Notifications help users stay informed about assigned content, content updates, due dates, upcoming sessions, expiring certificates, and other time-sensitive actions.

This article explains how notifications are managed, when they’re sent, and how reminders work for different content types.

Admins can manage organization-level notification settings from Settings > Notifications in the global sidebar. These settings control which notifications users can receive from Sana.

As an admin, you can control:

Notification channels let Sana send notifications through external tools, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Notification translations control language settings for notifications.

Notification types let admins enable or disable specific notifications across the platform.

Admins control which notifications can be sent at the organization level. Users may still be able to choose whether they want to receive some notifications in their own settings.

Users can manage some of their own notification preferences from Profile name > Settings > Notifications.

User-level settings apply only where individual preferences are available. If a notification type is disabled at the organization level, users can’t turn it back on in their own settings.

Sana can send notifications through different channels, depending on your organization’s setup. Supported channels can include:

Available channels depend on which integrations and notification settings your organization has enabled.

Emails are translated into the user’s preferred language. This helps users receive notifications in a language they understand.

Admins can manage notification translation settings from Settings > Notifications.

Emails sent through Sana can reflect your organization’s brand.

In Settings > Branding, admins can define the platform name used in notifications and add a custom logo. This helps make communication with learners feel consistent with your organization’s identity.

Read more about customizing the platform here.

Notification timing depends on the notification type, the user’s timezone, and the content setup.

Notifications for future events, such as due dates, future assignments, and expiring certificates, are sent at 9:00 AM in the user’s preferred timezone.

Scheduled notifications are sent at a specific time based on the content type.

Examples include:

For live sessions or events scheduled before 8:10 AM, notifications are sent 10 minutes before the session starts.

Some notifications are sent right away, examples include:

Ad hoc program notifications are immediate, one-time messages for programs.

They’re sent right away, so admins can share critical information or reminders without waiting for the regular notification schedule.
​Users who received an ad hoc notification within the last 24 hours won’t receive another one.

Course and program notifications help learners understand what they need to complete and when.

When a course is assigned to a user or group, learners receive an email with a link to the course.

When a course has a completion due date and uses the default reminder schedule, Sana sends automatic reminders:

These defaults also apply when switching a course or program from custom settings back to default settings.

Admins can customize the reminder cadence for a self-paced course. A custom cadence is configured at the content level. It overrides the organization-wide default schedule for that specific course.

Custom cadence is useful when:

To set a custom reminder cadence for a course:

When using a custom reminder cadence, admins can:

Custom notification settings apply to email, Slack, and Microsoft Teams notifications.
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When a program is assigned to a user or group, learners receive the first step or steps in the program, based on the program outline.

Admins can customize the notification cadence for programs.

To customize program notifications:

For program due dates, the program notification cadence takes precedence.

If Sana sends a course reminder because of a program assignment, Sana uses the program’s cadence instead of the course’s cadence.

Required assignments can have a separate reminder schedule.

This schedule is optional. If the required assignment schedule is turned off, required assignments follow the standard schedule.

The default schedule for required assignments is:

Turning off a standard reminder also turns off the corresponding required reminder.

Each course and program has its own notification settings.

You can choose one of two modes:

You can also turn off all notifications and reminders for a course or program.

To turn off notifications for a course or program:

Turning off all notifications mutes notifications for that course or program while keeping the underlying settings. If notifications are turned back on, the previous settings are restored. Turning notifications off, or removing a reminder day, takes effect right away. Updating the reminder cadence applies to all existing assignments for that content.

Admins can see which courses and programs use overridden notification settings.

Go to Manage > Content or Manage > Programs and check the Notification settings column.

This column shows whether the content uses Default or Custom settings.

Turning off the User is assigned notification also removes that course from the grouped “you have new assignments” email.

For course groups, notification settings are set on the group.

All editions inherit the group notification settings. Once an edition is grouped, notification settings can’t be edited per edition.

Sana Live and in-person notifications help users keep track of assigned sessions, event updates, reminders, and recaps.

When a Sana Live session is assigned to a user or group, learners receive an email with the session time and link. If a user is unassigned from a session, they receive a notification about the update.

For Sana Live, Sana sends a reminder email at 8:00 AM on the morning of the scheduled session.

Custom notification cadence isn’t available for Sana Live or in-person content.

Users receive a notification when a calendar event they’re part of is updated.

If self-enrollment is configured for a Sana Live session, assigned learners receive an email asking them to choose a session time and date.

After enrolling, learners receive an email with the confirmed time and date, along with a calendar invite.

If recap is enabled, users may receive notifications when:

Users assigned to the live session receive the recap, even if they didn’t attend.

Recap can be enabled before the session by turning on smart transcriptions and summaries in the scheduling modal.

During a Sana Live session, smart transcriptions and summaries can be enabled or disabled from the three-dot menu.

Admins can enable notifications for line managers from the organization notification settings. Line manager notifications help L&D teams involve managers in learner activation and completion.

A line manager is determined by the platform attribute Is manager = Yes.

To set this up, connect Sana Learn with your HR system. Learn more here.

Line managers can receive notifications about learners who report directly to them.

Available notification types include:

Line manager notifications are sent daily at 8:00 AM in the user’s local time.

When line manager notifications are first enabled, line managers aren’t notified about historical data, except for pending invites.

Instead, they receive notifications as follows:

Admins control which line manager notifications are available.

Line managers may still be able to choose whether they receive some of these notifications in their own user notification settings.

See below examples of the content overdue and expiring certificate notifications.

Sana also sends notifications for collaboration, certificates, Teamspaces, exercises, Smart Reviews, and account management.

Users can receive collaboration notifications for the following events:

Users receive certificate notifications for the following events:

Certificate expiration notifications are sent 30 days and 7 days before expiration.

When a user requests access to a Teamspace, the Teamspace owner receives an email notification.

When a user submits an exercise, exercise reviewers receive a notification if they’ve enabled this notification in their own user notification settings.

This notification is sent the next day at 8:00 AM local time. It includes exercise submissions that haven’t been reviewed.

Reviewers don’t receive more notifications for the same exercise submission unless a new exercise is submitted.

When a user’s exercise is reviewed, the user receives a notification that their exercise has been reviewed.

When Smart Reviews are activated, learners receive an email 14 days after completing the course.

Users may receive account management and security notifications for the following events:

For skipped notifications, Sana AI shows a plain-language reason.

For example, a learner may have turned off email notifications or already completed the content.

Admins and group admins can use Admin mode to investigate notification delivery. Notification data is available for 90 days after processing.

Sent means Sana handed the message to the email or chat provider. It doesn’t confirm that the message reached the learner’s inbox.

If you remove a user or group, delete assigned content, or change the time of a Sana Live session, assigned users receive a notification about the change.

No, it will be grouped into one email.

Email notifications can take up to 10 minutes to arrive.

If you haven’t received an email:

If you still have questions, contact your CSM.

Sana attaches an .ics file to the notification for every user assigned to a live session.

To resend the invitation:

First, check your notification settings to make sure the notification is turned on.

If the issue continues, contact your Sana platform admin to confirm that the notification is enabled for your organization.

Some notifications, such as exercise review submission notifications, may be off by default to reduce inbox clutter.

Due-date reminders are sent at 9:00 AM in the learner’s timezone.

If the learner doesn’t have a timezone set, Sana uses the organization timezone.

Reminders are prepared by a background job that runs roughly every one to two hours and looks around 48 hours ahead. This means a new reminder is picked up within two hours at most.

Turning notifications off or removing a reminder day takes effect right away.

Updating the reminder cadence applies to all existing assignments for the course or program.

No. Organization-level and user-level disabled settings take precedence.

If a notification type is disabled for the organization, or if a learner disabled it in their own settings, a custom course or program setting can’t turn it back on.

No. Custom notification settings apply to email, Slack, and Microsoft Teams notifications.