Help:Notifications



Welcome to the documentation page for the hub>Echo (Notifications)|Notifications tool! (formerly code-named Echo)

To customize which notifications you receive, go to the prefs>Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-echo|"" tab of your  on the site. Once you've tested Notifications, please join the discussion on talk>Talk:Echo (Notifications)|this talk page.

Principle
The hub3>Echo (Notifications)|Notifications tool (formerly code-named Echo) gives users of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites quick updates about actions that affect them. These notifications can help users become more aware of events that relate to them and take quick action if they want to.

This software was developed by the Wikimedia Foundation's editor-engagement>m:w:Wikipedia:Editor engagement|editor engagement team and now the Collaboration team, to encourage people to participate more actively on Wikimedia sites. Notifications are designed to replace or augment existing notification systems on these sites, as well as provide significantly more control to users.

Before Notifications, the only notifications that the MediaWiki software provides are given through watchlist>Special:Watchlist|the watchlist. The watchlist is quite helpful, but its format is limited. It works well for changes related to pages, but not so well for changes related to users. At the same time, there's no granularity: if a page is watchlisted, you are informed about every change that happens to it. If a change is not watchlisted, you receive none. Watchlists are useful, and they work well for the job they were designed for, but they don't encompass the whole scope of on-wiki activity. Notifications feature, in conjunction with watchlists, can provide a better user experience. Users are able to learn about more events, far more easily, and have greater control over what kind of information they receive.

To learn more about Notifications, visit hub4>Echo (Notifications)|this project hub on MediaWiki.org.

Use
Notifications are for all registered users of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites. Unregistered users cannot get notifications (except for talk page notifications, which are still shown to anonymous users in an orange bar).

What you see
When someone takes an action that affects you on a Wikimedia site, a red (alerts) or blue (messages) badge will appear next to your user name, in the top right corner of any page. These badges will show the number of new notifications you've received. Clicking on the badges will display a flyout listing the most recent notifications (see screenshot). You can then click on the notification of your choice to find out more about it. To see more, can click on "" to go to the spec-notifs>Special:Notifications|notifications archive.

The first badge (red, "alerts") contains most notification types; the second badge (blue, "messages") contains notifications about your user talk page messages - split>Topic:Sobaaiky57zs7py7|feedback is requested on potentially moving other notification types here.

The different notifications
Here are the notifications you can receive:


 * talk>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#Talkpage_Message|Talk page messages: when a message is left on your user talk page (this replaces the orange bar that used to appear);
 * mentions>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#User_Mention</>|Mentions: when your user name is mentioned on a talk page;
 * links>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#Started_Page_-_Linked</>|Page links: when a new link is made to a page you created;
 * reverts>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#Edit_reverted</>|Edit reverts: when your edits are undone or rolled back;


 * thanks>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#Thank_you_notification</>|Thanks: when someone thanks you for your edit;
 * rights>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#User_rights</>|User rights: when your user rights change;
 * welcome>Echo (Notifications)/Feature_requirements#Welcome</>|Welcome: when you create a new account;

Some of these notifications are turned off by default. If you would like to enable any of these notifications (or disable them), you can do so in your preferences, as described below.

See all notifications received
To find all your recent notifications, click on "<tvar|link></>" in the flyout to go to the spec-notifs2>Special:Notifications</>|notifications archive page. Your most recent notifications are listed first on this archive page. To see older notifications, click on the "<tvar|more></>" button at the bottom of that page.

Preferences and settings
You can control what kinds of notifications you get (and how often) by updating your prefs2>Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-echo</>|notifications preferences. To check your settings, click on "<tvar|pref></>" in the flyout (shown above) -- or in the "<tvar|link></>" archive page. (You can also click on "<tvar|pref></>" in the top right of any page, then select the "<tvar|echo></>" tab.)

To turn notifications on or off for any category, simply check (or uncheck) the box next to it. You can enable (or disable) notifications on the web or by email for most categories. (Some notifications cannot be disabled, such as changes to your user rights or new talk page messages: these notifications are too important to be dismissed.) You can also control how often to receive email notifications, from single emails for each event to daily or weekly digests. When you're done, be sure to click the "<tvar|save></>" button at the bottom of the page to update your preferences.

Feedback
We'd love to hear what you think of notifications. To discuss your suggestions with other users, visit talk>Talk:Echo (Notifications)</>|this project talk page.

If you find a bug, you are welcome to report it bug>phabricator:tag/mediawiki-extensions-echo</>|here on Phabricator. However, we appreciate that Phabricator isn't exactly the easiest system to use; you can also drop the report on talk>Talk:Echo (Notifications)</>|the project talkpage, with a screenshot and information on your browser and operating system :).