How to use focus mode on Windows 11

There's no setting called focus mode on Windows 11; the feature is called Focus. You give it a length, and when the time is up a notification tells you and Windows puts your notifications, badges and flashing back exactly as they were before the session.

There are three places to start a session, and they work the same on Windows 11 version 22H2 and later (we checked them on version 25H2 in October 2026). The quickest is the clock in the corner of the taskbar.

1. 1
   Step 1: Open the notification centre

   Select the date and time on the taskbar, or press Windows key + N. Your notifications and the calendar open together.

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   Step 2: Choose a length

   At the bottom of the calendar, use the minus and plus buttons to set how long the session should run.

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   Step 3: Select Focus

   The session starts at once and a focus timer appears on screen. Expand the timer to open the full Clock app.

From Settings

Open Settings > System > Focus and select Start focus session. It runs for the length set in Session duration on the same page.

From the Clock app

Open Clock, select Focus sessions, choose a length and whether you want breaks, then select Start focus session. Clock also holds the extras: planned breaks, a daily goal, and links to Microsoft To Do and Spotify.

End a session early

Go back to Settings > System > Focus, where the start button has become Stop focus session, or open the notification centre and select End session. Anything that arrived during the session is waiting in the notification centre.

Every option for future focus sessions is on one page, Settings > System > Focus. Microsoft's own guide to Focus in Windows lists the same five:

• Session duration: the default length. You can still pick a different length for a single session from the notification centre or the Clock app.
• Show the timer in the Clock app: whether the focus timer appears on screen while a session runs.
• Hide badges on taskbar apps: hides the small unread counts on taskbar icons, like the number on a mail or chat app.
• Hide flashing on taskbar apps: stops a taskbar button flashing when an app wants your attention.
• Turn on do not disturb: silences notifications for the session. Leave it on; it does most of the work.

One detail is easy to miss. If Do Not Disturb was already on when a session started, Windows leaves it on when the session ends. Otherwise it turns off with the timer and notifications return.

Breaks and a daily goal in the Clock app

For longer sessions, Clock slots short breaks into the plan and shows them before you start; tick Skip breaks if you'd rather work straight through. In Clock's settings you choose the focus period and break lengths, and whether a sound plays when each one ends.

Clock's Daily progress panel counts your focus time against a daily goal you set with the pencil icon. It shows yesterday's total and keeps a streak for the days you meet your goal.

Do Not Disturb works on its own, without a timer. While it's on, you only get banners for alarms, reminders and the apps you choose; everything else goes quietly to the notification centre for later.

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   Step 1: Open the notification centre

   Select the date and time on the taskbar, or press Windows key + N.

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   Step 2: Select the bell

   The bell with a small zZ on it turns Do Not Disturb on. Select it again to turn it off.

Turn on Do Not Disturb automatically

Go to Settings > System > Notifications and expand Turn on do not disturb automatically. Microsoft's page on notifications and Do Not Disturb lists the situations you can tick:

• A time of day you set, such as your working hours or the evening.
• When you duplicate your display, which helps when you present on a projector or a second screen. This rule hides even your priority banners.
• When you play a game.
• When you use an app in full screen. Like the display rule, it hides priority banners too.
• For the first hour after a Windows feature update.

Let important notifications through

On the same page, select Set priority notifications. Under Calls and reminders, tick what may still reach you. Under Apps, select Add apps and choose the apps allowed to show banners while Do Not Disturb is on, such as your calendar or a work chat.

Focus uses the same Do Not Disturb, so the same priority list applies during a focus session. Set it once and both follow it.

If one or two apps cause most of your interruptions, it's often better to quieten those for good than to silence everything. All of this is in Settings > System > Notifications.

• Turn one app off: find it under Notifications from apps and other senders and switch it off. You can also do it from a notification itself: select the three dots on it and choose to turn off all of that app's notifications.
• Keep it, but quietly: select the app instead of switching it off, then turn off Show notification banners or Play a sound when a notification arrives. Its notifications still collect in the notification centre.
• Rank the ones that matter: in the same app's settings, set its priority to Top, High or Normal. High ones sit above Normal ones in the notification centre, and only one app can be Top.
• Everything off: the Notifications switch at the top of the page turns off notifications from every app.

On Windows 10 the feature is called Focus assist, at Settings > System > Focus assist. It's the older form of the same idea: it manages notifications and has no timer. With the 2022 update to Windows 11 (version 22H2), Microsoft replaced it with the two features above: Focus assist became Do Not Disturb, and Focus arrived alongside it as the timed part.

• Three modes: Off, Priority only (only notifications from a list you customise) and Alarms only (everything hidden except alarms).
• Automatic rules: it can turn itself on at times you choose and, by default, when you duplicate your display, play a game or use an app in full screen.
• A round-up: tick Show me a summary of what I missed while focus assist was on and Windows sends you a summary when it turns off.

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, so it no longer gets feature updates. Focus assist still works as it always has, but it has no timer of its own and won't gain one; the Clock app's focus sessions are the timed option on Windows 10.

Focus is free, built in and a good place to start; for plenty of people it's enough. These are the gaps people run into once they use it every day.

• It doesn't block anything. Focus silences notifications, but nothing about a session stops you opening a game, a feed or a busy website.
• It plans one block at a time. In Clock you choose a total length up front, and it fits short breaks into that block. If you'd rather work in classic Pomodoro rounds, 25 minutes on and 5 off with a longer break after every fourth, a dedicated timer is built around that rhythm. Our guide to Pomodoro timers for Windows covers the options.
• It doesn't show where the time went. A session counts minutes towards a goal, but it doesn't record which apps or websites you used, so a focused hour and an hour spent half in email look the same. To see that, check your screen time on Windows.
• It needs the Clock app. Focus runs on Clock, so if Clock was uninstalled, sessions won't work until you reinstall it from the Microsoft Store.

And if the interruption is usually your own hand reaching for the browser, our guide to reducing screen time on your PC goes further than any timer can.

We make TimeWell, so weigh our view accordingly. Its Focus page is a Pomodoro timer that fills two of the gaps above: it works in classic rounds, and it shows where your time went around them.

• Pomodoro rounds: 25-minute focus sessions, 5-minute breaks and a 15-minute break after four rounds. Every length is adjustable, and the next round can start by itself.
• The time, without a window: a small pill in the top-right corner of the screen shows the time left, with the session's progress running around its edge. Hover it for Pause and Stop, or drag it anywhere. A soft chime marks the end of each session and break.
• Keeps going with the app closed: the timer runs with TimeWell's window shut, and the small Focus widget, once you turn it on in the app's Settings, starts or pauses a session from your desktop in one click.
• Focus beside screen time: the Focus page shows today's sessions and the week's focus time, and the rest of the app shows screen time for every app and website, so you can see what a focused hour actually went on.

If you're not sure which apps to silence, TimeWell's Notifications page counts how many notifications each app sends, and in which hours. It never reads or stores what they say.

What it won't do: TimeWell doesn't block apps or websites, enforce time limits or change your notification settings (Windows' own tools above do that part), and it runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (64-bit) only, not on a Mac or a phone. Your activity stays in a small database on your own PC. The timer is free; your own lengths, the corner pill and focus history come with Pro after the first 7 days. There's more on the focus timer on our home page, and on the cycle itself in our Pomodoro timer guide.