What is the bell icon for in the new Central beta and Notification FAQ

We've had a lot of feedback around the stacking informational banners within Sophos Central, so we are happy to share some positive changes in this initial release of Notifications.  It's important to note that this is a new feature that is planned to mature over time, with the first release focusing on decluttering the top of the Central UI.

Instead of the previous stacking banners, there is new bell icon in the upper right hand corner of the UI that indicates if you have any new informational notifications from Sophos and how many are available (shown below)

Selecting the icon, will open a flyout menu that includes permanent access to the What's New? release information that was previously located in the Help icon.  With the informational notifications being listed below.  If you want to be reminded of something the next time you log in, you can select the Session dismiss option.  If you want to avoid seeing the message in later, simply choose the Permanent dismiss option.

FAQ's

  • Does this mean I'll never have to see another stacking banner in Central again?
    • Not entirely. There are two scenario's where you may see a stacking banner for a short period of time:
      • During our regular maintenance window
      • In the severest of emergency situations
  • Can all information messages be permanently dismissed?
    • Account suspension and Threat Protection policies being in monitor mode can only be dismissed for the session
  • If I dismiss a notification does it remove it from other users in my organization?
    • No.  Notification dismissal is specific to the user, not organization.
  • If I permanently dismiss a license expiration notification does that mean I'll never get another expiration message?
    • License expiration notifications occur as a product expiration approaches.  When you have multiple products with different expiration periods a new notification will be generated at that time.  Similarly, after you renew a license when the expiration approaches later you will be notified to avoid potential service disruption.


added user dismissal
[edited by: Shannon Emmons at 8:54 PM (GMT -7) on 15 Sep 2023]