# Overview

How event notifications are delivered to subscribers.

Source: https://statusdashboard.com/docs/notifications

StatusDashboard sends notifications when **Notifications** are **enabled** on an event **and** the event is **published**. The per-event toggle and [what actions trigger delivery](/docs/events/notifications#what-triggers-a-notification) are documented on [Event notifications](/docs/events/notifications).

The event **Publish** toggle controls status dashboard visibility and whether outbound delivery may run. **Notifications** controls whether event notifications are allowed once the event is published. Drafts never notify.

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## What triggers a notification
When notifications are enabled and the event is published, subscribers are notified after these actions:

| Action              | When a notification is sent                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Create event**    | You create the event with **Notifications** on **and** **Publish** on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| **Update event**    | You save changes to the **title**, **description**, **impact analysis** (incidents and maintenance), **affected components**, **severity**, **coordinator**, **timing** (start/end), **public attributes**, or **segment targeting** on a **published** event; or you turn **Publish** on (with notifications still on). |
| **Timeline update** | You post a new timeline entry on a **published** event (incidents and maintenance only).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| **Reopen incident** | You reopen a resolved **published** incident and post the reopen update.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| **Post-mortem**     | You **publish** a post-mortem, or **save changes while it is published**, on a **published** event (incidents and maintenance only). Unpublishing or private draft saves do not notify.                                                                                                                                  |

Notification delivery is **asynchronous**. Saving the event succeeds even if delivery is temporarily delayed; failures are retried in the background.

## What does not trigger a notification
These changes do **not** notify subscribers, even when notifications are enabled:

* Any save while the event is **unpublished** (draft)
* Adding or editing **internal notes**
* **Editing or deleting** an existing timeline entry (only **new** timeline entries trigger a notification)
* Turning **Notifications** on or off (the toggle only changes future eligibility; it does not send or unsend on its own)
* Turning **Publish** off (removes the event from dashboards; no outbound delivery)
* Saving a post-mortem while it remains **unpublished**, or **unpublishing** a published post-mortem

## Who receives notifications
When notifications fire, StatusDashboard delivers to **matching subscribers**: people signed up on your status dashboards for one or more of the event's affected components. Delivery works across whatever subscription methods your plan supports.

A subscriber is included when they:

* Are subscribed on a status dashboard that includes at least one **affected component** from the event, and
* Have selected one or more of those overlapping components in their subscription preferences (or were assigned those components by an admin).

Subscribers with no components selected (notifications paused) are skipped.

Each subscriber receives at most one notification per delivery batch for a given dashboard and channel.

You can further narrow or suppress delivery with [audience segments](/docs/notifications/segments) on the event **Segments** tab. See [Event segment targeting](/docs/events/segments) for per-event controls.

## What subscribers receive
Notifications are designed for subscribers who may not visit the status dashboard immediately. Each delivery includes a snapshot of the event at send time, such as:

* Event type, **severity**, and **status**
* **Title** and **description** (email keeps rich formatting; Teams, Google Chat, and Slack keep links, lists, and emphasis the host allows; SMS, WhatsApp, and outbound webhooks send plain text)
* **Impact Analysis** (incidents and maintenance only), when set — after the description, before affected components
* **Affected components** and their statuses
* **Coordinator** contact details, when set
* **Maintenance window times**: expected start and expected completion while planned; started and expected completion while in progress (hidden when completed)
* All **timeline updates**, newest first, with timestamps
* A **View event** link in email or a short link to the event in SMS, when the dashboard is publicly accessible **and** the event is published

Channel-specific delivery details, quotas, and diagnostics:

| Channel         | Guide                                                      |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| Email           | [Email notifications](/docs/notifications/email)           |
| SMS             | [SMS notifications](/docs/notifications/sms)               |
| WhatsApp        | [WhatsApp notifications](/docs/notifications/whatsapp)     |
| Webhooks        | [Webhooks notifications](/docs/notifications/webhooks)     |
| Microsoft Teams | [Microsoft Teams notifications](/docs/notifications/teams) |
| Google Chat     | [Google Chat notifications](/docs/notifications/gchat)     |

## Frequently asked questions
These answers apply to **all notification channels** on your plan (email, SMS, WhatsApp, webhook, Microsoft Teams, and Google Chat). Channel-specific delivery format, quotas, logs, and deliverability controls are documented under each channel guide.

**If notifications are on by default, will subscribers be notified as soon as I create an event?**

Not while **Publish** is off (the default). New events start with **Notifications** on and **Publish** off, so you can author a draft without outbound delivery. Subscribers are notified when you turn **Publish** on (with notifications still on), or on later qualifying changes while both remain on.

**Can I save changes without notifying subscribers?**

Leave the event **unpublished**, or turn **Notifications** off before saving a published event. There is no separate suppression per field. While both **Publish** and **Notifications** are on, any qualifying save (including coordinator, timing, or severity updates) can notify matching subscribers.

**Do subscribers still get notifications if our status dashboard is hidden or public subscriptions are turned off?**

Yes, for **existing verified subscribers** on matching components, when the event is **published** and **Notifications** is on. Outbound delivery is not controlled by dashboard **Visibility** or the dashboard **Subscriptions** channel toggles alone.

| Setting                      | Effect on event notifications                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Visibility off**           | The public status page returns **404** for visitors. Outbound notifications **still send** when the event is **published** and **Notifications** is on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| **Subscriptions toggle off** | Public sign-up and self-service manage are hidden on the status dashboard. **Existing** verified subscribers still receive alerts. Admins can add and edit subscribers ([email](/app/subscribers/email/subscribers), [SMS](/app/subscribers/sms/subscribers), and [WhatsApp](/app/subscribers/whatsapp/subscribers); [webhook](/app/integrations/webhooks/outbound/endpoints), [Teams](/app/integrations/teams/endpoints), and [Google Chat](/app/integrations/gchat/endpoints)). |

What each channel includes in the message (for example, a dashboard link in email or a short link in SMS) depends on Visibility. See [Email](/docs/notifications/email#dashboard-visibility-and-subscriptions) and [SMS](/docs/notifications/sms#dashboard-visibility-and-subscriptions).

**Can we send notifications without a public status dashboard?**

Yes. Some teams keep **Visibility** off and operate a **notifications-only** dashboard: visitors cannot browse the status page, but you can add subscribers from [Email subscribers](/app/subscribers/email/subscribers) (and other channel screens) and send event alerts when the event is **published** and **Notifications** is on. Public self-service subscribe flows require Visibility on (and the relevant channel enabled on the dashboard **Subscriptions** tab).

**Do I need to configure dashboard subscriptions before enabling event notifications?**

No. The event-level **Notifications** toggle and dashboard subscription settings are separate. If no one has subscribed to the affected components, or no subscription method is available on your plan, a qualifying event change simply produces no outbound notifications. The event still saves and appears on your status dashboard when published.

**If I disable notifications, can subscribers still see the event?**

Yes. The toggle only controls outbound notifications. Published events remain visible on your status dashboards.

**Do informational events support notifications?**

Yes. The **Notifications** tab is available on all event types. Informational events have no timeline or post-mortem, so notifications are sent when the event is published (on create if already published, or when you turn **Publish** on) and on qualifying updates while published.