Quiet Hours - Set to Stop App Notifications in Windows 8.1

How to Set Up Quiet Hours to Temporarily Stop App Notificiations in Windows 8.1

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Notifications during Connected Standby and their auditory alerts may be disturbing to some users, particularly in the evening and late night hours. Windows 8.1 introduces Quiet Hours to suppress notifications and help save battery power. Quiet Hours provides control over background tasks, file transfers, push notifications, and real time communications during hours the user chooses.

When quiet hours is turned on, your idle Windows 8.1 PC or device will no longer show app notifications, turn on your screen when you get a call, or play notification sounds during the hours of the day you specified. Notifications will automatically turn back on if you start using your PC or when the scheduled quiet hours has passed.

This tutorial will show you how to set up quiet hours to temporarily stop all app notifications during certain hours of the day that you specify while still signed in to your account in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1.





OPTION ONE

To Change Quiet Hours Settings in PC settings


1. Open PC Settings, and click/tap on Search & apps on the left side. (see screenshot below)​
PC_settings.jpg
2. Click/tap on Notifications on the left side of Search & apps, and do step 3 or 4 below for what you would like to do.​
3. To Turn On and Set Up Quiet Hours
A) If you have not already, show app notifications will need to be turned on before you will be able to change quiet hours settings.​
B) On the right side under Quiet hours, move the slider to the right to turn it on. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: This is the default setting.​
C) Specify the From and To time schedule you want for quiet hours.​
NOTE: The default time schedule is from 12 AM to 6 AM.​
D) Turn on or off to receive calls during quiet hours, and go to step 5 below.​
Quiet_Hours-ON.jpg
4. To Turn Off Quiet Hours
A) On the right side under Quiet hours, move the slider to the left to turn it off, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: This will gray out all quiet hours settings until turned back on.​
Quiet_Hours-OFF.jpg
5. When finished, you could now close PC settings if you like.​






OPTION TWO

To Change Quiet Hours Settings in Registry Editor


1. Press the :winkey: + 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 Registry Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: If you do not have the QuietHours key, then right click on the Explorer key, click on New and Key, type QuietHours, and press Enter.​
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\QuietHours
Quiet_Hours_Registry-1.jpg
4. In the right pane of QuietHours, double click/tap on the DWORD value (see table below step 5 below) that you want to change the quiet hour settings for. (see screenshot above)​
NOTE: If you do not have the DWORD available, then right click on an empty space on the right side, click on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value, type the name of the DWORD, and press Enter.​
5. Select (dot) Decimal, type in the Value data in bold from the table below for the setting you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot)​
Quiet_Hours_Registry-2.jpg
EXAMPLE of "From" or "To" time to enter for say 2:30 PM.​
2:30 PM is 14:30 in 24 hour time (hour + 12 for PM).​
14 (selected hour) x 60 + 30 (selected minutes) = 870 (minutes)​
You would enter 870 for the value data.​


Quiet Hour Setting

DWORD Name

Value Data

Quiet hours (on or off)

Enable

1 = On
0 = Off

From

EntryTime

hour (24 hour time) x 60 + (00, 15, 30, or 45) = data to enter

To

ExitTime

hour (24 hour time) x 60 + (00, 15, 30, or 45) = data to enter

Receive calls during quiet hours

AllowCalls

1 = On
0 = Off
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for any other quiet hours setting(s) you would like to change.​
7. When finished, close Registry Editor and either restart explorer, sign in and out, or restart the PC to apply.​






OPTION THREE

To Quickly Temporarily Hide App Notifications for 1, 3, or 8 Hours


NOTE: This option is available in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.
1. Open the Charms bar, and click/tap on the Settings charm, and do either step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​
NOTE: You could also press the :winkey: + I keys to directly open the Settings charm.​
2. To Turn On App Toast Notifications
NOTE: If you turn on toast notifications, it will ungray the notifications settings and restore them to how they were set before being turned off.​
A) In the Settings charm on the right, click/tap on the Notifications icon to turn on app notifications, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshots below)​
Hide-notifications-1.jpgHide-notifications-2.jpg
3. To Turn Off and Hide App Toast Notifications for Only 1, 3, or 8 Hours
NOTE: If you turn off toast notifications, it will turn them off everywhere including the lock screen, and gray out all notifications settings.​
A) In the Settings charm on the right, click/tap on the Notifications icon, select a Hide for # hour(s) option you want, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​
Hide_App_Notifications.jpg
4. When finished, you could click/tap anywhere on the left side to close the Settings charm.​


That's it,
Shawn


 

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