How to add an alert to a file or document Library

Summary

This article covers how to add an alert to a file or document library.

Body

Overview

You can create alerts in order to be notified when your SharePoint documents or items change.  Alerts can be sent to your team via email or text messages (SMS).

You can set up an alert for a list, library, folder, file, or list item. For example, you can set up an alert for a specific folder in a library, without receiving alerts when changes occur in the rest of the library.

You can set up an alert for one person, several people or an entire team. 

Get alerts on item changes in SharePoint Online

You can get an alert whenever a file, link, or folder is changed in a SharePoint Online document library. Depending on the item (file, folder, link), you may see different options when you set an alert.

  1. Open the document library and hover over the file, link, or folder for which you want to get an alert, and click the check mark.

  2. Click the Files Tab from the top left Ribbon, and then click Alert Me.

  3. In the Alert me when items change dialog, select and change the options you want. For settings and descriptions, see Alert Options below.

  4. Click OK when done.

Get alerts on all changes in a document library in SharePoint Online

You can get an alert whenever any file, link, or folder changes. Depending on the item (file, folder, link), there are a few different alert options.

  1. Open the SharePoint Online document library and make sure no items are selected.

  2. Click the Library Tab on the Ribbon and then click Alert Me.

  3. In the Alert me when items change dialog, change or fill in the options you want. For settings and descriptions, see Alert Options below.

  4. Click OK when done.

Alert Options

In the Alert me when items change dialog, the following settings are available for alerts on an item, file, link (where supported) or folder.

  • Alert title    This is the subject for the email or text message. It's pre-filled with the name of the document library and item name, but you can change it.

  • Send Alerts To    This is the user name or email you want the alert sent to. To enter more than one, separate the addresses with semicolons. You can also add a group/department. 

  • Delivery Method    Choose email or a text message for alerts. For text messages, add the phone number and check the box if you want the URL of the item to be sent. If you want SMS and it's grayed out, talk to your SharePoint admin or IT dept.

  • Change Type    Choose to receive alerts for all changes, when new items are added, or existing items are modified or deleted. No alert is sent when an item is deleted from a view.

  • Send Alerts for These Changes    This lets you pick the type of changes for which you receive alerts. You can pick when someone changes any file, link, or folder, or when someone changes a file, link, or folder you created or last modified.

  • When to Send Alerts    This specifies how frequently you get alerts. You can get notifications immediately when changes happen, or a daily or weekly summary. For daily summaries, you can set the time of day to send. On weekly notifications, you can set the day and time to send. The default is to send notifications immediately, but if your site is active or you don't need to know right away, you might want to choose daily or weekly summaries.

List of alert option settings

Details

Details

Article ID: 544
Created
Fri 1/19/18 11:11 AM
Modified
Tue 3/22/22 9:34 AM