HDX Notifications User Guide
Notifications enable users to stay informed about new and updated datasets on HDX.
Types of HDX Notification
There are two types of notifications available on HDX:
1. Datasets
Dataset notifications inform users about changes to resources within a dataset, including when a resource has been added, updated or removed, or when there have been changes to the structure of tabular data (e.g., columns or headers change).
2. Locations, crises and organizations
Notifications for location, crisis and organization pages inform users when a new dataset has been added to the page by a data contributor.
Subscribe to get HDX Notifications
Receive HDX Notifications
Notifications are sent shortly after data contributors add or update data on HDX.
Unsubscribe from HDX Notifications
There are three ways to unsubscribe from notifications.
1 - Unsubscribe from a recent email
Click the unsubscribe link on a recent email.
2 - Unsubscribe via the page
3 - Unsubscribe from the Notifications Hub (if you have an HDX account)
HDX Notifications FAQs
Q: Do I need an HDX account to get notified?
No. You can sign up for notifications with your email address. However, we recommend keeping your browser’s cookies enabled to make it easier to unsubscribe. If you want to manage your subscriptions through the Notifications Hub, you will need an HDX account.
Q. Are notifications available for all datasets on HDX?
No. Notifications are only available for regularly updated, public datasets.
We do not currently offer notifications for the following datasets:
Datasets that are not expected to update (‘Never’ under ‘Expected Update Frequency’)
Private datasets
Archived datasets
HDX Connect datasets
Q. What’s the difference between a dataset and a resource?
A dataset is a collection of one or more resources.
A dataset includes a title, description, tags, and metadata.
A resource is an individual file within that dataset, such as a spreadsheet or shapefile.
Q. What changes prompt a notification to be sent?
Notifications will be sent when certain changes occur to a dataset resource or page. The table below summarises the changes that will prompt an email notification to be sent:
Type of Change
Dataset Notification
Location, Crisis or Organization page Notification
Dataset added to page
n/a
✅
Dataset removed from page
n/a
❌
Resource (file) added or removed
✅
❌
Resource updated (e.g. file replaced)
✅
❌
Structure of resource has changed
✅
❌
Metadata or text description changed only
❌
❌
Q. How soon after a change will I get a notification?
Notifications are sent three hours after a change is first detected. This delay gives us time to group related changes into a single email notification, and gives the data contributor time to complete their updates.
Q: I subscribed but I’m not getting notifications. What should I do?
Check your spam or junk folder. If you signed up using your email (without logging into an HDX account), make sure you have clicked on the verification link we sent.
Alternatively, you might not have received a notification because there have not been any changes since you subscribed. You can check this by visiting the relevant page on HDX.
If the problem persists, contact hdx@un.org for support.
Q: I want to unsubscribe from a notification, but I don’t see the ‘Unsubscribe’ button on the page. How can I unsubscribe?
If you signed up using your email (without logging into an HDX account), and your browser has cleared the relevant cookies, the ‘unsubscribe’ button may not appear.
If this is the case, unsubscribe via the ‘Unsubscribe’ link in any of the email notifications you have received.
Q. How reliable are notifications?
We aim to ensure notifications are timely and relevant, but there are some limitations to be aware of. We can only notify you about changes that are made directly on HDX. We cannot guarantee that a dataset published on HDX is the most recent version available.
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