showing notifications from pinned contacts.
3. In the “Apps” section, you can select the apps that are permitted to break through your quiet hours. To allow apps to show notifications, simply click the Add an app button, and select the app from the list. (You can only add Microsoft Store apps to your list.)

Once you completed these steps, when enabling Focus assist using your priority list, only the calls, apps, and people you have configured will break through and show notifications.

How to manage Focus assist automatic rules on Windows 10

You can use automatic rules to select the times and activities during which you don’t want to be bothered, and the feature will kick in automatically.

To manage automatic rules, do the following:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Focus assist.
4. Under “Automatic rules,” turn on the toggle switch for the rule you want to use, including:
   • During these times.
   • When I’m duplicating my display.
   • When I’m playing a game.

1. After enabling the rules you want, click the rule to customize it:
   • During these times — Allows Focus assist to automatically turn on or off during a specific time range. Using the “Repeats” drop-down menu, you can set the schedule to repeat daily, weekends, or weekdays.
   • When I’m duplicating my display — The enables Focus assist to turn on automatically when it detects that you’re mirroring the screen. (This is a particularly handy feature that everyone should use during a meeting to prevent notifications from popping up in the middle of a presentation.)
   • When I’m playing a game — Focus assist turns on automatically to suppress notifications while playing games in full-screen mode. (This option only works for exclusive games using DirectX.)