---
title: "Notification defaults for your organisation"
description: "Administrators set what every member receives by default, per module and per notification, lock a row so nobody can change it, or apply the defaults to everyone. A default never overrides a choice a member already made."
category: administration-security
section: platform-settings
tags: [admin, notifications]
type: Reference
lastUpdated: 2026-10-26
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/administration-security/notification-defaults-for-your-organisation
---

# Notification defaults for your organisation


**Notification defaults** is the page where an administrator decides what every member receives by default, module by module, for each kind of notification and each channel. A default reaches the members who have not made their own choice. A **Locked** row gives everyone the organisation's value and takes the choice away. **Apply to all members** erases the choices members made on that tab. The page sits under **Administration → Organisation → Notification emails → Configure**.

You need administrator rights. Members choose for themselves in **Account → Notifications**: see [Configuring my notification settings](/en/getting-started/how-to-configure-my-notification-settings).

## What the page shows

Open **Administration**, select **Organisation** in the left menu, then click **Configure** in the **Notification emails** section. The page has one tab per module your organisation uses: **Structure**, **Goals**, **Projects** and **Meetings**. Each tab opens with the same reminder: "Each switch here is the default every member starts with. Members can still choose for themselves, unless you lock the row."

Each tab has three parts:

- **Channels**: one row for **Email** and one for **Desktop**, each with a padlock and a switch. The switch is the channel a member gets until they choose otherwise.
- **Notifications**: a table with one row per notification and the columns **Notification**, **Email**, **Desktop** and **Locked**. The rows carry the same names members see on their own **Notifications** page.
- **Apply to all members**: the button at the bottom of the tab.

Every switch and every padlock saves the moment you click it, confirmed by the message **Notification defaults updated**. There is no Save button.

![The Notification defaults page on the Projects tab: the Channels rows for Email and Desktop with their padlocks, then the Notifications table with one row per project notification and its Email, Desktop and Locked columns, the Project Archived row locked and the two metric rows showing a dash instead of an Email switch](/images/administration-security/notification-defaults-for-your-organisation/01-projects-tab-defaults.png)

## Which members does a change reach?

The two parts of a tab behave differently, and the difference is the answer to "who is affected":

| You change | Who gets the new value |
|---|---|
| A switch in the **Notifications** table | Every member who has never changed that notification on their own page, existing members included. A member who already switched that row on or off keeps their choice. |
| A switch in **Channels** (**Email** or **Desktop**) | Only members whose channel settings for that module do not exist yet. Talkspirit creates them the first time a member opens their notification settings or receives a notification from that module, copying the defaults of that moment. Everyone else keeps the value they have, so in practice a changed channel default reaches new members. |
| A padlock | Every member, immediately, as described under **What does Locked do?** below. |
| **Apply to all members** | Every member, including those who made their own choice. |

The reason is how the choices are stored. A member's channel settings are written for them as soon as they need them. A member's choice for one notification is written only when the member changes it, so until then the organisation's default applies.

## Does a default override a member's choice?

No. Each time a notification is about to be sent, Talkspirit decides per channel in this order: a lock, then the member's own choice, then the organisation's default. A default is the starting value and nothing more. To override what a member chose, lock the row or use **Apply to all members**.

## What does Locked do?

The padlock in the **Locked** column locks a notification on both channels. The padlock next to **Email** or **Desktop** in **Channels** locks that channel. The tooltip reads **Locked: members keep the organisation's setting and cannot change it** once pressed, and **Unlocked: this is a default and members can change it** otherwise.

While a row is locked, every member receives the organisation's value for it, whatever they chose before. On their own **Notifications** page the switch is greyed out and reads **Set by your organisation**. A change they try anyway is refused.

Locking keeps the members' own choices instead of deleting them. Unlock the row and each member is back on the value they had chosen.

> **Note:** A member who switched a whole channel off (for example **Enable email notifications** on their Projects tab) still receives nothing on that channel, even for a notification you locked on, unless you lock the channel itself in **Channels**.

## Apply to all members

The bottom of each tab reads: "Changes above don't overwrite the settings members already have. Use this to give every member the defaults of this tab: their own choices are erased, and this cannot be undone." The **Apply to all members** button opens a confirmation titled **Apply the defaults to all members?**, which warns that every member's own choices for that module's notifications will be discarded and replaced by the defaults above. Click **Cancel** to keep everything, or **Apply to all members** to go ahead.

Applying the defaults does two things for that tab: it deletes every member's own choices for every notification in the table, and it sets every member's **Email** and **Desktop** channel switches for that module to the defaults. Locks are not needed for this and are not changed by it. The other tabs are untouched, with one exception: **Goals** and **Projects** share one **Channels** row. A change to it on one tab shows on the other, and applying the defaults on either tab resets members' channel switches for both. Their per-notification choices on the other tab stay.

> **Warning:** Applying the defaults cannot be undone. The members' choices are deleted, not stored aside, so unlocking later brings nothing back.

## Send notification emails wins over this page

On the **Organisation** page, just above **Configure**, the **Send notification emails** switch covers the whole organisation. Switched off, no notification email leaves Talkspirit for anyone, whatever the defaults, the locks and the members' own choices say. Desktop notifications are not affected. See [Disable notification emails for your organisation](/en/administration-security/disable-email-notifications-for-your-organization).

## Rows that look different

- **Metric assignment** and **Metric value due** on the **Projects** tab, and **Meeting started** on the **Meetings** tab, show a dash instead of an **Email** switch. They only ever reach the notification bell.
- On the **Meetings** tab, **Meeting scheduled**, **Meeting updated**, **Meeting approaching** and **Meeting cancelled** carry the note **An .ics calendar file is attached** under their name.
- Rows for a feature your organisation does not use are hidden: **Time spent reminder** and **Checklist Mention** on **Structure**, the two metric rows on **Projects**. Their defaults are kept and come back with the feature.
- Row names follow your organisation's terminology, so the same row reads **Project Archived** in one organisation and **Board Archived** in another.
- The **Meetings** tab also carries two organisation-wide switches that are not defaults: **Calendar invitations** and **Report as PDF**. See [Calendar invitation files (.ics) in meeting emails](/en/administration-security/meeting-calendar-invitation-files).

## What's Next?

- [Disable notification emails for your organisation](/en/administration-security/disable-email-notifications-for-your-organization)
- [Configuring my notification settings](/en/getting-started/how-to-configure-my-notification-settings)
- [Calendar invitation files (.ics) in meeting emails](/en/administration-security/meeting-calendar-invitation-files)
- [Notifications overview](/en/getting-started/notifications)