Configure Windows Focus Assist to avoid distractions and focus on tasks

Computers are full of distractions and notifications, alerts, messages and so on all compete for our attention. Get more work done by configuring Windows Focus Assist.

What is Focus assist?

Focus assist is a feature introduced into Windows 10 April 2018 Update and it is designed to reduce distractions so that we can focus on work on our Windows PCs.

Also in April 2018 Update: Timeline shows files you worked on in the past

As we are working in Windows you may see pop-up notifications of various events like emails, prompts to reconnect your USB drive for backups, results of virus scans and so on.

All these and many others are received as usual but they are not displayed on the screen while Focus Assist is active. They are held and they are stored in action centre, that panel that slides out on the right when the last button on the taskbar is clicked.

When you start a task that you want to work on without distractions, turn on Focus assist and when you have finished and want to return to normal, turn off Focus assist. All the notifications that you missed will be shown so you can catch up with anything important.

It is not a complete solution to distraction-free work and there are many other distractions, such as the internet, social networks, your phone and so on. However, it does help to hide Windows notifications.

Notifications can spoil your gaming when alerts appear on the screen, so Focus Assist is not only for working. It is for gaming too.

Manually turn on Focus assist

Focus assist can easily be turned on or off manually.

1. Click the button at the far right of the taskbar to open action centre
2. If you only see one row of buttons at the bottom, click Expand
3. Click the Focus assist button once, twice, three times!

Focus assist has three modes and initially it is off. This is normal operation and all notifications are displayed on the screen.

Click the button and the caption changes to Priority only. This means that only really important notifications are displayed and relatively unimportant ones are hidden.

Click the button again and the caption becomes Alarms only. This means that all notifications are put on hold and the only thing that can interrupt your concentration is an alarm that has been set. You don’t want to miss important appointments.

A third click of the button turns it off and returns it to its original state.

Enable Focus assist in settings

1. Open the Windows Settings app
2. Click System
3. Select Focus assist in the sidebar
4. Choose the Focus assist mode you want

Set automatic mode for Focus assist

If you work regular hours, you might want to schedule quiet hours when you can work on your computer without the distraction of notifications. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open the Windows Settings app
2. Click System
3. Select Focus assist in the sidebar
4. Use the switches to choose when Focus assist should automatically turn on

Set a schedule for Focus assist

The options to set Focus assist when playing a game or at home is useful, but even better is the scheduling that turns it on and off at set times.

Click the first of the automatic rules - During these times.

Turn it on and click the start time and end time to determine when it should be active. It can be repeated every day, weekdays or weekends, and the three focus levels can be set.

Disable unwanted notifications

In addition to setting up Focus assist, you should also turn off notifications for apps you don’t consider important. Not every pop-up message immediately requires your attention and turning off irrelevant ones will reduce the number of notifications when Focus assist is not enabled.

Select Notifications in the sidebar and scroll down the settings a bit until you come to Get notifications from these apps. Read through the list of apps and turn off the switch for any that you do not want to see.

What Focus assist cannot do is stop you loading up a game or opening a browser to check Facebook, Twitter and so on. It can help a little by reducing Windows and app notifications though