How to Get Instant Yahoo Mail Alerts of New Messages

This article explains how to tell Yahoo Mail to send notifications when you receive new email. The instructions apply regardless of browser.

Turn On Alerts of New Messages in Yahoo Mail

Here's how to configure Yahoo Mail for instant new mail notifications:

1. Open Yahoo Mail in a web browser.

2. Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner.

3. Click More Settings.

4. Click Notifications.

5. Click the Desktop notifications switch to turn it to on/blue.

6. You may receive a request to OK notifications from this website. If you do, click Allow.

7. Close and re-open Yahoo Mail in your browser.​ Keep it open to let it send you notifications.

How to Get Instant Yahoo Mail Alerts of New Messages via IMAP

To get near-instant notifications of new messages that arrive in your Yahoo Mail account, you can also:

• Set up the Yahoo Mail account in an email program or mail checker using IMAP (with IMAP IDLE enabled).
• Make sure the email program is running and set to display alerts for new messages.