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Turn a Focus on or off on Mac
You can use Control Center to quickly turn on a Focus—such as Do Not Disturb or Personal—when you need time to concentrate, then turn it off when you’re ready.
![The Focus status menu open to show the Focus list, including Personal, Work, Study, and others. Do Not Disturb is at the top of the list and is on for one hour.](https://help.apple.com/assets/65A8106E7C69B635140E606E/65A81072C0272B1FFA02DE51/en_US/77ad714e74ddcc4f663ee22a8f4a8b91.png)
Tip: You can also turn the Do Not Disturb Focus on or off by pressing and holding the Option key while you click the date and time in the menu bar, or by pressing (if available in the row of function keys on the keyboard).
In the menu bar on your Mac, click Control Center
, then click anywhere in the Focus section.
If you set the option in Control Center settings to always show Focus in the menu bar, you can click the Focus icon there.
Do any of the following:
Turn on a Focus: Click the Focus. Its icon is highlighted in the list and is shown in the menu bar.
Change the duration of a Focus: Choose a duration, such as “For 1 hour.” If you turn on the Focus when you’re in a scheduled event, such as a meeting or class, choose “Until the end of this event” to have the Focus turn off when the event ends (as set in the Calendar app).
Turn off a Focus: Click the Focus. Its icon is no longer highlighted in the list, and the dimmed Do Not Disturb icon
is briefly shown in the menu bar.
To close Control Center, click anywhere on the desktop.
If you keep Focus up to date across your Apple devices, turning a Focus on or off on your Mac turns it on or off on your other devices.
If you plan to use a Focus on a regular basis, you can schedule it to turn on or off automatically and set other options to customize it. See Set up a Focus.
When you share your Focus status, people who send you a message know that you have silenced notifications. If something’s important, they can choose to notify you anyway.