Notifications
DocLock keeps you up to date with a notification bell in the top bar. It collects alerts such as documents waiting for your review, comments and replies, status changes, and system warnings — so you don't have to go hunting for what changed. A small badge on the bell tells you how many unread alerts you have, and a dropdown lets you read them and mark them as done.
Where this lives
- The bell icon sits in the top bar, near the help, settings, and profile controls.
- Clicking it opens a dropdown panel directly under the bell.
- There is no separate notifications page — everything happens in this dropdown.
Access: Available to every signed-in user.
The unread badge
When you have unread notifications, a number appears on the bell showing the total unread count. When you've read everything, the badge disappears.
Opening and reading notifications
- Click the bell in the top bar.
- The dropdown opens with the heading Notifications and your most recent alerts.
- Each notification shows:
- A colored icon indicating its type.
- A title (e.g. "Document review requested").
- A subtitle with the document or context (e.g. "DOC-1042 · Q4 Compliance Policy — awaiting your approval").
- A time (e.g. "10 min ago").
- A small dot on the right if it's still unread.
Notification types
The icon and color tell you what kind of alert it is:
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Task | Something needs your action | A document review or approval request, or an overdue review |
| Reply | A comment or reply | A teammate commented on or approved a document |
| Status | A document's status changed | Draft → Under Review, or a document was published |
| System | A system or policy alert | A retention/archival warning for a workspace |
Acting on a notification
- Click a notification to open the item it refers to (for example, the document or the archive settings screen). Opening it also marks that notification as read and closes the dropdown.
- Mark all as read — click this button in the dropdown header to clear all unread markers at once. It appears whenever you have unread alerts.
Seeing more (or fewer)
By default the dropdown shows a short list of your latest notifications.
- If there are more than fit, a View all button appears at the bottom — click it to expand the full list.
- Once expanded, a Show less button collapses the list back to the short view.
When there's nothing to show, the panel displays "You're all caught up!" with a checkmark.
Tips
- The badge number is the fastest way to tell, at a glance, whether anything needs your attention.
- Clicking a notification is usually quicker than navigating manually — it takes you straight to the document or screen involved.
- Use Mark all as read to clear the badge after you've skimmed your alerts.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| The bell shows no badge | You have no unread notifications — the panel will say "You're all caught up!". |
| Clicking a notification didn't open anything | Some informational alerts (like metric summaries) may not link to a specific page; the document-based ones do. |
| I can't find a notifications page in the menu | There isn't one — notifications live entirely in the bell dropdown in the top bar. |
| Notifications don't appear in real time | New alerts show when the dropdown loads; refresh the page if you're expecting something new. |