Notifications - Change Stay Open Time in Windows 8

How to Change How Long Notifications Stay Open in Windows 8 and 8.1

information   Information
This tutorial will show you how to change how long toast notifications and taskbar notification area messages stay open for before automatically closing in your user account in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

Note   Note
Toast notifications are balloon type notifications that appear as a themed bar in the upper right corner of your main display to allow an installed app from the Windows Store to communicate with the user whether the user is in another app, on the Start screen, on the desktop, or on the lock screen.

Notifications are small pop-up dialog boxes that are displayed in the notification area of the taskbar. They provide information about a variety of things, including status, progress, and the detection of new devices. Action Center also displays messages about recommended security and maintenance tasks next to its flag icon in the notification area.


EXAMPLE: Toast Notifications and Notification Area Messages
Notification_Stay_Open_Time-1.jpg






OPTION ONE

Change How Long Notifications Stay Open with Ease of Access Center


1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Ease of Access Center icon.​
2. Click/tap on either the Use the computer without a display or Make it easier to focus on tasks link. (see screenshot below)​
Notification_Stay_Open_Time-2.jpg
3. Scroll down to where it says How long should Windows notification dialog boxes stay open, click/tap on the drop down arrow menu, select how long you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​
Notification_Stay_Open_Time-3.jpg
4. You can now close the Ease of Access Center if you like.​
5. Whenever you apply changes in the Ease of Access Center, the visual effects settings will get reset back to default automatically. You will need to set your visual effects settings again if you like.​





OPTION TWO

Change How Long Notifications Stay Open using PC settings


1. Open PC settings, and do step 2 or 3 below for what Windows 8 you have.​
2. In Windows 8 or Windows RT, click/tap on Ease of Access in the left pane, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshots below)​
3. In Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, click/tap on Ease of Access in the left pane. (see screenshot below)​
PC_settings_Ease_of_Access.jpg
A) Click/tap on Other options on the left side, and go to step 4 below. (see bottom screenshot below)​
4. In the right pane, click/tap on the Show notifications for drop down menu, and select how much time you want. (see screenshot below)​
PC-settings-1.jpg
Windows_8.1_Show_Notifications_for-2.jpg
5. When finished, you can close PC settings if you like.​




OPTION THREE

Change How Long Notifications Stay Open for using Registry Editor


1. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and click/tap on OK.​
2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.​
3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)​
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility
Notification_Stay_Open_Time-4.jpg
4. In the right pane of Accessibility, double click/tap on MessageDuration to modify it. (see screenshot above)
5. Select (dot) Decimal, type in how many seconds (1 minute = 60 seconds) you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The default time is 5 seconds. Entering anything lower then 5 seconds will still have a 5 second wait.
Notification_Stay_Open_Time-5.jpg
6. Close Registry Editor, then sign out and sign in to apply.




That's it,
Shawn


 

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Thank you so much. I had been looking all over the registry for a way to make the notifications stay until I click them. I set it to 86,400 seconds, lol! Now I am sure not to miss any mail notifications. Hopefully in the future Ill be able to set it back to a few seconds if windows 8.2 enables floating apps on the desktop, then I would hope to see the email notifications on the app like it is now shown in the start page.
 

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System One

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I'm pretty sure you don't actually need to sign out/in. I think you only need to restart the File Explorer system process.
 

My Computer

System One

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Hello VoidsShadow,

When you change the setting using Registry Editor, the change isn't also made in PC settings and Ease of Access Center (Control Panel) until after you sign out/in. :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
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    Custom self built
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    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
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    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
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    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
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