--- title: "Transitioning to new seminar notifications" slug: "transitioning-to-new-seminar-notifications" tags: ["Totara Platform", "Explainer", "Site Administrator", "How-to"] updated: 2025-07-22T10:52:18Z published: 2025-07-22T11:18:21Z canonical: "totara.help/transitioning-to-new-seminar-notifications" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Transitioning to new seminar notifications With the introduction of a modern, centralised notification system it may be necessary to transition your existing seminar notifications. The need to transition, and how this will work, will depend on your prior use of custom notifications. ## For new Totara sites If you are new to Totara and just starting out then you do not need to do anything to transition to the new notification system. This will be enabled by default, and the old system will be disabled by default. Simply start using the new system, more guidance for which can be found on the [Using centralised notifications](/19/docs/using-centralised-notifications) page. ## For existing Totara sites If you have upgraded to Totara 16 or later then your transition path will depend on whether or not you were using custom seminar notifications previously. ### No custom notifications If you were not using custom seminar notifications prior to upgrading then you will not need to transition. If you were just using default notifications for seminars then you can simply switch to the new system and use the equivalent default seminar notification, and even create custom notifications in the new system. Simply disable legacy notifications by following these steps: 1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Global settings*. 2. Untick **Allow legacy notifications**. 3. Click **Save changes**. You can now start using the new system, more guidance for which can be found on the [Using centralised notifications](/19/docs/using-centralised-notifications) page. ### Using custom notifications If you had customised your notifications prior to upgrading then you will need to manually migrate these changes over to the new system. You can read more about the benefits of using the modern, centralised notifications for seminars on the [Changes to notifications in Totara 16](/19/docs/changes-to-notification-in-totara-16) page. When it comes to migrating your content you have two options: - Move everything at once - Gradually transition Both of these options are described in more detail below. Note that custom or amended notifications in the centralised notifications system will not be included when [backing up and restoring courses](/19/docs/what-are-course-backups), as these will be inherited from parent contexts instead. ## Transition guides There are two main approaches to transitioning (if you were previously using custom seminar notifications). Which one you use will likely depend on how widely you currently use custom notifications for seminars, although the decision is entirely yours to make. ### Move everything at once You could decide to continue to use legacy notifications while you manually migrate your content as a single project. Once you have recreated all of the custom notifications in the new system you can then turn off legacy notifications and start using the centralised notifications system for seminars. To recreate the notifications: 1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Notifications*. 2. Follow the steps to [create your custom notifications](/19/docs/create-a-new-notification). Once you have moved the content across: 1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Global settings*. 2. Untick **Allow legacy notifications**. 3. Click **Save changes**. ### Gradually transition You can choose to disable the use of legacy notifications in new seminar activities while you wait for the old seminar activities to expire. As and when you require a custom notification for a new seminar activity you can create it in the centralised notification system. Once you no longer have any seminar activities using the legacy notifications you can turn the legacy system off. To disable the use of legacy notifications in new seminar activities: 1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Activity default*. 2. Untick **Use legacy notifications**. 3. Click **Save changes**. To recreate the notifications: 1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Notifications*. 2. Follow the steps to [create your custom notifications](/19/docs/create-a-new-notification). Once you no longer have seminar activities using legacy notifications: 1. Go to *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Global settings*. 2. Untick **Allow legacy notifications**. 3. Click **Save changes**. ## Notable settings As part of the transition process, there are some settings of particular note that you will need to consider enabling or disabling. | Navigation path | Setting | Default | Description | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Global settings* | Allow legacy notifications | - No (for new sites) - Yes (for upgraded sites) | This setting determines whether the legacy seminar notification system will function on your site. | | *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Activity default* | Use legacy notifications | - No (for new sites) - Yes (for upgraded sites) | This setting allows you to decide if you wish to enable legacy notifications to be used in new seminar activities. If this setting is enabled then you can configure it within an individual seminar activity. | | *Quick-access menu > Seminars > Global settings* | Disable legacy notifications | - No | When seminars are set to use legacy notifications, this setting will enable and disable legacy notifications and ad hoc messages. When seminars are set to modern notifications, this setting will enable and disable ad hoc messages only. | These are all the possible combinations of states: Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara. © Copyright 2026 Totara Learning Solutions. All rights reserved.