Three things share this name: what staff see in the bell, what customers see in the portal, and the form you use to send a message to customers.
The staff bell
The bell in the top bar shows an unread count that refreshes every 30 seconds. Opening it lists the latest 10. Clicking an item marks it read and opens the page it is about; Mark all read clears the lot; See all notifications opens the full list in the Inbox, on its Notifications tab. Read state is per person: your reading something does not mark it read for a colleague.
What appears there. Platform events alert every admin. Examples by area:
- CRM: a new lead from a form; a task assigned to you or commented on.
- Store: an order placed, paid, cancelled, or whose fulfilment failed.
- Bookings: an appointment created, cancelled, rescheduled, needing review or paid.
- Content: a page or post submitted for review, approved or rejected; a blog comment waiting.
- Support and Inbox: a ticket submitted or replied to, a conversation opened, a message received.
- Courses, Community, Marketing, Estimates, Inventory: enrolments awaiting payment, assignments, new members, campaign sent or failed, an estimate accepted or declined, low or out-of-stock items.
- Accounting: a posting that failed, and a recurring reminder while some are still unposted.
- Automations: a "notify" step, to everyone or to one person.
There is no way to mute or choose. Staff have no notification preferences screen, so every admin receives every alert. Titles show in the viewer's own language for system events.
Customer notifications
Customers see their own bell and a Notifications page in the portal, with paging, an unread filter, and Mark read and Mark all read. A customer can also turn on web push from their portal profile, and can switch the in-app and email copies of ticket notifications on or off. They cannot mute announcements.
Sending a message to customers
Staff with the right permission send an announcement from Site Settings → Notifications. See Send a Notification.
Permissions
- Read (
notifications.read) lets you see your own bell. - Write (
notifications.write) lets you send messages to customers.
The Admin role holds both. The Editor role holds neither, so an editor has no notification access.
Good to know
- Notifications are never deleted automatically; the feed only grows until a person's data is erased.
- Email notifications are sent in English with a fixed "View Details" button, whatever the recipient's language.