How Notifications Work

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Notification Basics

You can always check Basecamp to see if there is an orange badge at the top of the Hey! menu. It indicates new updates to your followed projects and includes notifications about what's new in Basecamp and other announcements:

Screenshot of the Home screen with an arrow pointing at the Hey menu at the top

However, you may not want to check Basecamp all the time to look for something new! Basecamp sends notifications to tell you when something has happened. 

❕You can choose which projects to follow and receive updates about.

  • Choose to be on the project to have your avatar show up on the project page and have updates in your Hey! menu.
  • Choose to just follow any projects that you don't need notifications about.

Screenshot of the dropdown Options menu on the project page with a circle around the

Push notifications send you a notification of specific updates to your projects based on your settings. You do not receive push notifications for regular Chat room messages. 

You can get push notifications via:

  • Email
  • Pop ups in your browser or desktop app (can include sound)
  • On your phone or tablet (can include sound)

You can choose what type of updates will send you push notifications.

  • Everything (messages, comments, to-do assignments, events, etc.)
  • Only Pings and @mentions

Work Can Wait

  • Get notifications at all hours
  • Only get notifications during work hours with Work Can Wait

Clearing your notifications

To clear your Hey! menu notifications, hover over an orange badge to see the X icon. Or click "Mark all read" to clear them all at once:

Screenshot of the Hey menu popup with arrows pointing 'Mark all as read' and a notification dot.

You can also mark some updates you've already seen as unread from the Previous notifications:

Screenshot of a notification in Previous notifications with a red arrow pointing at the ••• button

Screenshot of a notification in Previous notifications with a red arrow pointing at the

This is also possible in the Android app and the iOS app.

Don't Forget

Tucked between New For You and Previous Notifications is a section called Don't Forget. Set aside notifications that you don't want to lose track of!

When you hover over the notification, you'll see a small button with a hand that has a string tied around a finger. Click that icon and your notification will be moved to a Don't Forget section. You can add both read and unread notifications to Don't Forget:

Screenshot of the Hey! notifications with a red arrow pointing at the Don't forget icon. Don't Forget section is also highlighted with a red box.

Items stay in Don’t Forget until you decide you’re done with them — even if new comments roll in. 

If you’ve put something in Don’t Forget, we know it's something important that you don't want to fall through the cracks! So if a new comment rolls in, we will not move it back to New For You. That'll show up as something you haven't seen before, in the New For You section. If you go read it, it will not have an effect on what you've set aside in Don't Forget:

Screenshot of the Hey menu showing the new notifications for the item in the Don't forget section. New notification doesn't remove item from the Don't forget section and you can see both items.

You can add most things in the Hey! menu to Don’t Forget, but not everything. Items that can't be added to Don't Forget won't have the icon button on hover. The exceptions are:
  • Reminders
  • Check-in questions
  • Boosts reports
Want to remember something that's  not in your Hey notification? You can also remember almost anything in Basecamp from the ••• menu all around the account. Here's an example of how you can remember a chat line in Chat:

GIF showing how to add an individual Campfire message to Don't forget. Click the options menu of a chat line and click the Hand icon.

And here's an example of how it looks to remember a comment:

GIF showing how to add a comment to Don't forget. Click the

How to change your notification settings

Click your avatar in the upper-right and click the Change your notification settings  link:

Screenshot of the personal dropdown menu with the Notifications section highlighted. Notifications are off in the screenshot and there is a


That will take you to the settings screen:

Screenshot of the Notification settings page

Below are the details about each section of the settings screen but before you move forward:

Email notifications

We bundle up notifications that happen within about 5 minutes of one another, to keep your inbox calm.

Here's how an email with combined to-do notifications looks:

Note: Changing your email notification setting will only affect your notifications. There are two separate reports that are emailed by default, so you'll need to turn those off independently. Those reports are the Latest activity and My assignments reports.

Browser notifications

Browser notifications pop up when Basecamp is open in a tab on your computer's browser. If the box is checked but you still aren't getting notifications, check your browser preferences to make sure they are allowed for Basecamp.

You can also adjust your notifications settings if you’re using the Mac desktop app.  Turn badges, banners, and alerts on or off through the notification settings on your computer.

Unread counts

You can tailor the notification badges to suit your needs. If you like seeing exactly how many unread items are inside each menu, simply check this box. Prefer seeing a small dot? Leave it unchecked. Whatever you choose, Basecamp will remember that preference on your mobile devices, too.

Phone and tablet notifications

You can take Basecamp with you! The mobile app can be downloaded to your phone or tablet. ( Need to download it?)

See what devices you have set up by clicking on your profile picture, then on "Change your notification settings." Under the "How?" section, you'll see what devices are set up. Here's how it looks when an iPad and an iPhone are both set up to receive notifications:

When notifications are enabled, they pop up on your phone or tablet. You can learn more about these notifications on the Basecamp for iPad or iPhone or Basecamp for Android pages.

Click the "My Devices" link to remove one of the devices from receiving notifications. This is also where you'd test your device to make sure your push notifications are working:

Everything or just pings and @mentions

Everything  includes new messages, comments, Pings, to-do assignments, new events on the schedule, and automated check-ins. Choose  Only Pings and @mentions  if you prefer to check Basecamp manually for new things, but still want to be notified if somebody specifically reaches out to you.

Notifications for events and dated to-dos

For all-day events in the Schedule, you'll get a reminder at 9 AM on the first day. For events with specific times, you'll get a notification one day before the event, and one hour before the start time. 

A Hey! notification the day before a scheduled event: 

A Hey! notification an hour before a scheduled event:

For to-dos with assigned due dates, the person (or people) assigned will get a reminder notification at 9:00 AM the day before the due date and again at 9:00 AM on the day it’s due.

For to-dos that span several days, they’ll get a reminder the day before the to-do starts, and one on the day it starts at 9:00 AM their time.
We’ll send a reminder for an overdue to-do a day after it’s late, and a week after it’s late:

These notifications are important, but if you prefer to stay on top of things in other ways, you can turn off reminders for upcoming events, assignments, or both:

Screenshot of the Reminders settings - you can disable notifications for upcoming events or assignments

Work Can Wait

Work Can Wait prevents notifications from bothering you after hours. Set your hours and choose the days that Basecamp is allowed to notify you.

If you'd like, Basecamp will send you a catch-up email or push notification of anything you missed while you were away from work. Just click the checkbox when you set your Work Can Wait hours.

Taking a few days off? Won't be around for the holidays? Learn how to mark yourself as "out of office" here!