Troubleshooting

Gmail notifications are not working on your Mac

Mail arrives, but your Mac stays silent. Almost always it is one of six things, and the first one explains most cases. Work down the list in order; each step takes under a minute.

Check the setting inside Gmail first: desktop notifications are off by default and switched on per account.
Gmail deliberately sends no notification for the account you are looking at, which makes most self-tests fail.
macOS has its own permission, and a Focus mode silences everything without telling the app.
In a browser, notifications stop the moment you close the tab or quit the browser.

1. Turn on desktop notifications inside Gmail

This is the reason in most cases, and it hides in Gmail rather than on your Mac. Gmail only pushes a notification when the mailbox itself is set to do so, the setting is off until you turn it on, and it lives per account. If you have three Gmail accounts you have three switches.

Open that account in Gmail and click the gear at the top right, then See all settings.
Stay on the General tab and scroll to Desktop notifications.
Choose New mail notifications on, or Important mail notifications on if you only want the mail Gmail marks as important.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. The setting is not saved until you do.
Repeat for every account.

The browser or app also has to be allowed to show notifications for mail.google.com. The first time you switch the setting on, Gmail asks; if you dismissed that question once, the setting looks on while nothing arrives.

2. You are testing with the account you are looking at

This one catches nearly everyone. Gmail sends no desktop notification for the mailbox that is open in front of you, because you can already see the message arrive. So the classic test, mailing yourself and staring at the inbox, proves nothing.

Test it properly: send a message to an account you are not currently looking at, or switch to another account first, then send. If the notification appears, everything works.

3. Give macOS permission

macOS has its own permission, separate from anything Gmail does. If it is off, or if the app was installed while Do Not Disturb was active, nothing reaches you.

Open System Settings and go to Notifications.
Find the app that shows your mail, your browser or your mail app, in the list.
Switch Allow notifications on, and choose Banners or Alerts. Alerts stay on screen until you dismiss them.
Turn on Show previews if you want to see the sender and subject, and allow notifications on the lock screen if you want them there.

An app that is not in that list has never asked for permission. Trigger the question by doing the thing that needs it once, then look again.

4. Check Focus and Do Not Disturb

A Focus mode silences notifications without telling the app anything, and macOS turns one on by itself more often than people expect: while mirroring your screen, while a full-screen presentation runs, or on a schedule you set months ago.

Look at the Control Centre in the menu bar. If a Focus is on, either switch it off or add the app to its allowed list under System Settings, then Focus. Notifications silenced this way still arrive; you find them in Notification Centre afterwards.

5. The browser has to stay open

A Gmail tab can only notify you while it exists. Close the tab, quit the browser, or let the Mac sleep with the browser closed, and there is nothing left to deliver anything. Many people discover this after switching to a browser that suspends background tabs to save battery.

If you want notifications without keeping a browser open all day, you need an app that runs on its own. A mail client such as Apple Mail fetches your mail directly. A dedicated Gmail app such as Nuncio shows the real Gmail and turns its notifications into native macOS notifications for each account, with a click opening that exact message in the right account.

6. The unread badge is a separate thing

A count on the Dock icon and a notification are two different mechanisms, so one can work while the other does not. On macOS the badge rides along with the notification permission: switch notifications off entirely and the number disappears too.

In Nuncio the badge has its own switches as well, globally and per account, so an account can be visible in the sidebar without adding to the Dock count. If a number looks stuck, open that account once; the count follows Gmail's own unread total, which updates when the mailbox does.

Still nothing?

Two rarer causes are worth knowing. If your mail comes from a work or school account, an administrator can switch off notification permissions for the whole organisation, in which case nothing you change locally helps. And filters can be the answer rather than the problem: a filter that archives or marks mail as read before you see it means there is nothing left to notify you about. Check Filters and Blocked Addresses in Gmail's settings.

Questions people ask

Why do I get notifications on my phone but not on my Mac?

Because they are different systems. The Gmail app on your phone has its own push notifications, while on a Mac the notification comes from the browser or app showing Gmail, and it depends on Gmail's desktop notification setting plus the permission macOS gives that app.

Can I get notifications for several Gmail accounts at once?

Yes, as long as each account has its own session. In one browser window the accounts share a session and the notifications get confusing. Separate browser profiles work, and a dedicated app such as Nuncio gives you a native notification per account, with the account name in the notification.

Do I have to keep Gmail open in a tab?

In a browser, yes: a tab that is closed cannot notify you. An app that runs on its own does not need a tab, and in Nuncio every account keeps listening even when the window is closed, as long as the app is running.

Why is there no notification for mail Gmail puts in Promotions?

Gmail only notifies for the Primary category, and with Important mail notifications on, only for what it marks as important. Mail sorted into Promotions, Social or Updates arrives silently by design.

Notifications per account, without a browser

Nuncio turns Gmail's notifications into native macOS notifications for every account, and a click opens the right message in the right inbox. Seven days free, then a yearly subscription.