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Daily Use

Notifications

Read the bell's alerts — overdue invoices, bounced emails and announcements — and act on each one.

ForEveryone

The little bell at the top of every screen quietly keeps an eye on things that need your attention — an invoice that's gone unpaid, an email that didn't reach a client, or news about a new Wattle feature. This page shows you how to read those alerts and act on each one.

What the bell is for

Think of the bell as a polite tap on the shoulder. It doesn't do the work for you — it just points at something and says "you might want to look at this." The kinds of taps:

Kind of alertWhat it meansWhat you usually do
Overdue invoiceAn invoice still hasn't been paid a week after it was dueChase the payment — open the invoice and follow up
Bounced emailAn email to a client didn't get through (wrong address, full inbox, etc.)Check the address and resend
Low stock / stock expiringA stock-tracked item is at or below its reorder point, or a batch expires within 30 daysReorder, or use up / dispose of the expiring batch
Schedule 8 alertA controlled-drug stock adjustment or a stocktake discrepancy was recorded in the last fortnightReview it on the register — these are the entries an auditor looks at
Schedule 8 — charge awaiting stockA controlled drug was billed but the register balance is zero (or would go below zero), so the entry can't be finalised yetRecord a receipt or opening balance for the drug in the register; the reminder clears itself
Feature announcementNews about a new or updated part of WattleHave a read — nothing to action

Some kinds only appear if your clinic uses that part of Wattle — no controlled drugs tracked, no Schedule 8 alerts.

The most important thing to understand: a notification is a summary, not the full story. To actually do anything — pay an invoice, resend an email — you click through to the real page. The bell just gets you there quickly.

There are also two plain-English words worth pinning down before we start:

  • Read means "I've seen this." It doesn't go away — it just stops being bold and loses its red dot.
  • Archive means "I'm done with this, tuck it out of sight." Archive is not delete. Archived alerts are kept safely in an Archive tab and you can bring any of them back whenever you like.

Where to find your notifications

There are two places to look, and they show the same alerts:

  • The bell dropdown — click the bell icon in the top-right corner of the screen. A small panel drops down with your most recent alerts. This is the quick glance. A red dot on the bell means you have unread alerts waiting.
  • The full Notifications page — for the complete list, top to bottom, with a bit more room. Get there by clicking View all → at the bottom of the bell dropdown, or by going to /notifications.

Both places organise alerts into the same tabs:

  • Unread — new alerts you haven't looked at yet
  • All — everything, read and unread together
  • Archived — alerts you've tucked away (this tab is labelled Archive on the full Notifications page, Archived in the bell dropdown — same thing)

View your unread notifications

Usually: anyone on the team — front desk, vets and nurses all keep half an eye on the bell.

Quick version — Click the bell. The Unread tab is already showing your newest 8. Need older ones or bulk actions? Hit View all →.

Step by step

  1. Click the bell icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
  2. The panel opens on the Unread tab automatically.
  3. Your newest alerts appear, with the most recent at the top.
  4. Each unread alert has a small red dot on its left.
  5. If there are more than will fit, scroll inside the panel.

Other ways to do this

  • ⭐ Bell dropdown (quickest): click the bell, glance at the Unread tab. Best for a fast check.
  • Full page: click View all → (or go to /notifications), then click the Unread tab. Best when you want the complete list or older alerts.

If something looks wrong

  • The number on the bell says more than I can see → The dropdown only shows your 8 most recent alerts to keep things tidy. If the bell says "10 unread" but you count 8, the other two aren't lost — they're just below the cut-off. Click View all → to see every one of them.
  • I hovered over an alert and the red dot vanished → That's normal. Resting your mouse over an alert swaps the red dot for the little action buttons (so you can act on it). Move the mouse away and the dot comes back. Nothing has changed.

Mark a notification as read

Usually: anyone — you do this as you work through the list.

Quick version — Hover the alert, click the checkmark. Or clear the whole lot with Mark all as read.

Marking something as read just means "I've seen this." It stays in your All tab — it doesn't disappear.

Step by step

  1. Click the bell icon (or open the full /notifications page).
  2. Rest your mouse over an unread alert — its title turns bold and two small buttons appear on the right.
  3. Click the checkmark button.
  4. The alert leaves the Unread tab but stays in All.
  5. A brief confirmation message ("Marked as read") flashes at the bottom of the screen.

Other ways to do this

  • ⭐ Mark all at once: click Mark all as read (top of the bell dropdown, or in the page header). Every unread alert becomes read in one go, and a message confirms how many — e.g. "3 notifications marked as read". Best when you've got a backlog.
  • One at a time: hover and click the checkmark, as above. Best for working through alerts individually.

If something looks wrong

  • I clicked but I'm not sure it worked → The confirmation message at the bottom of the screen is brief and easy to miss. The surest sign it worked is that the alert has dropped out of the Unread tab. Pop over to Unread and check — if it's gone from there, it's read.
  • The Mark all as read button is greyed out → That just means you have nothing unread to clear. Nothing's broken.

Mark a read notification back to unread

Usually: anyone who wants to flag something to come back to later.

Quick version — Hover a read alert, click the envelope/mail icon. It goes bold again.

This is handy when you've read something but you're not ready to deal with it — flicking it back to unread keeps it on your radar.

Step by step

  1. Open the bell dropdown or the /notifications page.
  2. Rest your mouse over a read alert.
  3. Click the envelope (mail) icon on the right.
  4. The alert turns bold again and the red dot returns.

If something looks wrong

  • I can't find a way to mark it unread → This control only appears when you hover over a read alert, and it's only on the row itself. Rest your mouse over the alert and look to the right for the envelope icon.

Archive a notification (tuck it away)

Usually: anyone, once you've dealt with whatever the alert was about.

Quick version — Hover, click the archive (box) icon. It moves to the Archive tab. Not deleted — restorable any time.

Archiving is how you say "I've handled this, I don't need to see it any more." Use it once you've paid the overdue invoice or resent the bounced email. It keeps your list clean without throwing anything away.

Remember: archive is not delete. Everything you archive is kept in the Archived tab and can be brought back.

Step by step

  1. Click the bell icon (or open /notifications).
  2. Rest your mouse over any alert — read or unread.
  3. Click the archive button (the box icon).
  4. The alert disappears from All and Unread, and now lives in the Archive tab.
  5. A brief "Notification archived" message confirms it.

If something looks wrong

  • I think I just deleted it by accident → You didn't. The Archive button only hides a notification. You can restore it any time from the Archived tab at the top of the list (see the next task).
  • I clicked archive but nothing seemed to happen → The confirmation toast at the bottom of the screen is quick and easy to miss. Check the Archived tab — if it's there, the archive worked.

Restore an archived notification

Usually: anyone who tucked something away and needs it back.

Quick version — Open the Archive tab, hover the alert, click the box-with-arrow (restore) icon.

Step by step

  1. Click the bell icon (or open /notifications).
  2. Click the Archive tab.
  3. Rest your mouse over the alert you want back.
  4. Click the unarchive button — the box icon with a little restore arrow.
  5. The alert reappears in your All tab.

If something looks wrong

  • I restored an urgent alert but it's no longer showing as unread → When you bring an alert back from the Archive, it comes back as read — so an overdue-invoice alert won't show its red dot any more. To make it stand out again, hover over it and click the envelope (mail) icon to mark it unread. (See "Mark a read notification back to unread" above.)

Jump to the invoice, email or page behind an alert

Usually: whoever's actioning it — front desk for invoices and bounced emails.

Quick version — In the bell dropdown, click the alert's row. If it links somewhere (invoice, email), you go straight there and it's marked read. On the full page, clicking a row opens a detail panel instead — use its View source button to jump.

This is the whole point of the bell: it gets you to the thing you need to act on. The two places behave a little differently, though.

From the bell dropdown (the fast path to act)

  1. Click the bell icon.
  2. Click the alert's row.
  3. If the alert is about an invoice or a bounced email, Wattle takes you straight to that invoice or to the communications list so you can act.
  4. The alert is marked as read automatically as you go.
  5. If it's a feature announcement with nowhere to go, you land on the Notifications page with its detail panel open on the right, showing the full message.

From the full Notifications page (read first, then jump if you want)

  1. Open the /notifications page (via View all →).
  2. Click the alert's row.
  3. A detail panel slides open on the right with the full message — clicking a row on the page does not whisk you away to the invoice or email.
  4. The alert is marked as read as the panel opens.
  5. If the alert links somewhere, click the View source button in the panel's toolbar to jump to that invoice or email. This button only appears when there's somewhere to jump to (so it's hidden for sourceless announcements).

If something looks wrong

  • Clicking a notification in the dropdown yanked me away from what I was doing → That's intentional — from the dropdown, most alerts link straight to an invoice or email so you can act immediately. If you only wanted to read the alert without leaving your current work, open it from the full Notifications page (View all →) instead — there, clicking a row opens a preview panel rather than navigating anywhere.
  • Nothing happened when I clicked a feature announcement → Some announcements are just news with no page to visit. Clicking one opens its preview panel rather than navigating anywhere. That's the expected behaviour.

A note on timing — why an alert might seem "late"

The time shown on an alert ("2 days ago") is when the alert became relevant, not necessarily when the underlying thing happened:

  • Overdue invoices appear 7 days after the due date, not on the due date itself. So if an invoice was due last week and you're only now seeing the alert, that's by design — it's giving the client a grace period first.
  • Bounced emails appear when the bounce is recorded.
  • Announcements appear on the day the feature is released.

If you're expecting an overdue-invoice alert the moment an invoice is due, that's why it hasn't shown up yet — it'll arrive a week later.

If something looks wrong

A quick round-up of the little surprises people most often hit with the bell:

  • "The badge says 10 but I only see 8." The dropdown shows your 8 most recent alerts only. The rest aren't lost — click View all → for the full list.
  • "The red dot disappeared when I pointed at it." Hovering swaps the dot for the action buttons. Move away and the dot returns.
  • "I think I deleted a notification." You almost certainly archived it. Archive is not delete — find it in the Archived tab and restore it.
  • "I restored an alert but it's not bold/urgent any more." Restoring brings things back as read. Hover and click the envelope icon to mark it unread again.
  • "I clicked in the dropdown and got whisked away to another page." That's the alert taking you to the invoice or email it's about. To read without leaving, open the full Notifications page (View all →) and click there instead — on the page, clicking opens a preview panel rather than navigating.
  • "I'm not sure my click worked." The confirmation message is brief. Check the tabs — a marked-read alert leaves Unread; an archived alert appears in Archived.

Looking for a settings page to control notifications? There isn't a working one yet. You may come across a link or menu item that looks like it should open notification settings — if it doesn't go anywhere, that's a known gap, not something you've done wrong. The notifications themselves work fine; only the settings screen is still to come. There's nothing you need to set up for the bell to do its job.

Bell never shows anything? It only fills up when there's something to tell you — an overdue invoice, a bounced email, or a product update. If there's genuinely nothing pending, an empty bell is normal.

Emailing Clients

Send emails, invoices, estimates and receipts to pet owners, and track whether each message was delivered.

Setup & Admin

One-time setup and the ongoing admin tasks clinic owners and admins handle — settings, team, catalogue, inventory, data, and records.

On this page

What the bell is forWhere to find your notificationsView your unread notificationsMark a notification as readMark a read notification back to unreadArchive a notification (tuck it away)Restore an archived notificationJump to the invoice, email or page behind an alertA note on timing — why an alert might seem "late"If something looks wrongRelated pages