How to clear all notifications at once on Mac
Twenty notifications from eight apps, and macOS wants you to clear them one stack at a time. Clear the lot with one key.
macOS doesn’t give you a button or shortcut that clears every app’s notifications at once — you clear them one notification or one app’s stack at a time in Notification Center. MacFixes adds one shortcut that dismisses every notification, including the pile in Notification Center.
Free in MacFixes.
What macOS gives you
Notification Center opens when you click the date and time in the menu bar. Notifications are grouped by app; hover over one and click its X to clear it, or hover over the top notification in an app’s stack and click Clear All to clear that app. Focus and Do Not Disturb stop new notifications from showing, but don’t clear the ones already there. macOS doesn’t give you a single control, or a keyboard shortcut, for clearing everything.
How MacFixes fixes it
- 1Turn on the fixOpen MacFixes Settings → Everyday and turn on “Clear all notifications” (or type its name into Search for a fix).
- 2Allow AccessibilitymacOS asks for Accessibility permission, which the fix needs to dismiss notifications for you.
- 3Press the shortcutEvery notification is dismissed at once — the ones on screen and the pile in Notification Center.
Why notifications pile up on a Mac
Every app that’s allowed to notify you can leave something behind. A banner slides in at the top right and slides away after a few seconds, but it doesn’t disappear — it moves into Notification Center and waits there until you deal with it. Alerts are the other style: they stay on screen, stacked one under another, until you click them away.
macOS groups what’s waiting by app and stacks them. That keeps the list short, but it also hides how much is there. After a day of messages, mail, calendar reminders, updates and whatever your other apps decide to tell you, Notification Center holds a stack for each, and clearing it means a separate click on each one.
How to clear notifications with what macOS gives you
Open Notification Center. Click the date and time at the right of the menu bar. On a trackpad you can also swipe left with two fingers from the right edge.
Clear one notification. Hover over it and click the X that appears in its corner.
Clear one app’s notifications. Hover over the top notification in the app’s stack and click Clear All. Every notification from that app goes, and the next app’s stack moves up.
Repeat for each app. There’s no Clear All for the whole list, so eight apps with something waiting is eight Clear All clicks — and alerts that are sitting on screen outside Notification Center each need their own click too.
Stop them piling up in the first place
Clearing is half the job; the other half is fewer notifications to clear. In System Settings → Notifications, click an app to change how it notifies you. Turning off “Show in Notification Center” means its banners go once they’ve been seen instead of joining the pile. Choosing the style that goes away on its own, rather than the one that stays on screen until you dismiss it, stops an app filling the corner of your screen. And switching off Allow notifications for apps you never act on removes them entirely.
For a meeting or a presentation, turn on Do Not Disturb or a Focus from Control Center. New notifications are held back until it ends. The same Notifications settings can keep notifications from showing while you’re mirroring or sharing your display. Neither one clears what was already there, which is where a one-key clear helps.
When one key to clear everything helps
Before you share your screen. A column of personal messages in the corner is exactly what you don’t want on a call, and Do Not Disturb only stops new ones. Clear everything, then share. If you’re getting ready for a call anyway, check your camera first and keep a shortcut to mute your microphone handy.
At the start of the day, or after time away. Coming back to a full Notification Center, most of what’s in it is already old: messages you’ve read on your phone, reminders that have passed. One key clears it so the next notification is one you’ll actually notice.
Clearing a notification only removes the notification. The message, email or reminder it came from is still in its app, so you lose nothing you can’t open again.
Permissions, and turning it off
“Clear all notifications” needs macOS’s Accessibility permission. macOS asks you, and you allow it once.
- Accessibility lets an app see and work the windows, menus and buttons of other apps, and click or type for you. You can see it, and take it back, in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
To stop using it, open MacFixes Settings → Everyday and use the switch on the “Clear all notifications” row.
Questions
Is there a keyboard shortcut to clear notifications on Mac?
macOS doesn’t include one. You clear notifications in Notification Center with the mouse, one notification or one app at a time. MacFixes adds a shortcut that dismisses every notification at once.
How do I clear all notifications from one app?
Open Notification Center by clicking the date and time in the menu bar, hover over the top notification in that app’s stack, and click Clear All.
Does clearing a notification delete the message?
No. It removes the notification only. The message, email or event is still in its app.
Does it stop new notifications?
No. It dismisses the ones already there. To hold new ones back during a call or a presentation, turn on Do Not Disturb or a Focus.
Is it free?
Yes. Clear all notifications is one of the free fixes in MacFixes.
More fixes macOS doesn’t give you
One of 47 fixes and 10 apps in MacFixes. Every fix · Every app · Something else your Mac won’t do? Request it.
Clear all notifications at once with MacFixes
MacFixes has 47 fixes for things macOS gets wrong or leaves out. Add only the ones you want. This one is free. macOS 14 Sonoma or later.