Outlook’s Desktop Alerts, enabled by default, notify you when you receive a new email message. While these alerts can keep you up-to-date with what’s going on in your inbox, they can be pretty distracting.

If you are sharing your desktop, giving a presentation, or recording a video, the desktop notifications may interrupt your process.

It only takes a few steps to disable these alerts in Outlook 2013 or 2016:

1. Go to the File tab.
2. Select Options.
3. Select Mail.
4. In the Message arrival section, un-check Display a Desktop Alert.