Workspace notification defaults

This page sets the notification defaults for everyone in the workspace. Find it at Settings → Workspace defaults (/{slug}/settings/notifications).

This page is workspace defaults only. Your own notification settings are not here. Every personal setting lives on the person, on the My profile page. See /account/notification-preferences.

If you open this page without the capability to change workspace settings, you get a card headed Looking for your reminders? with a Go to my profile button. Nothing on this page is yours to change.

Before you start

You need the Update workspace settings capability (workspace.updateSettings) – the same one that guards General settings. By default that is Owner and Admin only. The nav item is labelled Workspace defaults, under the Notifications group in the settings sidebar. It appears only if you hold the capability. The page is titled Notifications, with the description “What everyone gets by default. Changes save as you make them.”

The save flow

There is no Save button. Every switch, time and picker writes the moment you change it. If a write fails you see an error toast and the control snaps back to the stored value.

What everyone gets

The first card is What everyone gets, badged Affects everyone. Its description reads “The starting point for every member. Anyone can change these for themselves from their profile.” It is a grid: seven notification categories down the side, two channels across the top.

The channels

Channel	What it means
In-app	The bell and the inbox inside TimeTracker
Email	An email to the person’s address

Those are the only two. Other delivery routes are not offered here – webhooks are configured on their own settings page.

The seven categories

Category	Covers
Work assigned to you	Tasks assigned, due soon, overdue, and mentions
Approvals	Timesheets, time off, and timecard decisions
Daily reminders	The morning, evening and deadline checks
Money	Invoices, payments, and budget thresholds
Project changes	Scope requests and other project-level activity
Account	Invitations, membership and workspace changes
Security	Sign-in and access alerts. Mostly delivered regardless

Every cell is a switch. A cell with no stored value shows as on, because that is what the workspace gets when nobody has said otherwise.

A default, not a rule

Switching a cell off here changes what a member gets until they say otherwise. It cannot silence someone who has turned that category on for themselves. This card sets a starting point, not a lock.

If a switch fails to save you see “Could not change that default.”

Workspace defaults for daily reminders

The second card is Workspace defaults, also badged Affects everyone: “Applies to anyone who has not set their own times. Everyone gets these times in their own timezone.” There are three reminder slots, each with its own switch. There is no master switch – a workspace that wants a morning agenda and nothing else does not have to choose between all three and none.

Slot	What it sends	Controls	Default
Morning	Today’s tasks, every working day	On/off switch and a time	On, 08:00
Evening	Only sent if tomorrow has nothing planned	On/off switch and a time	On, 17:00
Before the day ends	Everything due today or already overdue, in one email	On/off switch and a lead time	On, 3 hours before

Switching a slot off greys out its time field.

Why the deadline slot has no clock time

Before the day ends is sent relative to each person’s own working hours, not at a fixed hour. Working days differ per person and per weekday, so the only workspace-wide decision available is how much notice to give. The choices are:

As the day ends
1 hour before the day ends
2 hours before the day ends
3 hours before the day ends
4 hours before the day ends
6 hours before the day ends

Timezones

Everyone gets these times in their own timezone. A person’s timezone comes from the schedule they are assigned, not from the workspace timezone. See /settings/schedules.

How a workspace default meets a person’s own choice

The two cards behave differently, and the difference matters.

Setting	How the two levels combine
Channel defaults (What everyone gets)	A starting point. A member’s own choice wins. Turning a cell off here cannot override someone who turned it on
Reminder switches (Morning, Evening, Before the day ends)	Both levels must agree. Off at either level means off. A member cannot turn a slot back on that the workspace turned off
Reminder times and lead time	The most specific value wins. A member’s own time beats the workspace time. The workspace time beats the built-in default

A reminder switch here is a floor. A member can opt themselves out further, never back in. That is the opposite of the channel grid above it.

Reminders are also gated per person by things this page does not control: it must be a working day for them, they must not be on leave, and their Daily reminders category must be on.

Who hears when tasks are completed or reopened

The last control on the page is a people picker. Anyone listed here is told every time anyone marks a task complete, and again if that task is reopened. This is on top of whoever the task was assigned to.

Nobody is picked by default. The picker reads Nobody when empty.
You can pick several people.
If you cannot edit the page, a line below reads that only owners and admins can change this.

This fires on every completion in the workspace, not only the projects a person is on. On a busy team that is a lot of mail. Pick one or two people who genuinely need it.

If the change fails you see “Could not update who hears about completed tasks.”

What is not on this page

Setting	Where it lives
Your own notification grid	Settings → My profile, or /account/notification-preferences
Your own reminder times	Settings → My profile
Another person’s notification settings	Their record under Settings → Team Members
Webhook endpoints	Settings → Webhooks

Notifications go out as they happen. There is no digest control on this page. See /notifications/digests.

Example

Maya Ellis sets up notifications for Northwind Studio:

Trim the email noise

In What everyone gets she leaves In-app on for every row, and switches Email off for Project changes. New people now start with fewer emails, but Priya Raman, who wants them, keeps hers because she turned them on for herself.

Keep the morning agenda

She leaves Morning on at 08:00.

Drop the evening mail

She switches Evening off. Nobody in the workspace gets it now, even people who had it on for themselves – a workspace switch is a floor.

Set the deadline notice

She sets Before the day ends to 2 hours before the day ends. Sarah Lin, on a 17:00 finish in London, gets hers at 15:00. Ana Ferreira, who finishes at 13:00, gets hers at 11:00.

Add a completion watcher

She adds Priya Raman under Who hears when tasks are completed or reopened, so the project manager hears when work lands and when it comes back out of Done.

Permissions

Capability	What it allows	Who holds it by default
`workspace.updateSettings`	Change every control on this page	Owner, Admin

Everyone else is redirected to their own profile. Reading the workspace defaults is open to any member, because their own settings screen shows them what they are inheriting. Hiding the sidebar item is a convenience only. Every change is re-checked when it is saved, so a stale tab or a bookmarked URL cannot get around it.

Common questions

I turned a category off. Why is someone still getting it?

The channel grid is a default, not a rule. Anyone who turned that category on for themselves keeps it. To stop it for one person, change it on their record.

I turned the evening reminder off. Can a member turn it back on?

No. Reminder switches combine as an AND across the two levels, so off at the workspace level means off for everyone.

Why can a member still change their reminder time?

Times are most-specific-wins, unlike the switches. A member’s own time beats the workspace time. The switch decides whether the reminder is sent at all.

Do these times use the workspace timezone?

No. Each person gets them in their own timezone, which comes from the schedule they are assigned.

Can I set a different default for one group?

No. This page is workspace-wide. Per-person settings are on each person’s record.

Why can I not switch security notifications off?

You can switch the cells, but security notifications are mostly delivered regardless. They are sign-in and access alerts.

Troubleshooting

Message or symptom	Cause	Fix
The page shows Looking for your reminders?	You do not hold `workspace.updateSettings`	Use the Go to my profile button. Your own settings are there
”Could not change that default.”	A channel switch failed to save	Try again. The switch shows the stored value meanwhile
”Could not change the morning reminder.”	The morning switch failed to save	Try again
”Could not change the morning time.”	The time is not a valid time of day	Enter a 24-hour time such as `08:00`
”Could not update who hears about completed tasks.”	The watcher list failed to save	Try again. The picker falls back to the stored list
A time field is greyed out	Its slot is switched off	Switch the slot on first
Nobody gets a reminder at all	The slot is off, it is not a working day for them, they are on leave, or their Daily reminders category is off	Check the slot switch here, then their schedule and their own settings
Emails are not arriving	A separate problem from these switches	See /notifications/email-notifications

Your notification settings

The personal half, on your profile.