diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7904bb5..cb5a5d9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Get this great stuff without effort:
       the internet
     * make backups
 - Provides a `mailsync` script that can be scheduled to run as often as you
-  like, which downloads/syncs mail and notifies you when new mail has arrived.
+  like, which downloads/syncs mail and optionally notifies you when new mail has arrived.
 
 Specifically, this wizard:
 
diff --git a/bin/mailsync b/bin/mailsync
index 1dc3d47..801aaeb 100755
--- a/bin/mailsync
+++ b/bin/mailsync
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ pgrep mbsync >/dev/null && { echo "mbsync is already running."; exit ;}
 # files for variable assignments. This is ugly, but there are few options that
 # will work on the maximum number of machines.
 eval "$(grep -h -- \
-	"^\s*\(export \)\?\(MBSYNCRC\|MPOPRC\|PASSWORD_STORE_DIR\|NOTMUCH_CONFIG\|GNUPGHOME\)=" \
+	"^\s*\(export \)\?\(MBSYNCRC\|MPOPRC\|PASSWORD_STORE_DIR\|NOTMUCH_CONFIG\|GNUPGHOME\|MAILSYNC_MUTE\)=" \
 	"$HOME/.profile" "$HOME/.bash_profile" "$HOME/.zprofile"  "$HOME/.config/zsh/.zprofile" "$HOME/.zshenv" \
 	"$HOME/.config/zsh/.zshenv" "$HOME/.bashrc" "$HOME/.zshrc" "$HOME/.config/zsh/.zshrc" \
 	"$HOME/.pam_environment" 2>/dev/null)"
@@ -31,8 +31,13 @@ export GPG_TTY="$(tty)"
 
 lastrun="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/mutt/.mailsynclastrun"
 
+# Mute notifications or get kernel name.
 # Settings are different for MacOS (Darwin) systems.
-case "$(uname)" in
+[ -z "$MAILSYNC_MUTE" ] && notify="$(uname)" || notify="mute"
+case "$notify" in
+	mute)
+		notify() { : ;}
+		;;
 	Darwin)
 		notify() { osascript -e "display notification \"$2 in $1\" with title \"You've got Mail\" subtitle \"Account: $account\"" && sleep 2 ;}
 		;;
@@ -56,7 +61,7 @@ syncandnotify() {
     if [ "$1" = "pop" ]; then
         # Handle POP
         mpop "$acc"
-    else 
+    else
         # Handle IMAP
         if [ -z "$opts" ]; then mbsync "$acc"; else mbsync "$opts" "$acc"; fi
     fi