# Seeing at a glance if a thread has activity **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 23, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-at-a-glance-if-a-thread-has-activity/912460 "2020-06-23T17:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-at-a-glance-if-a-thread-has-activity/912460/1 "2020-06-23T17:36:04Z")
Sorry if this has been covered before; I didn’t find anything on it… On the old site, especially if I’d been away for a while, I would often start from my activity page. You know, the list of all my previous posts. There would be a closed or open envelope next to each one, so I instantly knew if there was any new activity in thread in which I was participating. I don’t see a similar feature here on Discourse. Am I missing something? I do know that I get notified if somebody replies directly to my particular post, but I want to see if anyone has replied to the thread in general without opening each one. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-at-a-glance-if-a-thread-has-activity/912460/2 "2020-06-23T21:03:20Z")
It depends on your forum and thread settings. Each forum and thread can be set to notify you or not when there’s a change. Click on the bell to change that. For forums, you’ll usually find it in the upper right corner of the forum page. For threads, it’s often at the very bottom of the thread (but before all the masthead stuff and suggested threads). Sometimes, it’s below the slider bar to the far right. You can see the definitions for the various settings [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-here-now-what-basic-tutorial/911081) under Forum & Thread Notifications. You can also check your bookmarks if you’ve been bookmarking threads you’re interested in. Also of note is the Unread section in the navigation bar (Categories, Latest, Top, etc). It hasn’t really shown up for me yet, but people say it’s there). ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-at-a-glance-if-a-thread-has-activity/912460/3 "2020-06-23T21:36:08Z")
Ah, cool feature; you can pretty much customize how you are notified (or not) for any given thread. I’ll have to train myself to click on the little bell whenever I post, but I think I can get used to that. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-at-a-glance-if-a-thread-has-activity/912460/4 "2020-06-23T22:12:02Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Ah, cool feature; you can pretty much customize how you are notified (or not) for any given thread. I’ll have to train myself to click on the little bell whenever I post, but I think I can get used to that. Go to Preferences \>\> Notifications, and you can set to to automatically track or watch any thread you post to.