Notifications
A bell in the app header that shows in-app notifications sent to you, with a count, a panel to read them and a way to dismiss them.
What it is
The bell in the app header opens the notification centre. A number on the bell tells you how many notifications are waiting. Each one has a title and a body, and may carry an action such as opening a record. You can dismiss one at a time or clear the lot. Some notifications also appear briefly as a toast when they arrive.
When to use it
Use in-app notifications to tell a specific person that something needs attention: a record assigned to them, an approval waiting, or an @mention in a note. They work only while the app is open. For push messages on a phone, Microsoft uses a separate Power Apps Notification connector, so don't mix the two. A message about the record currently open is better as a Form notification.
Licensing and configuration
No extra licence. In the app designer, open Settings, then Features, and turn on In-app notifications; save and publish the app. Notifications are sent with the SendAppNotification message (client API, Web API or SDK). The sender needs the Send In-App Notification privilege, which the Environment Maker role has by default. A notification expires after 14 days unless the administrator changes that.
Pitfalls
- Notifications are per user. You can't send one to a team, so loop over the members.
- The app polls: it fetches new notifications on start and on navigation, at most once a minute. A user who stays on one page won't see new ones.
- @mentions in notes trigger notifications; @mentions in timeline posts don't.
- Stored notifications use Dataverse database capacity.
Try it in the demo
- Select the bell and read the list.
- Dismiss one notification and watch the count drop.
- Use the clear option to dismiss them all.