Page 167 - Windows 10 May 2019 Update The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box

To set up Focus Assist for the first time, open → → System →

“Focus assist” (Figure 2-28). Here you’ll discover there are two levels of
Focus Assist (besides “Off”):

Priority only means that some notifications are still allowed to pop
up and get your attention. Which ones? That’s up to you. Click
“Customize your priority list” to see the options.

At the top, you’ll see three checkboxes that let notifications from
your phone show up on your computer—one each for incoming
calls, text messages, and reminders. To make this work, you have

to link your phone to your PC (“AutoPlay”); the phone must have
the Cortana app installed, and iPhones need not apply.

On this same screen, you can identify certain people whose calls

and texts are allowed to pass through your Focus Assist blockade.
(Use the “Add contacts” button to choose them; “Show
notifications from pinned contacts on taskbar” automatically adds

the speed-dial people you’ve added to the People button on your
taskbar, as described on “Editing an Address”.)

Whenever these very special folks contact you through Microsoft

apps like Mail, Skype, Calling, and Messaging, you’ll get a
notification, even if Focus Assist is turned on. You might, for
example, permit calls from your spouse, boss, and children to reach

you; you certainly wouldn’t want Focus Assist to block somebody
trying to tell you that there’s been an accident, that you’ve
overslept, or that you’ve just won the lottery.