# Notifications

What the notification bell shows, and how it differs from a Mitra briefing.

# The notification bell

Every signed-in page carries a bell icon in the top bar. Clicking it opens a dropdown tray of
recent notifications, separate from any per-module inbox. The tray shown here is the one an HR Head
sees on the demo workspace.

<div class="bon-video">
<iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/fHBIb0_KHy8" title="What the notification bell shows (a tour)" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHBIb0_KHy8">What the notification bell shows (a tour)</a></p>
</div>

## What the tray shows

Selecting the bell opens a tray headed **Notifications**. At its top right are two links, **Mark as read**
and **Clear**. Each row has a red dot, the notification text, and how long ago it happened followed by who
raised it. The check button at the right of a row is round and orange-red.

On the demo workspace the first rows held holiday reminders ("Holiday tomorrow: Ganesh Chaturthi. Enjoy your
day off!") and birthday reminders ("Birthday today: ... Wish them well!"), each attributed to **Anonymous**.
Further down, other kinds of row appeared: "New announcement:" followed by a title, "Your leave request has
been approved", "Your attendance request for" a date "is validated", "Your work details has been updated" and
"You have been mentioned in an announcement". Some of these rows were attributed to a named user rather than
Anonymous. Opening the tray does not change the badge number.

At the bottom of the tray are a **View all notifications** link and a speaker icon with a slash through it.

![The notification tray: holiday and birthday reminders, each attributed to Anonymous, with Mark as read / Clear / View all notifications controls](https://docs.blueonehr.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/c5Dnotifications-overview-tray.png)

## How many items the tray holds

The number on the bell matches the number of items in the tray. The dropdown is a scrolling area that
shows a few items at a time, so you scroll inside the tray to reach the rest. On the demo workspace
the badge showed 47 and the tray held 47 rows, each with a red dot; the capture above shows just the top
of the list.

## Not the same thing as a Mitra briefing

The screenshot above happened to be taken at the same moment a separate **Mitra** briefing dialog
was open in the bottom-right corner of the screen ("Good evening. Nothing has changed since your
last briefing..."). These are two independent features that can be on screen simultaneously: the
notification bell is a conventional activity feed (holidays, birthdays, and similar events); Mitra's
dialog is a computed operational briefing. See [What Mitra is](https://docs.blueonehr.com/books/mitra/page/what-mitra-is) for the latter —
do not conflate the two when writing about either.

## Not confirmed

- What **Mark as read** and **Clear** do to the badge and the list was not tried.
- What **View all notifications** opens was not confirmed, and neither was what the speaker icon changes.
- Whether a row opens the item it describes was not tried.