Change Quiet Hours Automatic Rules in Windows 10

Quiet Hours (also called Focus Assist in later updates) automatically suppresses notifications during set times or when you’re doing certain activities. This guide shows you how to change the automatic rules so notifications only appear when you want them to. You’ll need to be signed in to an administrator account to change some settings, but most changes work for any user.

What You’ll Need

• A Windows 10 PC with the Creators Update (version 1703) or later – most systems have this.
• Administrator access if you want to change rules for all users; otherwise, your normal account is fine.

Step-by-Step

1. Open Quiet Hours settings. Click the Start button (Windows logo) and then click the Settings gear icon. In the Settings window, click System and then select Focus assist from the left sidebar. (On older builds it’s labeled Quiet hours.)
2. Understand the three modes. At the top of the Focus assist page you’ll see Off, Priority only, and Alarms only. These are the manual modes – but you’re here for the automatic rules, so move on to the next step.
3. Find the automatic rules section. Scroll down to the Automatic rules area. You’ll see toggles for During these hours, When I’m duplicating my display, and When I’m playing a game. Each rule has its own settings.
4. Set your quiet hours time window. Click the During these hours toggle to turn it on. Then click the text below it that says “Start time� and “End time� to set the period when you want notifications silenced. You can also pick Repeat – choose Daily or specific days of the week. If you want the rule to match your active hours (the times you usually use your PC), check the box “Use my active hours for this rule� – that automatically sets the start and end times to your active hours.
5. Choose what gets through during those hours. Below the time settings, you’ll see “Priority levelâ€� – click it and select either Alarms only (only alarms ring) or Priority only (alarms plus notifications from your priority list). If you pick Priority only, you can manage that list by going back to the main Focus assist page and clicking “Customize priority listâ€� – there you can pin contacts and apps that are allowed to notify you.
6. Set the display duplication rule. Toggle When I’m duplicating my display to on if you want notifications silenced when you’re projecting to a second screen (like a presentation). You can set its priority level the same way – Alarms only or Priority only.
7. Set the gaming rule. Toggle When I’m playing a game to on. This rule activates when you run a game in full-screen mode. You can also check “I’m playing a gameâ€� to allow it to detect games that run in windowed or borderless mode, though that might not catch everything. Again, set the priority level.
8. Adjust the “Show me a summaryâ€� option. At the bottom of the Focus assist page, you’ll see “Show me a summary of what I missed while Focus assist was onâ€� – choose whether you want that summary to appear automatically when Focus assist turns off, or only when you open the action center.
9. Close Settings. Your changes save automatically. No need to click a Save button.

Common Mistakes

• Confusing Quiet Hours with Focus Assist. In older Windows 10 versions (before the April 2018 Update), the feature was called Quiet Hours. The settings are the same, but the name changed. If you don’t see “Focus assist,â€� look for “Quiet hoursâ€� in System settings.
• Setting a time range that covers the whole day. If you set start and end times that are identical (e.g., 10:00 PM to 10:00 PM), Windows might treat it as a 24-hour block or not work as expected. Use distinct times.
• Forgetting to set a priority level. Even if you turn on the “During these hoursâ€� rule, if you leave the priority level as “Alarms only,â€� you’ll still get alarms – but no other notifications. If you want everything silenced except alarms, that’s correct. If you want to allow some contacts, choose Priority only and configure the list.
• Expecting the gaming rule to work with all games. The gaming rule relies on Windows detecting that a game is running. Some games, especially older ones or those running in windowed mode, may not trigger it. The “I’m playing a gameâ€� checkbox helps but isn’t perfect.

Tips

• Use active hours for a hassle-free schedule. Instead of manually picking times, check “Use my active hours for this ruleâ€� – Windows will automatically set quiet hours to the opposite of your active hours. You can change active hours by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Change active hours.
• Customize your priority list. Click “Customize priority listâ€� to add specific contacts (from the People app) and apps. That way, during quiet hours you’ll still see messages from your boss or family, but not from random apps.
• Check the action center for missed notifications. When Focus assist is on, notifications go to the action center (click the speech bubble icon in the taskbar). You’ll see a summary if you enabled that option.
• Use the quick toggle in the action center. You can click the Focus assist tile in the action center to cycle through Off, Priority only, and Alarms only. This overrides the automatic rules temporarily – perfect for when you need quiet right now.

Troubleshooting

• My quiet hours don’t activate at the set time. First, check that the toggle for “During these hoursâ€� is on and that the start and end times are correct. Also make sure your PC is awake – quiet hours only apply when the device is on. If you’re using a laptop, check that the power plan isn’t putting the device to sleep before the start time.
• I still get notifications during quiet hours. Some system notifications and alarms are always allowed. Also, if you have the priority level set to “Priority onlyâ€� and the notification comes from an app that’s on your priority list, it will show. Check your priority list and remove any apps you don’t want to bypass quiet hours.
• The gaming rule doesn’t work. Make sure the game is running in full-screen or borderless full-screen mode. Try toggling the “I’m playing a gameâ€� checkbox off and on. If the game is a UWP app (from the Microsoft Store), it should work; if it’s an older Win32 game, it might not be detected. You can also manually turn on Focus assist before launching the game.
• Can’t find Focus assist in Settings. If your Windows 10 is not updated, you might not have this feature. Run Windows Update to install the latest feature updates. Alternatively, you can search for “Focus assistâ€� in the Start menu search bar.
• My changes don’t apply to all users. Quiet hours settings are per-user. If you want to set them for another user, sign in to that account and make the changes there. There’s no global setting to apply to all users from one account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What’s the difference between Quiet Hours and Focus Assist?
A: They’re the same feature. Microsoft renamed Quiet Hours to Focus Assist in the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803). The functionality is identical.

Q: Can I set different quiet hours for weekdays and weekends?
A: Yes. In the “During these hoursâ€� rule, click “Repeatâ€� and choose specific days. You can set one time range for Monday–Friday and another for Saturday–Sunday, but you’ll need to create two separate rules – actually, the built-in rule only supports one range with a repeat pattern. You can’t have two different time ranges for different days in the same rule. Workaround: use the “Use my active hoursâ€� option and change active hours per day? No, active hours are the same for all days. So you’re limited to one time range per rule. However, you can manually toggle Focus assist on/off on different days.

Q: Will quiet hours block alarms?
A: No. Alarms (from the Alarms & Clock app) are always allowed, even during quiet hours. That’s why the priority level “Alarms onlyâ€� exists – it lets only alarms through.

Q: How do I see notifications that were suppressed?
A: Open the Action Center (click the speech bubble icon in the taskbar). You’ll see a summary of missed notifications if you enabled the “Show me a summaryâ€� option. Otherwise, you can scroll through the Action Center to find them.

Q: Does quiet hours affect notifications on my phone?
A: No. Quiet Hours/Focus Assist only affects notifications on your Windows 10 PC. If you have notifications mirrored to your phone via the Your Phone app, those are controlled by the phone’s own settings.

Q: Can I schedule quiet hours to turn on automatically every night without having to set a time?
A: Yes, use the “Use my active hours� checkbox. Windows will automatically set quiet hours to the opposite of your active hours. You can adjust your active hours in Windows Update settings.

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