7. Notifications and Announcements

This chapter is for the server’s owner and admins. It covers the server’s notification sounds, the incoming and outgoing call tones, the maximum number of notifications, server-wide announcements, and DM settings. After you click the gear icon on the right side of the tab bar (tooltip: User Settings) to open the settings panel, the Notifications and Direct Messages tabs are in the Server Settings group, while the Announcement tab is in the Security group; the three are not in the same group. §7.1 to §7.3 cover the Notifications tab, §7.4 covers the Announcement tab, and §7.5 covers the Direct Messages tab. The owner and admins see exactly the same content in this chapter.

7.1 Notification Sounds (Mute / Voice / Screen Share / Inbox / Direct Messages)

Where to Find It and Overall Layout

Click the gear icon on the right side of the tab bar (tooltip: User Settings) to open the settings panel, then click the Notifications tab in the Server Settings group. The content is aligned to the left and has a limited width. At the top of the tab is the large heading Notification Sounds, followed by one line of description (verbatim): “Customize the notification sound for each action. Leave empty to use the built-in default tone.”

From top to bottom, the tab contains: five sound groups (Mute Controls, Voice Channel, Screen Share, Inbox Notification Sound, Direct Message Sound), the Notification Volume slider, Call Ringtone, Outgoing Call Tone, and Notification Retention Limit. The call ringtone and outgoing call tone are covered in §7.2, and the notification retention limit in §7.3; this section (§7.1) covers the five sound groups and the notification volume that come first.

How Sound Rows Work

Every sound item in the five groups is laid out the same way, so this section describes it once, and the groups below list only the names. The top line of each sound item is the sound’s name. The row below the name contains, from left to right:

1. A display box: if a custom sound file is set, it shows the file name (the system renames the file when it’s uploaded, so the name differs from the original file name); if not, it shows Default tone in gray italic text.
2. A preview button whose icon is a play triangle in a circle. Hovering over it shows the tooltip Preview. Click it to play the sound immediately.
3. An Upload button. Click it to open the system file dialog and choose an audio file. While the upload is in progress, the button text in the first three groups changes to Uploading…, while the buttons for Inbox Notification and Direct Message show a spinning icon instead. The sound takes effect as soon as you upload the file; you don’t need to click any other button.
4. Once a custom sound file is set, a Remove button appears. Click it to restore the built-in default for this sound.

All five sound groups are server-level settings; changing them affects the entire server.

The Five Sound Groups

The first group, Mute Controls, has four sound items, from top to bottom: Mute, Unmute, Mic Mute, and Mic Unmute. When a member mutes or unmutes their microphone, or turns Deafen on or off, the sounds played are Mute and Unmute.

The second group, Voice Channel, has the two sound items for entering and leaving a voice channel: Join Voice Channel and Leave Voice Channel.

The third group, Screen Share, has the two sound items for starting and stopping a screen share: Start Screen Share and Stop Screen Share.

The fourth group, Inbox Notification Sound, has a single sound item: Inbox Notification. It is the alert sound played when a member’s notification bell receives a new notification (see User Guide §8.3). Like the first three groups, it has the same set of controls: the display box, the Preview button, Upload, and Remove once a custom sound is set.

The fifth group, Direct Message Sound, also has a single sound item: Direct Message. It is the alert sound played when a member receives a new direct message (for when it plays, see User Guide §8.3). The controls are the same as above: the display box, the Preview button, Upload, and Remove once a custom sound is set.

Notification Volume

Below the five sound groups is a separate Notification Volume slider with a range of 0 to 100. The current percentage appears on its right (for example, 80%), and moving the slider applies the change immediately.

This slider sets the volume of the alert sounds you hear on your end, and it affects only you. It is the same setting as System Volume on the Volume tab in the App Settings group of the settings panel (see User Guide §7.7): when you adjust one slider, the other changes too. The five sound groups above (including when you click Preview) all play at this volume.

7.2 Call Ringtone / Outgoing Call Tone

These two sections are also on the Notifications tab, below the five sound groups and the Notification Volume slider from §7.1; keep scrolling down the same page past §7.1 to see them. Both work the same way as the sound rows in §7.1 (a display box, the Preview button, Upload, and Remove once a custom sound is set), so the text below covers only each one’s name and description.

Call Ringtone

The section heading is Call Ringtone, followed by one line of description (verbatim): “Sound played when receiving an incoming 1-on-1 call. Leave empty for default tone.”

Until a custom sound file is set, the display box shows Default tone in italics. Click Upload to choose an audio file; it takes effect as soon as it’s uploaded. The preview button’s tooltip is Preview. Once a custom sound is set, you can click Remove to restore the default. This is a server-level setting; changing it affects the entire server.

Outgoing Call Tone

The section heading is Outgoing Call Tone, followed by one line of description (verbatim): “Sound played while waiting for the other person to answer your call. Leave empty for default tone.”

The controls are the same as above: the display box, the Preview button, Upload, and Remove once a custom sound is set. This is also a server-level setting; changing it affects the entire server.

7.3 Notification Retention Limit

Notification Retention Limit is at the very bottom of the Notifications tab. Below the section heading is one line of description (verbatim): “Maximum notifications per user (oldest removed when exceeded)”

Below that is a number box. Its minimum is 0, it goes up or down in steps of 1, and its hint text is 200.

To the right of the number box is a Save button. You can’t click it when nothing has changed or while it is saving; it becomes clickable once you change the number. After you click Save, the text Saved! appears briefly next to it and disappears after about 2 seconds.

This is a server-level setting, and it applies to every user on the server.

7.4 Announcements (Current Announcement / Send Announcement)

Where to Find It

Click the gear icon on the right side of the tab bar (tooltip: User Settings) to open the settings panel, then click the Announcement tab in the Security group (note that this tab is not in the same group as Notifications and Direct Messages). The tab title is Announcement. The content is aligned to the left and has a limited width, and it has two sections from top to bottom: Current Announcement and Send Announcement.

Current Announcement

The section heading is Current Announcement. This section shows the announcement currently active on the server.

When there is an announcement, this section shows its current text (with the original line breaks kept), and below it is a red button, Dismiss Announcement. Click it to withdraw the current announcement; after that, no user sees it anymore.

When there is no announcement, this section shows “No active announcement.” in gray text.

Send Announcement

The section heading is Send Announcement, followed by one line of description (verbatim): “Send a global announcement visible to all users.”

Below it is a multi-line text box that holds up to 1000 characters. While it’s empty, it shows the hint text Type your announcement….

Below the text box is a green button, Send Announcement. You can’t click it while the box is empty or while the announcement is being sent; it becomes clickable once you enter some text. Click it to publish the announcement, and all users can see it.

After you send it, the new announcement appears right away in the Current Announcement section above, and you can withdraw it later with Dismiss Announcement.

7.5 DM Settings (Statistics / Retention / Call Bitrate)

Where to Find It

Click the gear icon on the right side of the tab bar (tooltip: User Settings) to open the settings panel, then click the Direct Messages tab in the Server Settings group. The tab title is Direct Messages. The content is aligned to the left and has a limited width, and it has three sections from top to bottom: DM Statistics, DM Message Retention Limit, and DM Voice Call Bitrate.

DM Statistics

The section heading is DM Statistics. This section appears only after the statistics have loaded; right after you switch to the tab, while the data is still loading, it isn’t shown yet.

This section is three number cards side by side, showing the DM totals as of when you opened the tab. They are all read-only and have no buttons:

• Total Messages — the total number of DM messages across the server, shown as a large number with thousands separators.
• Total Files — the total number of files uploaded in DMs across the server.
• Total File Size — the combined size of all DM files, converted automatically to B, KB, MB, or GB depending on the amount.

DM Message Retention Limit

The section heading is DM Message Retention Limit, followed by one line of description (verbatim): “Maximum number of messages to keep per DM conversation. Set to 0 for unlimited.”

Below it is a number box. Its minimum is 0, it goes up or down in steps of 1, and its hint text is 0.

To the right of the number box is a Save button. You can’t click it when nothing has changed or while it is saving; it becomes clickable once you change the number. After you click it, Saved! appears briefly next to it. This is a server-level setting; changing it affects the entire server.

The server periodically and automatically removes older DMs beyond the limit. Each removal is recorded in the audit log, shown as performed by System; see §9.4.

DM Voice Call Bitrate

The section heading is DM Voice Call Bitrate, followed by one line of description (verbatim): “Audio bitrate for 1-on-1 voice calls (8-320 kbps). Default: 64 kbps.”

You can adjust it with either a slider or a small number box. The two sit side by side and stay in sync: the slider ranges from 8 to 320 in steps of 8, and the number box next to it also ranges from 8 to 320, with the unit kbps on its right. When you move the slider or change the number, the other one follows.

On the right is a Save button. You can’t click it when nothing has changed or while it is saving. When you click it, it first checks that the value is between 8 and 320, then saves it. After it saves, Saved! appears briefly next to it. This is a server-level setting; changing it affects the entire server.