How to Customize Notification Center on Mac
Do you want to personalize the Notification Center on your Mac by adding or removing certain widgets? Fortunately, this is pretty easy to do on macOS, and all you need is a minute or two.
Notification Center, as the name suggests is the place where you receive all notifications from various apps installed on your Mac. In addition to displaying notifications, the Notification Center also houses the Today view section. All of your widgets are located in the Today view section just like iOS devices, and you can add or remove any widgets according to your personal preference.
Adding, removing, and rearranging widgets located in the Notification Center is a pretty simple and straightforward procedure on macOS, though the process is slightly different per macOS version. Just follow the steps below to get started.
How to Customize Notification Center on Mac (macOS Big Sur)
With the macOS Big Sur software update, Apple revamped the Notification with both visual as well as functional changes. It works differently compared to older versions of macOS. Here’s how you can customize it in modern macOS releases:
- Click on the date and time located at the top-right corner of the screen in the menu bar to access the Notification Center.
- The Notification Center will show up on the right side of your desktop. Here, scroll down through all the default widgets to the very bottom and click on “Edit Widgets”.
- This will take you to the customization menu. Here, you can use the search bar to find a specific widget. For certain widgets, you’ll be able to choose a preferred size as you can see in the screenshot below. Use drag and drop to add new widgets. You can also remove existing widgets from the right pane by clicking on the “-” icon. Drag them around to rearrange as per your liking too.
Once you’re finished with the customization, simply click on “Done” at the bottom-right corner of the menu. That’s all you needed to know about customizing your Notification Center in macOS 11 or newer.
How to Customize Notification Center on Mac (macOS Catalina)
If you’re running an older software version like macOS Catalina or even macOS Mojave, you won’t be able to change the widget size, but you still have ample customization options. So, let’s take a look, shall we?
- Click on the three-line icon located at the top-right corner of the desktop to bring up the Notification Center.
- Next, head over to the bottom of the Notification Center and click on “Edit” to make changes.
- Now, you’ll have the option to manage all the widgets. To remove a widget from the Notification Center, click on the “-” icon. To add a widget from the list of available widgets, click on the “+” icon.
- To rearrange the widgets in the Notification Center, click on the triple-line icon next to a widget as shown below, and use drag & drop.
- If you’re not satisfied with the list of available widgets, you can always download more widgets made by third-party developers. Click on “App Store” located at the bottom of the Notification Center.
- This will take you to the Notification Center Widgets section of the App Store. Click on “Get” to install any widget and then, you’ll be able to add it to the Today screen using the above steps.
That’s pretty much all there is to it. Now you know how easy it is to customize the Notification Center on your Mac.
Personalize the Notification Center by adding the widgets that you find useful and removing the ones you don’t need. For example, many people wouldn’t be interested in the Stocks widget that’s enabled by default on macOS. You could replace it with a Calculator widget, Now Playing widget, or anything from the App Store really.
In addition to all these widgets in the Today view section, the Notification Center displays all the notifications you’ve received in one place. You can click on the “x” icon right next to a notification to remove it from the Notification Center. You can also customize the notifications that appear here, but we’ll be covering that in a separate article if you’re interested.
We hope you were able to customize the Notification Center on your Mac to suit your liking. What are your overall thoughts on the Notification Center in macOS? Did you install any third-party widgets from the App Store? Do share your valuable opinions and experience in the comments section down below.
