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How to Manage SharePoint News Notifications for Specific Users

Huda Qurayshi Sep 27, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user wants to manage or suppress SharePoint news notification emails for specific company email addresses, shared mailboxes, and distribution lists.

How to Manage SharePoint News Notifications for Specific Users

Product: Microsoft SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Controlling the visibility and distribution of news notification emails to specific users or lists in SharePoint.
Observed behavior: News notifications are being sent to unintended email addresses, and while audience targeting controls visibility, it does not completely suppress all notification emails.

Before you start

Verify your administrative permissions in SharePoint and Microsoft 365, as modifying notification settings and audience targeting requires site owner or administrator access.

Solution 1Recommended

Enable Audience Targeting for the News Web Part

Use audience targeting to control which users or groups can see specific news posts, which helps limit unwanted notifications.

While audience targeting primarily controls content visibility rather than strictly blocking all emails, it is the most effective native method to ensure news only reaches the relevant Microsoft 365 groups or users.

Edit the SharePoint Page

Navigate to the SharePoint page containing your News web part and click 'Edit' at the top right of the page.

Edit Web Part Properties

Select the News web part and click the 'Edit web part' (pencil) icon.

Enable Targeting

In the property pane on the right, toggle 'Enable audience targeting' to On.

Apply Audience to News Posts

When creating or editing a news post, locate the 'Audience' field in the Page details and specify the Microsoft 365 groups or distribution lists you want to target.

Enable Audience Targeting for the News Web Part

Limitation: Audience targeting does not guarantee complete suppression of notifications for all shared mailboxes; it mainly restricts visibility.

Solution 2

Adjust Microsoft 365 Tenant-Level Notification Policies

Review organizational settings if you need a broader approach to email notifications.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I completely disable SharePoint news notifications for a single user?

SharePoint does not provide a built-in administrative feature to disable news notifications for specific individual email addresses tenant-wide. Users can, however, manage their own email notification preferences via their personal SharePoint settings.

Why are distribution lists receiving SharePoint news emails?

If a distribution list or shared mailbox is part of a Microsoft 365 group or site members group, SharePoint may automatically distribute news digests to it. You must adjust group memberships or apply audience targeting to control this.

Does audience targeting stop the auto-generated news digest email?

Audience targeting determines who is eligible to see the news post on the site, which influences who receives the auto-generated news digest. However, it might not prevent all types of notification emails from being triggered, especially if users are in default site owner groups.

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