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How to Fix Mentions Not Sending Email Notifications in Excel and PowerPoint
Question details
Users mentioned in shared Excel or PowerPoint documents are not receiving expected email notifications.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Collaborating on shared Office files and using the @mention feature to notify team members.
- Observed behavior
- Only the file creator receives email notifications; tagged users do not receive any email alerts.
Ensure that the Excel or PowerPoint file is saved and shared via OneDrive or SharePoint, as the @mention notification feature requires cloud storage to function correctly.
Check Microsoft 365 Service Health and Contact Support
Because missing mention notifications is often a backend service issue, your Microsoft 365 administrator must check for active incidents or open a support ticket to resolve the routing failure.
Normally, a user mentioned in a shared Office file will automatically receive an email notification. If only the file creator is notified, the tenant's Exchange or SharePoint routing might be experiencing a disruption.
Ask your organization's Microsoft 365 administrator to log in to the admin portal using their administrative credentials.
Navigate to 'Health' and select 'Service health'. Review the dashboard for any active incidents or advisories related to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, or Office for the web.
If no related incident is listed on the dashboard, navigate to 'Support' > 'New service request'. Detail the issue regarding missing @mention notifications so Microsoft Support can collect diagnostic logs and investigate the tenant settings.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why am I not getting email notifications when someone @mentions me in Excel?
This can happen if the file is not saved in a supported cloud location (like OneDrive or SharePoint), if your organization's email filtering is blocking the notification emails, or due to a backend Microsoft 365 service degradation.
Do @mentions work in locally saved Excel or PowerPoint files?
No, the @mention feature requires the file to be saved in cloud storage and actively shared with the mentioned users. If the file is only saved locally on your hard drive, the mention function will not trigger an email.
Can I configure my own mention notification settings?
Yes, users can manage their email notification preferences within their personal Microsoft 365 account settings. However, if emails are failing globally for multiple users in your organization, an administrator must intervene to check service health.
