Notifications and the bell inbox
Use the bell to see what's been assigned to you and what's new — mark items read, dismiss them, and choose what your assistant alerts you about.
The bell at the top of your dashboard is your personal inbox. It shows announcements from AutoDealer.io plus things assigned to you — and it's per user, so you only ever see your own items, not your teammates'.
Open the bell
- Look at the top-right of any dashboard page. The bell icon lives in the top bar.
- A small number badge on the bell means you have unread items. It shows the count, or 9+ once you pass nine.
- Click the bell to open the dropdown. It shows your most recent notifications, and a Mark all read link appears when you have unread items.
The badge refreshes on its own about once a minute, so a new alert appears without you reloading the page. The full list of items loads the moment you open the dropdown.
What triggers a notification
You get a notification when something needs your attention. The kinds you'll see in the bell today:
- Announcement — AutoDealer.io posts a platform-wide update.
- Lead — a new lead is assigned to you.
- Task — someone assigns you a task on the board.
- Appointment — an appointment is scheduled for you, or one of your appointments is coming up (a day-before reminder).
Each item shows a short label, a title, an optional one-line detail, and how long ago it arrived. The label is Lead, Task, or Announcement for those kinds; everything else — including appointments — shows as Update.
You won't get a bell for something you did yourself. For example, booking an appointment and assigning it to yourself doesn't notify you — only when it's booked for someone else does that person get pinged.
Read, dismiss, and clear
- Read one item — click it. The item is marked read (the bold dot disappears) and, if it links somewhere, you jump straight to the lead, task, or appointment.
- Mark everything read — click Mark all read at the top of the dropdown. The badge drops to zero.
- Dismiss one item — hover an item in the bell and click the X on its right. It disappears from your list.
- See your full history — click View all notifications at the bottom to open the
/notificationspage.
Read and dismiss are different. Marking an item read keeps it in your list (just no longer bold) and clears it from the unread count. Dismissing with the X removes it from view entirely. The X dismiss button is only in the bell dropdown — the full /notifications page lets you open items and Mark all read, but has no per-item dismiss.
Choose what you're alerted about
Your AI assistant can proactively reach out about things happening at your dealership — stalled leads, tasks due today, aging inventory, and more. You decide what it tells you about.
- Go to Settings → AI assistant.
- Under the Dealer AI — your private assistant section, find the What your assistant keeps you posted on card.
- Flip the toggle next to any alert on or off. Each alert shows how often it fires (instant, daily, or weekly).
- Your change saves the moment you flip it — there's no Save button.
These toggles are per user — each person on the team sets their own. They control what your assistant proactively messages you about. The bell's own platform notifications, like an assigned lead or task, are a separate, always-on list.
Lot-level alerts — aging inventory, deals stuck in a stage, overdue title work, BHPH delinquencies, compliance and billing alerts, and the morning/weekly digests — are manager-only. If you're a salesperson you won't see those toggles, only the alerts meant for you (your leads and your tasks).
FAQ
Why is there a number on my bell?
That's your unread count. Click the bell and either open each item or click Mark all read to clear it. It shows 9+ once you have more than nine unread.
I dismissed a notification — can I get it back?
No. Dismissing removes the item from your list for good. If you only want to clear the unread badge but keep the items, click Mark all read instead of the X.
Do my teammates see the same notifications I do?
No. The inbox is personal — each person sees only the announcements and the leads, tasks, and appointments assigned to them.
Why didn't I get an alert I expected?
Two common reasons. First, check Settings → AI assistant — the alert may be switched off, or it may be a manager-only alert that your role doesn't receive. Second, some alerts run on a schedule (daily or weekly), so they arrive at their set time rather than the instant something happens.
I dismissed an announcement but it came back. Why?
An announcement you dismiss from the bell stays gone. Note that the banner that sometimes appears across the top of the page is separate from the bell — closing one doesn't close the other.
How often does the bell update?
The unread badge re-checks roughly every minute, and the full list refreshes each time you open the dropdown. You don't need to reload the page.