# Notification preferences

> How members choose what ClubPal tells them about, and whether each thing arrives by email, as a bell alert, or as a push notification on their phone.

Canonical: https://www.clubpal.app/docs/general/notification-preferences
Section: General

Members control what ClubPal tells them about at **My Profile > Notifications**, or by clicking the cog in the notification bell.

![The notification bell dropdown showing two recent notifications, a mark all as read button and a settings cog](https://www.clubpal.app/img/docs/notification-bell.png)

*The bell carries recent alerts. The cog goes straight to these settings.*

## Two ways to be told

Every notification type can arrive through one or both of two channels, and they are set separately.

| Channel | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Email** | An email to the member's address. |
| **Alerts** | A row in the notification bell, and a push notification on any device where they have turned push on, when the update is time-sensitive. |

Some types offer only one of the two. **Reactions** is alerts only: somebody reacting to your message is worth a bell row, not an email.

## Email preferences

Two switches sit above the list and override everything below them.

**Enable Email?** When off, the club sends the member no email at all, automated or manually composed. Use it with care: it also stops emails about their own bookings and payments.

**Receive updates from [club name]?** Controls newsletters and general updates only. With it off, a member still receives email about their bookings, payments and membership. This is the setting for someone who wants to stay informed about their own membership without hearing from the club generally.

## The notification list

Everything else is grouped into five sections: **Chat**, **Sessions**, **Membership**, **Sales** and **Files**.

![The notification preferences page with Email preferences at the top and five categories of notification type below, each a table with Email and Alerts columns](https://www.clubpal.app/img/docs/notification-preferences.png)

*My Profile > Notifications. Each row is one thing that can happen, with a switch per channel.*

Not every member sees every row:

- A type whose feature is off for the club is hidden. With chat off, the whole **Chat** section disappears; with the store off, **Order placed** does.
- Some types are only offered to members who hold the matching permission, because they are about running the club rather than being a member of it.

### Always on

Some things are not a preference. They show **Always on** in both columns and cannot be switched off.

![The Sessions category showing Session cancelled, Session updated and Waitlist promoted marked Always on, with New session added and Session reminder as switches](https://www.clubpal.app/img/docs/notification-category-sessions.png)

*Turning up to a cancelled session is the failure these exist to prevent, so they are not optional.*

- **Session cancelled**, when a session the member is booked into is called off.
- **Session updated**, when the date, time or location of a session they are booked into changes.
- **Waitlist promoted**, when they come off a waiting list into a confirmed booking.

### Chat

![The Chat category listing session, channel and event messages, reactions, and message reported, with Email and Alerts switches](https://www.clubpal.app/img/docs/notification-category-chat.png)

*Message types default to alerts rather than email, so an active conversation does not fill an inbox.*

| Type | What it is | Default |
|---|---|---|
| **Session messages** | New messages and replies in a session chat you are subscribed to. | Alerts on, email off |
| **Channel messages** | New messages and replies in a [channel](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/channels) you belong to. | Alerts on, email off |
| **Event messages** | New messages and replies in an event chat you are subscribed to. | Alerts on, email off |
| **Reactions** | Somebody reacts to a message you posted. | Alerts on. Alerts only, and never pushed |
| **Message reported** | A member reports a message for moderator review. Only shown to members who can moderate chat. | Both on |

These sections appear only where the matching [chat setting](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/overview) is on.

> **Note**
>
> These settings say how you hear about chat in general. To go quiet on one particular conversation without changing anything here, use **Mute notifications** in that conversation's own header. See [Using chat](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/messages).

### Sessions, Membership, Sales and Files

| Type | What it is | Default |
|---|---|---|
| **New session added** | A new session is added to the calendar. | Email on, alerts off |
| **Session reminder** | Two hours before a session you are booked into, or coaching, starts. | Alerts on, email off |
| **Account created** | Somebody creates an account. For administrators. | Email on, alerts off |
| **Membership activated** | A membership is activated. For administrators. | Email on, alerts off |
| **Package requires approval** | A membership package is waiting for approval. | Both on |
| **Pass purchased** | A member buys a [pass](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/sessions/passes). | Email on, alerts off |
| **Order placed** | A [store](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/store/overview) order is placed. | Email on, alerts off |
| **File shared** | Somebody [shares a file or folder](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/file-manager/sharing) with you. | Both on |

There is no Save button. Each switch saves itself the moment you move it, and the card header tells you when it has. If a save fails, the row says so and the switch goes back to where it was.

### What the defaults mean

A default applies until the member changes that row. Nothing is written against their account
until they move a switch, so a club that adds a new notification type does not have to migrate
anyone: existing members simply pick up the new type's default.

The pattern behind the defaults is worth knowing when deciding whether to change yours:

- **Things that happen often default to alerts, not email.** Chat messages and session reminders
  are frequent, so they go to the bell rather than filling an inbox.
- **Things an administrator needs a record of default to email.** A new account, an activated
  membership, a pass or an order is something you want to be able to find later.
- **Anything that needs acting on defaults to both.** A package waiting for approval, a reported
  message, and a file shared with you all arrive by email and in the bell.

Turning a row off never affects the emails ClubPal sends about a member's own bookings and
payments. Those are not preferences. See [Automated emails](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/emails/automated).

## Push notifications

Below the preferences card, a **Push Notifications** card appears on any device whose browser supports it. Turning push on is per device: a member who wants alerts on their phone but not their laptop turns it on in one and not the other.

Push carries the time-sensitive alerts only. Something like a reaction stays in the bell rather than buzzing in a pocket.

See [Save to home screen](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/general/save-to-home-screen) for getting ClubPal onto a phone's home screen first, which is what makes push available on iOS.

## ClubPal newsletter

The last card on the page is separate from the club entirely. It subscribes the member to product news from ClubPal, not to anything the club sends. Subscribing or unsubscribing there has no effect on club emails.

## See also

- [Automated emails](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/emails/automated): the emails ClubPal sends on the club's behalf
- [Email settings](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/emails/email-settings): the club's own sending configuration
- [Using chat](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/messages): muting one conversation
- [Save to home screen](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/general/save-to-home-screen): installing ClubPal on a phone
- [Your account dashboard](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/general/account-dashboard): everything else in your account