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I would like to have macOS Notification Center notifications on my left monitor and not my right monitor. It's hard to see them when I'm looking at the left monitor (since they're all the way on the right side and they're rather large monitors).

Is there any way to keep the screens in this order, but have the notifications appear on the screen I want them to appear on?

pkamb
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jamby
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3 Answers3

244

You should be able to do this by choosing the monitor on which the menu bar is active.

Try:

  • System Settings -> Displays -> Arrangement

and drag the little white bar to the monitor where you want the notifications to show up.

In the picture below, the bar is being dragged from the left to the right window.

Arrangement window with mouse

Marco
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khal
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    Wow this isn't at all obvious. – Sridhar Sarnobat Aug 24 '17 at 17:59
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    This works, of course, but it also causes the (⌘-Tab) Application Switcher to move to that monitor. Is there a way to change the location of only notifications? – TravisCarden Sep 08 '17 at 14:08
  • I'm amazed by this post! It works like a charm! – Fisher Coder Apr 27 '18 at 14:57
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    Oddly, the cmd-tab selections appear only on the Macbook Pro's screen, while the notifications are on the primary screen (the one with the white bar) – wrlee Jul 11 '18 at 21:35
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    I missed a meeting at work today because iCal was popping up on the laptop screen away to my right instead of my Thunderbolt dispaly. – Sridhar Sarnobat Jan 14 '19 at 23:49
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    @wrlee to switch where teh cmd-tab selections appear, on the display where you want them to appear, mouse over the dock on that display. That effectively switches where cmd-tab list shows up. – JohnQ Apr 17 '19 at 12:39
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    Yeah unfortunately this moves the menu bar, which I don't want to move. There really should be some way to move just the notifications. – karfus Sep 11 '19 at 08:24
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    @JohnQ thanks for the tip .. just to repeat the first comment: "Wow this isn't at all obvious." -- Apple style: lot of features, but unreasonably hidden... – Kamafeather Sep 17 '19 at 15:47
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    It's nearly 2020 and this is still not possible to configure in a convenient way :( or even to show it on both displays, it's super easy to miss some important stuff. – Tomasz Szymański Dec 17 '19 at 09:08
  • Works in Catalina. Another useful tip along these lines. To move the dock between monitors, move your mouse to the bottom of the screen on the monitor where you want your dock. You need to hold it to the bottom center for a couple seconds. I'd prefer to have the dock on both screens, but not sure it's possible. – wsams Feb 04 '20 at 17:54
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    This doesn't solve the issue.This moves notifications and the dock and everything else. I want to have only notifications on a different monitor. – Gustavo Bezerra Feb 17 '21 at 00:01
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    The top literally says, "To relocate the menu bar, drag it to a different display." I never actually read that. LOL. – Alex May 12 '21 at 16:46
  • This might work if your screens are side by side but if one is above the other, the notifications remain on the top screen regardless of where the dock is. – vsmash Oct 06 '22 at 05:28
  • There is no more white bar on Ventura (macOS 13), or at least with one laptop and one external monitor. – ymoreau Mar 17 '23 at 10:50
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    I'm running Sonoma where this seems to be different. If you go to System Settings -> Displays, you can click the monitor where you want to have the notifications appear. Then in the section below the monitors, you will see a setting called "Use As". Change the value in the drop-down to "Main display". Now the notifications will appear on that display. The desktops will switch monitors, so you may have to arrange your desktops back to the monitors you want them on. (I use two monitors and leave my laptop cover close.) – jimmyg Dec 06 '23 at 18:04
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In case you have mirrored displays and you have no notifications appearing on either screen, you might have fallen victim of the "DO NOT DISTURB - Enabled while mirrored" setting.

To change this setting, open the notification centre on the right, scroll up in the list to reveal the hidden settings panel, and toggle the DO NOT DISTURB switch.

do not disturb

On macOS Monterey, this setting has moved to System Preferences > Notifications:

System Preferences Notifications - Allow Notifications

On macOS Ventura, this is where you find it:

macOS Ventura Notifications

This setting also affects applications like OBS Studio when a Display Capture source is active.

bagonyi
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    WOW, why is this setting enabled by default? This was the fix in my case – lacy Nov 17 '20 at 21:01
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    I'm pretty sure the reason is to prevent notifications from private conversations from popping up when people are presenting their screen for work! The Zoom video conferencing app also turns on DND by default when screen sharing. – interestinglythere Feb 25 '21 at 02:34
  • Thank you very much! I had the same issue while using the software "Duet Display" that allows one to use an iPad as a second screen. – Tafkadasoh Apr 25 '22 at 16:09
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The notification side-tray should appear on the screen which your cursor is currently positioned; it need not be the screen with the active menu bar... I've found that it isn't always consistent, and sometimes appears on whichever screen it last appeared. I was able to sync it up to the expected behavior by opening and closing the tray from the menu bar icon rather than trackpad gesture.

user3481991
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    This appears to be untrue in Catalina. Notifications appear always on the same screen, regardless of which one is in focus. – oarfish Feb 10 '21 at 08:57